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.
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Fire 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.
Ready for the second round
About 10 days before this Ramadan, the Houthis, who control northwest Yemen, including Sanaa, staged a mass protest in the capital under the slogan “Steadfast and ready for the next round”, referring to a possible confrontation with local or foreign adversaries.
The protest expressed solidarity with and support for Houthi allies, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, against the US and Israel. Houthi leaders said their hands were on the trigger and that any US attacks on Iran would prompt them to intervene.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the political bureau of the Houthi movement, warned the US against launching any “military aggression” against Iran, saying that attacking Iran would amount to a full-scale war in the region.
“We are men of action, not words,” al-Bukhaiti told Iranian television.
With the Houthi threats to support Iran militarily against Washington, the fear for many regular Yemenis is that their country could soon find itself a target of US warplanes once again.
The missile in the kitchen
The scars from previous US-Houthi attack exchanges still linger in war-ravaged Yemen.
The US said the strikes last year were carried out in retaliation for Houthi attacks on Israeli-linked vessels passing through the Red Sea, in solidarity with Gaza.
Construction worker Faisal Abdulkareem, 35, welcomes the arrival of Ramadan, but memories of the last one remain painful. He prays this month will pass peacefully without the horror of warplanes, missiles, and explosions.
“On a Ramadan night last year, I was lying in my room, facing the street. I heard the roar of a warplane. I was worried but did not panic. I reassured myself: This is a residential area with no military facilities, and it would not be targeted,” Faisal recalled.
About a minute later, an explosion rocked the area. The aluminium window frames were blown outwards, and shards of glass flew into Faisal’s room.
“The glass fragments struck parts of my body, including my head and hands. I wiped the blood away with a tissue as I tried to process happened. It was terrifying,” he said.
Faisal went outside to see exactly where the rocket had hit. “The missile landed in my neighbour’s kitchen. His house is about 20 metres [66 feet] away from my first-floor apartment. That spiritual Ramadan night turned into a moment of terror,” he told Al Jazeera.
Fortunately, no one was ki