Anti-aircraft missiles fire as drones fly over Port Sudan: witnesses
Since April 2023, war has raged between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Port Sudan, seat of the army-backed government, came under attack by drones blamed on the RSF for the first time early this month.
The campaign of drone strikes attacked infrastructure including the country's last functioning civilian international airport, power stations and major fuel depots.
The near-daily strikes had stopped for over a week until Saturday, when residents in the city heard 'the sound of anti-aircraft missiles north and west of the city and drones flying in the sky,' one witness told AFP.
Since Sudanese authorities fled the capital Khartoum early in the war, Port Sudan has hosted government ministries, the United Nations and hundreds of thousands of people.
Nearly all aid into the country — home to nearly 25 million people suffering dire food insecurity — transits through Port Sudan.
The war has killed tens of thousands, uprooted 13 million and created what the UN describes as the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.
It has also effectively split Sudan in two, with the army holding the center, east and north, while the paramilitaries and their allies control nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south.
Since losing Khartoum in March, the RSF has adopted a two-pronged strategy: long-range drone strikes on army-held cities accompanied by counteroffensives to reclaim territory in the country's south.
The drone strikes have impacted infrastructure across Sudan's army-held northeast, with attacks on power stations causing blackouts for millions of people.
A blackout in Khartoum also cut off access to clean water, according to health authorities, causing a cholera outbreak that has killed close to 300 people this month.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asharq Al-Awsat
40 minutes ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
UN Urges Peaceful Settlement of Disputes as UN Chief Points to ‘The Horror Show in Gaza'
The UN Security Council urged the 193 United Nations member nations on Tuesday to use all possible means to settle disputes peacefully. The UN chief said that is needed now more than ever as he pointed to 'the horror show in Gaza' and conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti and Myanmar. The vote was unanimous on a Pakistan-drafted resolution in the 15-member council. In urging greater efforts to pursue global peace, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the council: 'Around the world, we see an utter disregard for — if not outright violations of — international law' as well as the UN Charter. It is happening at a time of widening geopolitical divides and numerous conflicts, starting with Gaza, where 'starvation is knocking on every door' as Israel denies the United Nations the space and safety to deliver aid and save Palestinian lives, Guterres said. Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians and aid staff as part of its war with Hamas and blames UN agencies for failing to deliver food it has allowed in. In conflicts worldwide, 'hunger and displacement are at record levels' and security is pushed further out of reach by terrorism, violent extremism and transnational crime, the secretary-general said. 'Diplomacy may not have always succeeded in preventing conflicts, violence and instability,' Guterres said. 'But it still holds the power to stop them.' The resolution urges all countries to use the methods in the UN Charter to peacefully settle disputes, including negotiation, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, referral to regional arrangements or other peaceful means. Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who chaired the meeting, cited 'the ongoing tragedies' in Gaza and between Pakistan and India over Kashmir, one of the oldest disputes on the UN agenda, that need to be resolved peacefully. 'At the heart of almost all the conflicts across the globe is a crisis of multilateralism; a failure, not of principles but of will; a paralysis, not of institutions but of political courage,' he said. The Pakistani diplomat called for revitalizing trust in the UN system and ensuring 'equal treatment of all conflicts based on international law, not geopolitical expediency.' Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea said the Trump administration supports the United Nations' founding principles of saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war and working with parties to resolve disputes peacefully. Under President Donald Trump's leadership, she said, the US has delivered 'de-escalation' between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, and Congo and Rwanda. The US calls on countries involved in conflicts to follow these examples, Shea said, singling out the war in Ukraine and China's 'unlawful claims' in the South China Sea. The war in Ukraine must end, she said, and Russia must stop attacking civilians and fulfill its obligations under the UN Charter, which requires all member nations to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every other country. 'We call on other UN member states to stop providing Russia with the means to continue its aggression,' Shea said.
