Aden: Relief agency Doctors Without Borders said it delivered Sunday medical supplies to areas besieged by Iran-backed Al Houthi militants in Yemen’s flashpoint Taiz city for the first time in months.
The group known by its French acronym MSF said two trucks “full of essential medical supplies” entered the southwestern city in the first such operation in five months.
The last time a “significant” shipment of medical supplies reached the city was in August, it said.
“We’re grateful that we managed to deliver the medical supplies to the hospitals,” said in a statement Karline Kleijer, MSF’s emergency manager for Yemen.
The Paris-based medical humanitarian organisation said treating the wounded and surgery had at times been suspended over the past five months due to lack of supplies.
“The checkpoints in combination with severe fighting in the area have severely hampered humanitarian access into this part of the city,” it said of areas besieged by Al Houthis.
The 600,000 residents of Taiz have been in dire need as Al Houthis besiege the community defended by resistance fighters.
Aircraft from the Saudi-led coalition, which is fighting the Iran-backed militants, have dropped 40 tonnes of medical equipment and food in Taiz, a Saudi charity said on Wednesday.
The coalition has since March conducted air and ground operations in Yemen to support local forces against Al Houthis and their allies.
More than 5,800 people have been killed in Yemen since March, about half of them civilians, according to the UN.
