Huge crowds joined protests in rebel-controlled Yemen on Monday after deadly US strikes killed dozens and sparked fears of a new cycle of violence in the conflict-torn country.Tens of thousands of demonstrators, many waving assault rifles, daggers or Korans, chanted “Death to America, death to Israel!” in the capital Sanaa.There were also large crowds in Saada, birthplace of the Iran-backed Huthi movement, and demonstrations in Dhamar, Hodeida and Amran, footage from the rebels’ Al-Masirah TV station showed.”Yemen will never back down — we defy the Americans, we defy the Zionists,” said a man shouting slogans to the Sanaa crowd, who chanted back: “We are the men of the Prophet.”The protests came after the first US strikes on Yemen under President Donald Trump, aimed at ending the Huthis’ Red Sea harassment campaign, which killed 53 people and wounded 98 on Saturday.The rebels, at war with a Saudi-led coalition for a decade, launched scores of attacks on ships in the vital route during the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.  Earlier on Monday they said they had attacked the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier group twice within 24 hours. There was no comment from the United States.Washington has vowed to keep hitting Yemen until the rebels stop attacking Red Sea shipping, with Trump warning he would use “overwhelming lethal force”.Monday’s rallies were called by Huthi leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi to coincide with the anniversary of the Battle of Badr — a celebrated military victory by the Prophet Mohammed.- Heavy strikes -In the capital Sanaa, controlled by the Huthis since 2014, giant Yemeni and Palestinian flags punctuated a sea of demonstrators at Al-Sabeen Square, which has hosted large-scale demonstrations on a weekly basis throughout the Gaza war.Just two days ago the Huthi-controlled capital was hit by heavy strikes, including in northern districts frequented by the rebels’ leadership.They were the first US strikes since Trump came to office in January despite a pause in the Huthis’ attacks coinciding with a ceasefire in the Gaza war.On Sunday, US officials vowed further bombardments until the rebels ended their campaign against Red Sea shipping, while also threatening action against the group’s sponsor Iran.Huthi media reported more explosions late on Sunday, accusing the Americans of targeting a cotton facility in the Hodeida region and the Galaxy Leader, a cargo ship hijacked in November 2023.- ‘Hell will rain down’ -The United Nations urged both sides to “cease all military activity”, while expressing concern over Huthi threats to resume the Red Sea attacks.Beijing called for “dialogue and negotiation” and a de-escalation of tensions.”China opposes any action that escalates the situation in the Red Sea,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing.Before this weekend’s targeting of the US carrier group, the Huthis had not claimed any attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since January 19, when the ceasefire in Gaza began.However, the group had threatened to resume its campaign over Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory. It said it would “move to additional escalatory options” if the “American aggression” continued.US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News that Saturday’s strikes “targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out”. The Huthis have not responded to Waltz’s claim.Trump, meanwhile, has warned the Yemeni group that “hell will rain down upon you” if it did not stop its attacks. In a social media post he also addressed Iran, demanding it stop supporting “Huthi terrorists”.Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the US strikes and said Washington had “no authority” to dictate Tehran’s foreign policy.- Costly detour -A database set up by ACLED, a non-profit monitor, shows 136 Huthi attacks against warships, commercial vessels, and Israeli and other targets since October 19, 2023.While the Red Sea trade route normally carries around 12 percent of world shipping traffic, Huthi attacks have forced many companies into costly detours around southern Africa.The United States had already launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets under former president Joe Biden.Israel has also struck Yemen, most recently in December, after Huthi missile fire towards Israeli territory.The rebels control large swathes of Yemen, including most of its population centres, after ousting the internationally recognised government from Sanaa.They have been at war with a Saudi-led coalition backing the government since 2015, a conflict that has triggered a major humanitarian crisis.Fighting has largely been on hold since a UN-brokered ceasefire in 2022, but the peace process has stalled following the Huthi attacks over Gaza.burs/th/dcp

