DUBAI: Thousands of Iranians chanted “Death to America” near the old US embassy on Monday, the 40th anniversary on the seizure of the mission and a day after Iran’s supreme leader vowed it would not lift a ban on talks with the United States.
State television showed crowds packing the streets around the former mission, dubbed the “den of spies” after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. Marches and rallies were being held in some 1,000 communities across the country, state media said.
Hard-line Islamist students stormed the embassy soon after the fall of the US-backed shah, and 52 Americans were held hostage there for 444 days. The two countries have been enemies ever since.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday renewed a ban on talks with the United States, describing the two countries as implacable foes.
“Those who believe that negotiations with the enemy will solve our problems are 100% wrong,” he said.
Meanwhile, Iran’s parliament gave initial approval to a measure requiring schoolbooks to cover “America’s crimes.” Lawmakers also chanted “Death to America.”
Relations between the two countries have reached a crisis over the past year since US President Donald Trump abandoned a 2015 pact between Iran and world powers under which it accepted curbs to its nuclear program in return for lifting sanctions.
The United States has reimposed sanctions aimed at halting all Iranian oil exports, saying it seeks to force it to negotiate to reach a wider deal.
Khamenei has banned Iranian officials from holding talks unless the United States returns to the nuclear deal and lifts all sanctions.
Iranians chant ‘Death to America’ to mark US embassy seizure anniversary
Iranians chant ‘Death to America’ to mark US embassy seizure anniversary
- Crowds packing the streets around the former mission, dubbed the “den of spies” after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution
- Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday renewed a ban on talks with the United States
Paramilitary attacks displace thousands in North Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Thousands of families fled their homes in Sudan’s North Darfur state over two days, the UN’s migration agency said on Tuesday, amid intensified attacks by paramilitary forces.
“Between 25 and 27 January 2025, an estimated 3,960 households were displaced from various villages across El-Fasher locality,” the International Organization for Migration said.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces — at war with the army since April 2023 — have captured every state capital in the vast western region of Darfur except for North Darfur capital El-Fasher, which they have besieged since May.
In its latest attempt to capture the city, the RSF last week issued an ultimatum demanding that army forces and their allies leave the city.
The IOM said the displacement occurred due to RSF attacks, which included reported incidents of “looting and burning of personal property.”
Army and allied forces have repeatedly repelled attacks by the paramilitary forces, who local activists said launched intense artillery shelling on residential neighborhoods in the city.
On Friday, a drone attack on the city’s only functioning hospital, which local monitors blamed on the RSF, killed 70 people, drawing condemnation from the UN.
Nearly 1.7 million people are displaced in North Darfur state alone, according to the UN, with an estimated two million experiencing extreme food insecurity and 320,000 in famine.
In the area around El-Fasher, famine has already taken hold in three displacement camps — Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam — and is expected to expand to five more areas including the city itself by May, according to a UN-backed assessment.
Protests in Libya disrupt oil loadings at 2 ports
BENGHAZI: Local protesters blocked crude oil loadings at the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf ports in Libya on Tuesday, five engineers said, putting about 450,000 barrels per day of exports at risk.
Laer, Libya’s National Oil Corporation said operations at all oil terminals were continuing normally after communication with protesters.
In a statement to the NOC dated Jan. 5, the protesters demanded the relocation of several oil company headquarters to the Oil Crescent region, calling for fair development of their coastal area to improve living conditions.
Ports in Libya’s hydrocarbon-rich Oil Crescent include Es Sider, Brega, Zueitina and Ras Lanuf, accounting for about half of the total exports from the country, while several oil companies are based in the capital Tripoli.
“All we want is equality,” one of the protesters Houssam El Khodor said. “The oil is produced in our regions and all we get from it is the toxic fumes.”
The disruption came as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Libya is a member, is due to discuss its policy of gradually increasing oil output after US President Donald Trump’s calls for OPEC to lower oil prices.
