Two People Killed in Sudan Protests, Doctors Say

Sudanese protesters carry a wounded youth on a stretcher, during a demonstration against the October 25 coup, in the capital Khartoum, on January 2, 2022. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese protesters carry a wounded youth on a stretcher, during a demonstration against the October 25 coup, in the capital Khartoum, on January 2, 2022. (Photo by AFP)
TT

Two People Killed in Sudan Protests, Doctors Say

Sudanese protesters carry a wounded youth on a stretcher, during a demonstration against the October 25 coup, in the capital Khartoum, on January 2, 2022. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese protesters carry a wounded youth on a stretcher, during a demonstration against the October 25 coup, in the capital Khartoum, on January 2, 2022. (Photo by AFP)

Security forces killed two people during protests in Sudan on Sunday against military rule, a doctors' committee said.

This brought to 56 the death toll in protests since a coup on Oct. 25, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said. The committee said that the first man was in his twenties and died of injuries to the head in the capital, Khartoum, while the second man died of gunshots to the chest in Omdurman.

Sunday was the 12th round of major protests since the coup, Reuters reported. Security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators in Khartoum as protesters marched towards the presidential palace, television images showed.

Internet and mobile services appeared to be disrupted in the city ahead of the protests, Reuters witnesses said.

Some people managed to post images on social media showing protests in several other cities, including Ad-Damazin, Port Sudan and Sennar.

All bridges directly connecting other towns and cities to Khartoum were also closed, one Reuters witness said.

On recent occasions when communications have been disrupted, sources at telecoms companies have told Reuters that authorities demanded providers cut their services.

The military took power in an Oct. 25 coup that ended a power-sharing deal with civilian political forces. That deal, agreed in 2019, was supposed to pave the way for a transitional government and eventually elections following the overthrow of long-time leader Omar al-Bashir.

Protests against military rule have continued even after Abdallah Hamdok was reinstated as prime minister last month, with demonstrators demanding that the military play no role in government during a transition to free elections.

Six people died and hundreds were injured in nationwide demonstrations on Thursday.



Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister Visits Military Positions in the Country's South

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)
TT

Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister Visits Military Positions in the Country's South

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has begun a tour of military positions in the country’s south, almost a month after a ceasefire deal that ended the war between Israel and the Hezbollah group that battered the country.
Najib Mikati on Monday was on his first visit to the southern frontlines, where Lebanese soldiers under the US-brokered deal are expected to gradually deploy, with Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops both expected to withdraw by the end of next month, The Associated Press said.
Mikati’s tour comes after the Lebanese government expressed its frustration over ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights in the country.
“We have many tasks ahead of us, the most important being the enemy's (Israel's) withdrawal from all the lands it encroached on during its recent aggression,” he said after meeting with army chief Joseph Aoun in a Lebanese military barracks in the southeastern town of Marjayoun. “Then the army can carry out its tasks in full.”
The Lebanese military for years has relied on financial aid to stay functional, primarily from the United States and other Western countries. Lebanon’s cash-strapped government is hoping that the war’s end and ceasefire deal will bring about more funding to increase the military’s capacity to deploy in the south, where Hezbollah’s armed units were notably present.
Though they were not active combatants, the Lebanese military said that dozens of its soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes on their premises or patrolling convoys in the south. The Israeli army acknowledged some of these attacks.