Maj. Gen. Ahmed Assiri

A recent Medecin Sans Frontiere (MSF) statement revealed information contradictory to its previous statement that was circulated in the media on Sunday.

The MSF said that Arab coalition warplanes targeted a school, whereas a letter sent by MSF head of mission in Yemen Hassan Boucenine revealed that the site targeted was not an educational institute but a Qur’anic center.

Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Ahmed Assiri said that the Yemeni government confirmed there is no school in that location.

The MSF refused to respond to the coalition’s statement or send images of the children.

Boucenine said by the telephone that everything is possible and that the MSF received the children for treatment and couldn’t respond to what kind of rockets they were or the type of location in question.

He added that the MSF doesn’t know what Qur’anic is and it didn’t know what happened Saturday at the location. All that they can confirm is that the hospital received a number of children.

Contradiction is evident between the MSF statement and its coordinator’s statement.

Assiri denied the allegations that the coalition bombed a school saying that the coalition denies targeting a school and the coalition bombed a training camp in Saada in northern Yemen.

Assiri confirmed that they contacted the Yemeni government which confirmed there is no school in that area.

“The site that was bombed…is a major training camp for militia,” Assiri said. “Why would children be at a training camp?”

He accused Houthis of using children as recruits, adding that when a plane bombs a site, it can’t differentiate between small and old.

The coalition spokesperson criticized the organization saying: “We hope the MSF will take measures to stop the recruitment of children to fight in wars instead of crying over them in the media.”

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