Members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images.
Drone attacks in Sudan launched by both sides of the conflict – the Sudanese army and the RSF – have killed 200 civilians so far this month
Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel and the UAE are contributing to a quick collapse of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a UAE-backed paramilitary group fighting in Sudan’s civil war, The Canary reported on 13 March.
With weapons and funding from the UAE and Israel, the RSF has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023 in a war that has killed tens of thousands and forced 11 million people to flee their homes.
But the UAE and Israel are seeing their supply lines to the RSF disrupted amid Iranian missile and drone strikes since the start of the US-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic, starting on 28 February.
Iranian attacks have closed the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off the UAE’s shipping and oil export routes, and causing severe economic losses.
According to The Canary, the RSF had been making strong gains until February; “However, Sudanese government forces have achieved a string of military victories that appear to be turning into a rout.”
The Sudanese army is successfully targeting RSF arms and supply depots, and cutting off frontline RSF troops from the ammunition, fuel, and supplies needed to fight.
In the context, the Sudanese army announced on Thursday it had captured two areas in the Blue Nile region – the southeastern province that has seen heavy fighting since January.
The 4th Infantry Division, the army’s primary command in the region, said in a statement that its troops and allied forces “cleared” Jort East and the Ballamo Camp following battles against the RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) led by Joseph Touka.
Military officials stated the operation was part of a broader campaign to secure strategic locations in the southern sector.
The Sudanese army’s advance has come amid an escalation in drone attacks targeting civilians by both sides in the conflict.
UN rights chief Volker Turk stated on Thursday he was “appalled” at reports that drone attacks had killed more than 200 civilians in Sudan since 4 March.
Turk said Sudanese army drone strikes in West Kordofan had killed at least 152 civilians. Among them were at least 50 who were killed when a drone targeted a market and a hospital on 4 March in the town of Muglad.
On 7 March, Sudanese army drone attacks on two separate markets in RSF-controlled Abu Zabad and Wad Banda left at least 40 civilians dead.
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Another Sudanese army drone targeted a truck carrying civilians in Al-Sunut on 10 March, reportedly killing at least 50 civilians, Volker added.
Meanwhile, the White Nile region has come under heavy attack by RSF drones since 4 March.
Volker also said that an RSF drone targeted a secondary school and a health clinic in Shukeiri village on 11 March, killing at least 17 civilians.
Fighting has also escalated in South Sudan, as a 2018 power-sharing deal between the current President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, and his long-time rival, the detained South Sudanese former vice president Riek Machar, has been unravelling in the past year.
South Sudanese government forces announced on Thursday the recapture of the opposition-held town of Akobo following a major military offensive.
“Akobo is safe, the surrounding areas are safe,” says General Lul Ruai Koang, a spokesperson for the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF).
Before the offensive, the army had issued an evacuation order for civilians, causing some 200,000 people to flee to neighboring Ethiopia as a result.
Akobo was one of the last remaining strongholds of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) – the armed movement loyal to Riek Machar.
South Sudan gained independence in 2011 but soon descended into civil war and remains mired in extreme poverty and corruption.