NOC said on its official X account that its crude production had reached more than 1.4 million bpd, about 200,000 bpd short of its pre-civil war high. It was not immediately clear if the blockade had affected production so far.
A loading program showed that Es Sider was on track to export about 340,000 bpd of crude in January, with another 110,000 bpd slated to ship from Ras Lanuf.
How conflict created the conditions for Sudan’s deadly cholera crisis
- War has displaced 12 million people, forcing many into overcrowded camps with poor sanitation and unsafe water
- Sudan has reported more than 50,000 cholera cases and 1,300 deaths since August 2024, with the true toll likely far higher
LONDON: From displacement camps in Gedaref to overwhelmed hospitals in Al-Jazirah, Sudan’s ongoing cholera epidemic, exacerbated by its brutal civil war, has created a humanitarian crisis of staggering proportions.
Since the cholera outbreak was declared in August 2024, Sudan has recorded at least 50,000 cases and some 1,300 deaths. These numbers are likely an underestimate, however, due to challenges in accessing remote areas and gathering accurate data.
Mohamed Ahmed, the operational deputy head of mission for Medecins Sans Frontieres in Sudan, whose team has been working on the cholera response, described the realities on the ground, the fatigue audible in his voice.
“It’s exhausting,” he told Arab News, shortly after returning from Gedaref, where a 117 percent increase in cholera cases was recorded between October and November 2024, and where a fresh wave of displacement threatens further outbreaks.
“It’s exhausting because you have to deal with this every single day. It is exhausting to beg to reach the populations that are in need, to speak about it, to advocate for these populations that are in need.”
Cholera’s resurgence in Sudan is far from an isolated event. Historically, the country’s rainy seasons have fueled similar outbreaks, but this latest crisis has been exacerbated by unprecedented levels of displacement and a collapsing healthcare system.
The cholera epidemic currently ravaging Sudan is a grim testament to the devastating impact of protracted conflict on public health. “It is at a scale that we don’t see in many other conflict settings,” said Ahmed.
“The whole of the humanitarian response system in Sudan today is struggling. We are speaking about a magnitude of a crisis that we have not seen in other parts of the world, even including Gaza.”
Sudan has been engulfed in conflict for almost two years, severely limiting access to clean water, sanitation, and medical care. The nation’s healthcare system was fragile even before the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces erupted in April 2023.
The war has decimated medical infrastructure, leaving health workers unpaid for months and facilities devoid of essential supplies. “The healthcare facilities are near collapse,” said Ahmed. “Seventy to 80 percent of health facilities are non-functional.”
The outbreak’s epicenter includes the states of Al-Jazirah, Gedaref, and Kassala — areas already grappling with repeated waves of displacement.
“The ongoing conflict has displaced 12 million people,” said Ahmed. “In Gedaref, where I came from just now, we have 1 million internally displaced persons, straining an already broken system.”
These displaced populations often find refuge in overcrowded schools, bus stations, and abandoned government buildings, where basic sanitation is virtually non-existent.
“In one bus station in Gedaref, we had 17,000 families staying in a makeshift area that is really in a very bad state,” said Ahmed. “There’s a lack of latrines, so people are defecating outside, with a lack of safe drinking water.
“Cholera is largely spread from hand to mouth, so you come in with no food, no water to drink, and the situations they are in, staying in open buildings, crowded gathering sites that absolutely then propagate these kinds of epidemic diseases including cholera.
“And it is not only cholera that is spreading in these conditions. There are many preventable diseases. We are speaking about measles, we are speaking about other vaccine-preventable diseases.”
Christian Lindmeier, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization, highlighted the outbreak’s geographical spread.
“Fueled by heavy rains and flooding, destruction of health facilities, overcrowding and lack of access to clean water in displacement sites and within communities, this new wave of cholera quickly spread to 84 localities in 11 states, with over 51,203 cases and 1,356 deaths reported as of Jan. 13, 2025,” Lindmeier told Arab News.