In a war-ravaged neighbourhood of Sudan’s capital Khartoum, the stench from a gaping sewage pit is unbearable as Red Crescent workers pull a bloated body from deep underground.The volunteers say 14 more remain below.”They were shot in the head, some have crushed skulls,” Hisham Zein al-Abdeen, head of forensic medicine at Sudan’s health ministry, told AFP at the scene.The victims, he said, were either shot or beaten to death before being thrown in.Behind him, a truck idles, its flatbed already filling with bodies retrieved from the sewer well in East Nile, an eastern district of Khartoum now reduced to ruins.Nearly two years of war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have left large swathes of the capital unrecognisable.Once a bustling metropolis, Khartoum has seen well over 3.5 million of its people flee since the war began, according to the United Nations.Millions more, unable or unwilling to leave, live among abandoned buildings, wrecked vehicles and what the army says are hidden mass graves.- A city destroyed -Since April 2023, the conflict has pitted army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.The war has left tens of thousands dead and uprooted more than 12 million, according to UN figures, with many living in makeshift camps and over 3.5 million fleeing across borders.The RSF initially seized the streets of Khartoum, but in recent months, the army has clawed back territory, regaining control of Bahri — also known as Khartoum North — and East Nile to its east.Now, less than a kilometre separates army units in central Khartoum from the presidential palace, overtaken by RSF troops at the start of the war.Despite these advances, Daglo remains defiant, vowing that his forces will not withdraw from the capital.”We will not leave the Republican Palace,” Daglo said in a video address shared on Telegram.”We are coming for Port Sudan,” he added, referring to the de facto capital on the Red Sea, where the government has been based since Khartoum fell.An AFP team, travelling under military escort, crossed from Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman — recaptured by the army last year — into Bahri and its war-ravaged outskirts.The convoy passed through eerie, abandoned neighbourhoods including Al-Haj Yousif, where the skeletal remains of shuttered shops and crumbling pavements stretch along the streets.Rubble, debris and discarded tires litter the roads.Every few blocks, small clusters of people sit outside empty buildings and stores pockmarked with bullet holes.Hospitals and schools no longer function. The army says it has uncovered multiple mass graves, including one at the Omdurman courthouse.The civilians still in the city appear visibly shaken by the trauma of war.”At night, I used to hear gunshots. Then, I saw them carrying bodies and throwing them in the well,” said Salha Shams El-Din, who lives near the pit where she said RSF troops dumped bodies.- Starvation -For those who survived to see the army recapture the district early this month, life remains a constant struggle.There is no electricity, and clean water and food are scarce.On a quiet street in Bahri, some 40 women sit beneath a makeshift tent, preparing Ramadan meals at a community kitchen, one of many that struggled under RSF control.They stir large pots of aseeda — a thick porridge made from cornflour — and lentils over open flames, using firewood.Gas is no longer available. Water trucks now come from Omdurman, an improvement from when residents had to risk sniper fire just to reach the Nile River, itself a health risk with no sanitation.The soup kitchens have become civilians’ last line of defence against mass starvation, according to the UN. But throughout the war, they have struggled to stay afloat.With roads cut off, markets devastated and RSF fighters robbing volunteers at gunpoint, feeding those in need was nearly impossible.”When the RSF was here, we couldn’t get money in. Any money we’d receive, they would take,” said Mouayad al-Haj, a volunteer at the community kitchen in Bahri.”Now things are different, phone networks are back and we can at least go to Omdurman every two weeks to buy supplies,” he told AFP.What began as a power struggle between Burhan and Daglo has spiralled into the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.The conflict has decimated Sudan’s infrastructure, crumbled an already weak economy and pushed millions to the brink of mass starvation.Famine has been declared in three displacement camps, according to the UN-backed Inegrated Food Security Phase Classification.In Khartoum alone, at least 100,000 people are suffering famine conditions, the IPC found.