Doctors Without Borders suspends operations in Hajjah‏‏

International medical charity Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres/MSF) announced on Wednesday that it had suspended operations in Yemen's northwestern province of Hajjah, citing safety and security concerns.

"MSF took the decision to withdraw its staff and temporarily suspend its activities in the Abs hospital, in Hajjah Governorate as of March 1, 2022, while we are negotiating with the authorities to ensure the safety and security of our staff and patients," MSF said in a post on Twitter, without providing further details.

The MSF-run Abs hospital is located in the northern district of Abs, which is under the control of the Houthi militia.

Fighting has recently escalated between the Houthi militia and the government army in the area of Bani Hasan in Abs, as well as in the neighboring city of Harad.

Last week, the MSF tweeted that it had dispatched additional medical supplies from Yemen's capital Sanaa to Abs hospital in response to "significant influx of war-wounded arriving in the hospital."

Yemen has been mired in a war since 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of Sanaa.