“The cholera outbreak is occurring at a time when Sudan’s health system is severely weakened by the conflict that has been raging in Sudan for 21 months, causing severe access constraints and security risks where neither health workers nor patients can safely access health facilities or emergency health response can reach the people in need.”
Humanitarian organizations, including the MSF, the WHO, and the UN children’s fund UNICEF, have scrambled to respond to the crisis despite severe logistical and security challenges.
The MSF has established cholera treatment centers and oral rehydration points in hotspots such as Gedaref, which have saved the lives of countless people who would otherwise have quickly succumbed to dehydration.
Eva Hinds, a spokesperson for UNICEF based in Port Sudan, underscored the difficulties faced by aid agencies operating in this complex environment.
“The ongoing conflict makes transporting vaccines and health supplies throughout the country challenging and often tremendously time consuming as permit approvals, checkpoints and consignment inspections can delay the journeys by days or even weeks,” she told Arab News.
“Traveling across this sizable country, particularly during the rainy season, can also be taxing as roads get flooded and infrastructure gets washed away.”
Despite these obstacles, UNICEF has spearheaded vaccination campaigns, reaching 7.4 million people in eight states between August 2024 and January 2025.
However, Hinds warned: “There are limits to what assistance can achieve without meaningful peace and security for both humanitarian workers and the children they serve.”
Bureaucratic red tape and active conflict zones delay the movement of life-saving supplies and medical personnel. Ahmed recounted one particularly harrowing situation in Khartoum state, where clashes between the SAF and RSF have been particularly fierce.
“We had a really quite emotional situation with one of the sites, a hospital that we were supporting but did not have teams on the ground, and we have not been able to send in supplies,” he said.
“We had supplies in our warehouse that we wanted to send but were not able to because it is an intense conflict zone. And of course we have bureaucracies along the way. And in a single day we lost 30 patients.
“The frustrations within my team in not being able to go and not being able to respond or even responding from a distance because the security and the access doesn’t allow us to be there was really super difficult.”
INNUMBERS
• 12m People internally and externally displaced by conflict.
• 70-80% Sudanese health facilities knocked out of action.
Sudan’s health workers have not been spared amid the violence, forced to work in impossible circumstances, with health facilities regularly coming under attack.
“Since the start of the conflict on April 15, 2023, 141 attacks on health (facilities) have been verified causing 240 deaths and 216 among health workers, patients and patient caretakers,” said the WHO’s Lindmeier.
On Jan. 25, around 70 people were killed in a drone attack on the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital in the besieged city of Al-Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur state.
The assault has been attributed by local officials to the RSF, which is yet to acknowledge responsibility.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the attack, calling it “a violation of international law.”
Lindmeier called on all parties to respect the sanctity of healthcare and allow safe access to aid workers. “The WHO calls for cessation of hostilities by all parties in Sudan,” he said.
“Peace is overdue for Sudan. Without peace, lives, livelihoods, health and other social service systems will continue to be severely disrupted in the face of the rapidly deteriorating situation with transgenerational effects on the nation.
“We appeal for increased funding from the international community to enable us to support the provision of urgent lifesaving healthcare and outbreak response as we support and rebuild Sudan’s health system, which has been devastated by the conflict.”
The toll on Sudan’s displaced populations has been severe. Children, in particular, bear the brunt of the crisis, accounting for more than 70 percent of cholera cases. Older adults, especially those over 70, have the highest mortality rates.
“It’s the image of all the children that we see in these treatment centers as well — malnutrition, cholera — that keeps on hanging on our minds,” said Ahmed, his voice breaking. “And every time we speak to people about this crisis, we see these images.”
The current Case Fatality Rate of 2.6 percent far exceeds the WHO’s recommended threshold of 1 percent, underscoring the dire need for intervention.
Although aid agencies are confident the outbreak can be brought under control, international support remains critical to addressing Sudan’s wider humanitarian crisis. Ahmed highlighted the need for sustained funding and access.
“We are approaching very challenging times, especially for the humanitarian community in 2025, with the magnitude of what we are seeing and as well the changes that we see in global dynamics,” he said.
