Sanaa, Yemen – Ahmed Abdu, 28, parked his motorbike near a hall under construction in the al-Jiraf neighbourhood of Sanaa. He walked some metres to deliver a food parcel to a customer.Nearly a minute later, an air strike hit the hall, setting off a thunderous explosion.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listFire erupted, and smoke rose on the dark street at night. Passersby screamed and fled in panic. The attack happened last Ramadan, on March 19, 2025, in the Yemeni capital.Ahmed, who survived, said he will never forget that moment of horror. He escaped unscathed, but his motorbike was charred, and nine civilians sustained injuries.As Yemen enters this new Ramadan, memories of last year’s United States-led aerial campaign, Operation Rough Rider, are resurfacing in Sanaa.The two-month operation, which Washington said targeted Houthi military infrastructure, killed at least 224 civilians, many of them in Ramadan last year.Today, the country remains in tumult amid rising tensions in the region. Ahmed and thousands of people like him fear a repeat of the violence that shattered the holiest month of the year.“I do not know whether this calm will continue in this Ramadan, or we will relive the intimidating war surprises we endured last year. Such an uncertainty is worrisome,” Ahmed told Al Jazeera. People gather around girls learning to recite the Quran at the Grand Mosque in Sanaa, Yemen [File: Khaled Abdullah/Reut …
