Sudan’s paramilitary unleashed drones on the Red Sea metropolis of Port Sudan early on Tuesday (May 6, 2025), hitting key targets there, together with the airport, the port and a resort, army officials mentioned. The barrage was the second such assault this week on a metropolis that had been a hub for folks fleeing Sudan’s two-year conflict.
There was no instant phrase on any casualties or the extent of the harm. Local media reported loud sound of explosions and fires on the port and the airport. Footage circulating on-line confirmed thick smoke rising over the world.
The assault on Port Sudan, which additionally serves as an interim seat for Sudan’s military-allied authorities, underscores that after two years of preventing, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are nonetheless able to threatening one another’s territory.
The RSF drones struck early in the morning, mentioned two Sudanese army officials, talking on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to speak to the media.
Abdel-Rahman al-Nour, a Port Sudan resident, mentioned he woke as much as sturdy explosions, and noticed fires and plumes of black smoke rising over the port. Msha’ashir Ahmed, an area journalist residing in Port Sudan, mentioned fires have been nonetheless burning late on Tuesday (May 6, 2025), morning in the southern neighborhood of the maritime port.
The assault apparently disrupted air visitors on the airport, with Cairo airport knowledge in neighboring Egypt exhibiting that three Port Sudan-bound flights have been cancelled on Tuesday (May 6, 2025).
The RSF didn’t launch any statements on the assault. On Sunday (May 4, 2025), the paramilitary drive struck Port Sudan for the primary time in the conflict, disrupting air visitors in town’s airport, which has been the primary entry level for the county in the final two years.
A army ammunition warehouse in the Othman Daqna airbase in town was additionally hit, setting off a hearth that burned for 2 days.
When the preventing in Sudan broke out, the main target of the battles initially was the nation’s capital, Khartoum, which was a conflict zone. Withing weeks, Port Sudan, about 800 kilometres (500 miles) to the east of Khartoum, was a secure haven for the displaced and people fleeing the conflict. Many help missions and U.N. businesses moved their workplaces there.
The assaults on Port Sudan are additionally seen as retaliation after the Sudanese army earlier this month struck the Nyala airport in South Darfur, which the paramilitary RSF has was a base and the place it will get shipments of arms, together with drones.
The RSF is allied with the United Arab Emirates, which U.N. consultants say has supplied weapons, together with drones to the paramilitary. The UAE denies the declare. Sudan’s miliary is backed by Egypt.
Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023, when simmering tensions between the army and the RSF exploded into open warfare in Khartoum. From there, the preventing unfold to different elements of the nation.
Since then, not less than 24,000 folks have been killed, although the quantity is probably going far increased. The conflict has pushed about 13 million folks from their houses, together with 4 million crossed into neighboring nations. It additionally pushed elements of the nation into famine.
The preventing has been marked by atrocities together with mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that quantity to conflict crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity, particularly in the western Darfur area, based on the United Natios. and worldwide rights teams.
Published – May 06, 2025 05:15 pm IST