Saudi Gazette
an hour ago
- Saudi Gazette
British couple held by Taliban 'may die in prison,' son warns
LONDON — The son of a British couple detained by the Taliban five months ago has told the BBC that he fears they may die in prison. Peter Reynolds, 80, and Barbie, 76, were arrested on 1 February while returning to their home in central Bamiyan province, Afghanistan. Their son Jonathan Reynolds said their health was rapidly deteriorating, with his father suffering serious convulsions and his mother "numb" from anaemia and malnutrition. It is not known exactly why they were detained, and a Taliban official told the BBC in February that the group planned to release the couple "as soon as possible". The UN has also warned that they could perish "in such degrading conditions" if they do not receive medical care at once, calling their detention "inhumane". Reynolds said it had been a "harrowing and surreal" five months waiting for the release of his parents, who lived in Afghanistan for 18 years, where they had citizenship and ran education projects. One of these projects involved training women and children and had apparently been approved by local authorities, despite the Taliban banning education for girls over 12-years-old and not allowing women to work. Reynolds said his parents had been held in harsh conditions — including a maximum security prison — despite being "deemed innocent" by a judge and facing no charges. "My dad was chained to murderers and criminals," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, adding that they had at one point been held in a basement for six weeks without sunlight, and not allowed out. The couple revealed "just how bad their health is" when they last had contact with their children on 15 June, Reynolds said. "My dad's health is deteriorating fast in particular," he said of the 80-year-old, who has a history of minor heart attacks. "Now he's maybe got something like early Parkinson's — tremors and shakes down the right side of his body, his arms and face," he told BBC Breakfast. He added that his father spent "half an hour convulsing on the prison floor" before his wife called for a prison guard to move him onto a "mattress pad on the floor" serving as a bed. Mrs Reynolds "has blue hands and feet to do with anaemia, malnutrition, just not getting the right healthcare," he added. Reynolds said he did not know his parents' exact location — and that he was unsure "that the demand has been made for their immediate release". "Every week it seems like we're told 'just wait two or three more days now... just hang tight'. "Week after week we're told that — and they're still in prison." However, he said he was grateful to the Foreign Office (FCDO) for the level of communication with the family. The couple have both had birthdays in prison, and last week marked their 55th wedding anniversary; they married in Kabul in 1970. Reynolds said: "I'm thankful they were together, but they're certainly not free." The UN likewise warned on Monday that the pair's health was quickly declining, and questioned why they were being held at all. "Without access to adequate medical care, they are at risk of irreparable harm or even death," read a statement by the UN's human rights body, which called for their immediate transfer to a civilian hospital. "We see no reason why this older couple should be detained at all, and have requested an immediate review of the grounds of their detention. "It is inhumane to keep them locked up in such degrading conditions and more worrying when their health is so fragile." It added that it had raised the couple's case with the Taliban and the UK. Taliban official Abdul Mateen Qani said in February: "A series of considerations is being taken into account, and after evaluation, we will endeavour to release them as soon as possible." The FCDO has been approached for a response. The UK shut its embassy in Kabul and withdrew its diplomats from the country after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. The FCDO says support for British nationals in Afghanistan is therefore "severely limited" and advises against all travel to the country. — BBC
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
The latest: Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 21 people, health authorities say
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 21 people late Tuesday and early Wednesday. More than half of those killed were women and children, health authorities said. Desperation is mounting in the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts say is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to chaos and violence around aid deliveries. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip, mostly near aid sites run by an American contractor, the UN human rights office said Tuesday. More than 100 human rights groups and charities signed a letter published Wednesday demanding more aid for Gaza and warning of grim conditions causing starvation. More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israel-Hamas war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Here is the latest: Overnight strikes kill at least 21. One Israeli strike hit a house Tuesday in the northwestern side of Gaza City killing at least 12 people, according to the Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The dead included six children and two women, according to the Health Ministry's casualty list. Another strike hit an apartment in the Tal al-Hawa area in northern Gaza killing at least six people. Among the dead were three children and two women, including one who was pregnant. Eight others were wounded, the ministry said. A third strike hit a tent in the Naser neighborhood in Gaza City late Tuesday and killed three children, Shifa Hospital said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes. It blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants operate from populated areas. Human rights groups and charities demand more Gaza aid. In the letter issued Wednesday by 109 human rights and charity groups, they warned of a dire situation pushing more people toward starvation. They said they were watching their own colleagues as well as the Palestinians they serve waste away. The letter slammed Israel for what it said were restrictions on aid into the war-ravaged territory. It lamented massacres at food distribution points, which have seen chaos and violence in recent weeks as desperation has risen. 'The government of Israel's restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,' the letter said. The letter called for aid to be scaled up as well as for a ceasefire. Israel says that it has allowed the entry of thousands of trucks since May and blames aid groups for not consistently delivering goods.
