Sudanese Protesters Take to Streets to Demand Civilian Rule

An elderly Sudanese woman shouts slogans during the demonstration - AFP
An elderly Sudanese woman shouts slogans during the demonstration - AFP
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Sudanese Protesters Take to Streets to Demand Civilian Rule

An elderly Sudanese woman shouts slogans during the demonstration - AFP
An elderly Sudanese woman shouts slogans during the demonstration - AFP

Flashing victory signs, honking car horns and burning tires, masses of Sudanese protesters fearing a return to military rule took to the streets nationwide to make their point.

"We will not go back to dictatorship," said 21-year-old Solafa Mohammed covered in the Sudanese flag during a protest in the capital, Khartoum.

"We went out to say that we are alert and protecting our revolution."

Mohammed was among tens of thousands of protesters who rallied on Thursday in support of Sudan's transition to civilian rule.

They came to counter a pro-military protest camped outside the presidential palace in central Khartoum since Saturday.

The pro-civilian rule demonstrations occurred across the country from Port Sudan in the east to the Darfur region in the west.

They were reminiscent of the late 2018-2019 protests that erupted against the three-decade rule of then-president Omar al-Bashir, who was deposed in April 2019, according to AFP.

Many were dancing, singing, and chanting against senior military figures who have shared power with civilians since August 2019.

On a dusty red lot in Khartoum, they flew Sudanese flags, some of them so big they provided shelter from the sun for protesters underneath. Others carried giant green, yellow and blue flags, several metres long, from pre-Bashir Sudan.

"We will not give up our demand of a civilian state," said protester Amir Shazly.

The demonstrations were organized by the mainstream faction of the Forces for Freedom and Change, an umbrella civilian alliance which spearheaded the anti-Bashir protests more than two years ago.

They coincided with the anniversary of the Sudanese uprising against military rule by president Ibrahim Abboud in 1964.

The transfer to civilian rule is "not even a demand but its what the military itself agreed to do," said another protester, Ahmed al-Tayeb.

Sudan has been led by a civilian-military administration since a power-sharing deal in August 2019 that outlined the transition and the eventual transfer of power to civilians.

Under the transition, the country's political scene has been marred by deepening divisions between civilians and the military, and factional infighting among themselves.

Critics have alleged that the pro-military sit-in, organised by a splinter faction of the FFC, was backed by members of the military and counter-revolutionary sympathizers with the former regime.

Demonstrators at the sit-in have been calling for "military rule" and the dissolution of the transitional government headed by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Support for Hamdok's government has waned in recent months especially following tough IMF-backed economic reforms that took a toll on ordinary Sudanese.

Sudan's deepening economic crisis is marked by triple-digit inflation and severe shortages exacerbated by anti-government protesters who have blockade Sudan's main sea port.

"This government has not offered the Sudanese people anything for two years," said Hamada Abdelrahman, a protester outside the presidential palace in Khartoum.

Still, rival protesters remained adamant on the transfer of power to civilians.

"We are now sending a message that the streets belong to the revolutionaries," said protester Mujahed Mohammed in Khartoum.

"Its the people who get to decide."



Syria Says Deadly Israeli Strikes a 'Blatant Violation'

This picture taken from Israel-annexed Golan Heights along the border with southern Syria shows smoke billowing above the Syrian village of Koayiah during Israeli bombardment, on March 25, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
This picture taken from Israel-annexed Golan Heights along the border with southern Syria shows smoke billowing above the Syrian village of Koayiah during Israeli bombardment, on March 25, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
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Syria Says Deadly Israeli Strikes a 'Blatant Violation'

This picture taken from Israel-annexed Golan Heights along the border with southern Syria shows smoke billowing above the Syrian village of Koayiah during Israeli bombardment, on March 25, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
This picture taken from Israel-annexed Golan Heights along the border with southern Syria shows smoke billowing above the Syrian village of Koayiah during Israeli bombardment, on March 25, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

Syria on Thursday condemned deadly Israeli strikes across the country as a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty, after Israel said it struck "military capabilities".

Syrian state media said the strikes hit close to a defense research center in Damascus, among other sites, while a war monitor reported four dead in the latest Israeli attack on Syria since the opposition factions ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

"In a blatant violation of international law and Syrian sovereignty, Israeli forces launched airstrikes on five locations across the country," the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

"This unjustified escalation is a deliberate attempt to destabilize Syria and exacerbate the suffering of its people."

It said the strikes resulted in the "near-total destruction" of a military airport in central Syrian province Hama, injuring dozens of civilians and soldiers.

Syria's SANA news agency reported a strike that "targeted the vicinity of the scientific research building" in Damascus's northern Barzeh neighborhood, and a raid in the vicinity of Hama, without specifying what was hit.

The Israeli military said in a statement that forces "struck military capabilities that remained at the Syrian bases of Hama and T4, along with additional remaining military infrastructure sites in the area of Damascus".

Israel has said it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities, whom it considers extremists.

The Syrian ministry said the strikes came as the country was trying to rebuild after 14 years of war, calling it a strategy to "normalize violence within the country".

Last month, Israel said it struck the T4 military base in central Homs province twice, targeting military capabilities at the site.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said that "four people were killed and others wounded, including Syrian defense ministry personnel, in the strikes on Hama military airport".

Buffer zone

The monitor said those raids, which targeted "remaining planes, runways and towers, put the airport completely out of service," also reporting that the Damascus strikes targeted the research center in Barzeh.

In the days after Assad's fall on December 8, the Britain-based Observatory reported Israeli strikes targeting the center.

Western countries including the United States had previously struck the defense ministry facility in 2018, saying it was related to Syria's "chemical weapons infrastructure".

Also since Assad's fall, Israel has deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the strategic Golan Heights and called for the complete demilitarization of southern Syria, which borders the Israeli-annexed Golan.

Authorities in south Syria's Daraa on Telegram late Wednesday said that several Israeli military vehicles entered an area in the province's west, reporting that "three (Israeli) artillery shells" targeted the area.

The Observatory has reported repeated Israeli military incursions into southern Syria beyond the demarcation line in recent months.

Last month, during a visit to Jerusalem, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that Israeli strikes on Syria were "unnecessary" and threatened to worsen the situation.