Drone Strikes Hit Port Sudan Airport and Army Base in Third Consecutive Day of Attacks.
By Caroline Ameh
Drone strikes targeted Port Sudan’s airport and a central army base on Tuesday, making it the third consecutive day of attacks on the city that serves as the Sudanese government’s de facto capital and last major stronghold amid the ongoing civil war.
An official at Port Sudan Airport told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that a drone hit the civilian section of the airport early Tuesday, grounding all flights at the country’s main international entry point. The strike came just two days after the facility’s military section was first targeted in drone attacks the army attributes to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Simultaneously, a drone hit the main army base in Port Sudan’s city centre, an army source confirmed. Eyewitnesses reported that a nearby hotel was also damaged. A third drone strike targeted a major fuel depot near the southern port, sparking a massive fire in a densely populated area where hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians and aid workers have taken refuge.
Explosions rocked the coastal city at dawn, with thick plumes of smoke rising from the port area and the damaged fuel depot, AFP correspondents on the ground reported. Witnesses in northern Port Sudan described hearing anti-aircraft fire as the military responded.
The attacks follow a devastating strike on Monday that hit Sudan’s largest fuel depot just south of the city. That attack, also blamed on the RSF, caused a massive fire and further endangered civilians in what had previously been considered a safe haven amid the two-year war.
Both the airport and the army base are located near the residence of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s military and the internationally recognized government. Al-Burhan has been locked in a brutal conflict with his former deputy, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, since April 2023.
The RSF has increasingly turned to drone warfare since losing control of Khartoum in March. Experts say this shift has extended their reach into army-held territory and disrupted military supply lines. The Sudanese army has accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying the RSF with both improvised and advanced drone systems.
The United Nations and aid agencies, many of which relocated to Port Sudan after fleeing the capital, have warned that the recent escalation jeopardizes already-precarious humanitarian operations. UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday called the RSF strikes “a worrying development threatening the protection of civilians and humanitarian operations.”
Nearly all humanitarian aid into famine-stricken Sudan now flows through Port Sudan, where 25 million people face severe food insecurity. A traveller told AFP that Tuesday’s airport strike ignited fires in multiple buildings and also targeted fuel depots.
The RSF has previously attacked critical civilian infrastructure in army-controlled areas, causing power blackouts for millions. The broader conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million people, and sparked what the UN has called the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis.
Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice on Monday dismissed a case filed by Sudan accusing the UAE of complicity in genocide through its alleged support for the RSF. The court ruled it lacked jurisdiction due to the UAE’s 2005 reservation to the UN genocide convention. Sudan’s foreign ministry said Tuesday it “respected” the ICJ’s decision.