“Donors must honor their promises and prioritize Sudan. We cannot turn a blind eye.”
Israel frees nine Lebanese prisoners, PM seeks release of nine more
- Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister thanked the ICRC for its role in the release of the nine prisoners
- The ICRC welcomed the release of the first batch of Lebanese prisoners
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday that Israel had freed nine Lebanese prisoners under the terms of a more than six-week-old ceasefire and urged the release of another nine.
Israeli forces had been due to withdraw from southern Lebanon by Sunday under the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah but that deadline was extended until February 18.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Mikati thanked the International Committee of the Red Cross for its role in the release of the nine prisoners of war freed by Israel so far.
He also asked the ICRC to work for the release of “nine other Lebanese still held in Israel.”
Mikati had already appealed to the United States on Sunday to use its influence with its ally to secure the release of Lebanese detained by Israel during the war.
In a statement on Tuesday, the ICRC welcomed the release of the first batch of Lebanese prisoners.
The ICRC “remains ready to fulfil its role as a neutral intermediary in facilitating the release, transfer and repatriation of individuals detained in connection with the conflict,” a spokesperson said.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP on Monday that seven of its fighters had been captured during the war.
Israeli forces have also detained a number of Lebanese since Sunday who were attempting to return to their homes in the south without waiting for the army to complete its delayed withdrawal.
Forces killed 24 returning residents on Sunday and another two on Monday, Lebanese authorities said.
On Tuesday, Israeli fire wounded a Lebanese soldier who was deploying to the south in accordance with the ceasefire, along with three civilians, an army statement said.
An Israeli air strike also wounded 14 people in the southern city of Nabatiyeh Al-Fawqa on Tuesday, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Jordan launches air corridor for life-saving medicines into Gaza
- Jordan’s air force launches 16 helicopter flights daily for medical aid
- King Abdullah blames Israel for aid delays, Israel denies impeding flows
GAZA STRIP: Jordan’s air force launched on Tuesday the biggest air bridge so far to bring urgent medical supplies to Gaza under a US-sponsored deal to step up deliveries following a ceasefire, officials said.
The operation involves 16 helicopter flights a day that will at first deliver at least 160 tons of life-saving medical supplies over a week to hospitals and medical centers, army officials said.
Under an agreement sponsored by the US, Israel had allowed Jordan to deliver aid to a designated location near Israel’s Kissufim border crossing with the devastated Gaza Strip.
A helicopter pad in a spot that lies in a central area connecting the northern and southern parts of the enclave would help facilitate speedier deliveries, according to aid officials.
UN agencies led by the World Food Programme would then deliver them directly to medical centers and hospitals.
“More aid is needed for the Palestinian people in Gaza. There is a terrifying state of destruction. There is a terrifying state of suffering that the Palestinian people are living,” Jordan’s Minister of State for Communications Mohamed Momani told reporters at an air base where Black Hawk helicopters were taking off. Throughout the 15-month war, the UN has described its humanitarian operation as opportunistic — facing problems with Israel’s military operations, access restrictions by Israel, and more recently looting by Gazan armed gangs.
Since an agreement on a ceasefire, Jordan has sent seven overland convoys with at least 540 trucks through a corridor across the Israeli-occupied West Bank to Gaza, officials said.
“In this air corridor we deliver that urgent aid that could be damaged by their transport on trucks,” Brig. Gen. Mustafa Al-Hayari said.
The staunch US ally has arranged at least 147 convoys comprising 5,569 trucks since the conflict and also spearheaded 391 air drops by its air force alongside a coalition of Western and Arab countries.
King Abdullah has been lobbying Washington to push Israel to expand the aid corridor from Jordan to allow large volumes of aid to quickly cross.
The monarch has said Israel is to blame for delaying aid by hurdles and delaying tactics that have worsened the humanitarian plight of over 2 million people who live in the enclave. Israel denies it impedes aid flows.
