Khartoum Region under Bombardment as Sudan's Rivals Talk

Bags of charcoal are sold on the side of a street in Khartoum to be used as fighting between rival Sudanese generals continues, on May 13, 2023. (AFP)
Bags of charcoal are sold on the side of a street in Khartoum to be used as fighting between rival Sudanese generals continues, on May 13, 2023. (AFP)
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Khartoum Region under Bombardment as Sudan's Rivals Talk

Bags of charcoal are sold on the side of a street in Khartoum to be used as fighting between rival Sudanese generals continues, on May 13, 2023. (AFP)
Bags of charcoal are sold on the side of a street in Khartoum to be used as fighting between rival Sudanese generals continues, on May 13, 2023. (AFP)

Shelling and air strikes pounded parts of Sudan's capital on Sunday with little sign that warring military factions were ready to back down in a conflict that has killed hundreds despite ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia.

Khartoum and the adjoining cities of Bahri and Omdurman across the Nile's two branches have been the main theater of conflict along with western Darfur province since the army and Rapid Support Forces paramilitary started fighting a month ago.

Shelling struck Bahri and air strikes hit Omdurman early on Sunday, according to a Reuters reporter and witnesses. Al Arabiya television reported heavy clashes in central Khartoum.

"There were heavy air strikes near us in Saliha that shook the doors of the house," said Salma Yassin, a teacher in Omdurman.

The fighting has killed hundreds of people, sent 200,000 into neighboring countries as refugees, displaced another 700,000 inside Sudan triggering a humanitarian catastrophe and threatens to draw in outside powers and destabilize the region.

The number of people killed in fighting on Friday and Saturday in Geneina, capital of West Darfur, reached more than 100, including the imam of the city's old mosque, the Darfur Bar Association said in a statement.

The local rights group blamed the killings, looting and arson in Geneina, where hundreds died in violence last month, on attacks by armed groups on motorbikes and the RSF. The RSF has denied responsibility for the unrest.

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, had shared power after a 2021 coup that itself followed a 2019 uprising that ousted Omar al-Bashir.

But they fell out over the terms and timing of a planned transition to civilian rule and neither man has shown he is ready for concessions, with the army controlling air power and the RSF dug deep into city districts.

Truce deals have been repeatedly broken but the United States and Saudi Arabia are mediating talks in Jeddah aimed at securing a lasting ceasefire.

"You don't know how long this war will continue ... The house became unsafe and we don't have enough money to travel out of Khartoum. Why are we paying the price of Burhan and Hemedti's war?" said Yassin, the teacher.

On Thursday the sides agreed a "declaration of principles" to protect civilians and secure humanitarian access, but with Sunday's discussions due to address.



Israel's Top General Resigns over Oct. 7 Failures

File Photo: A solidarity rally for Israeli hostages with Hamas in Tel Aviv on Tuesday (AFP)
File Photo: A solidarity rally for Israeli hostages with Hamas in Tel Aviv on Tuesday (AFP)
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Israel's Top General Resigns over Oct. 7 Failures

File Photo: A solidarity rally for Israeli hostages with Hamas in Tel Aviv on Tuesday (AFP)
File Photo: A solidarity rally for Israeli hostages with Hamas in Tel Aviv on Tuesday (AFP)

Israel's army chief Herzi Halevi said on Tuesday he would resign on March 6, taking responsibility for the massive security lapse on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas gunmen from Gaza carried out a cross-border attack on Israel.

Halevi, who had been widely expected to step down in the wake of the deadliest single day in Israel's history, said he would complete the Israel Defense Forces' inquiries into Oct. 7 and strengthen the IDF's readiness for security challenges. It was not immediately clear who would replace Halevi, who said he would transfer the IDF command to a yet-to-be-named successor.

Despite public anger over Oct. 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has resisted calls to open a state inquiry into its own responsibility for the security breach that resulted in 1,200 Israelis killed and about 250 hostages taken.

"On the morning of Oct. 7, the IDF failed in its mission to protect the citizens of Israel," Halevi wrote in his resignation letter to Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Israel, he added, paid a heavy price in terms of human lives and those kidnapped and wounded in "body and soul."

"My responsibility for the terrible failure accompanies me every day, hour by hour, and will do so for the rest of my life," said Halevi, a military veteran of four decades.

Halevi was in lockstep with former defense minister Yoav Gallant, who was fired by Netanyahu in November, and at loggerheads with some ministers over military conscription exemptions given to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students.

A number of senior military officers have already resigned over the failures of Oct. 7, and the head of the military's Southern Command, Major-General Yaron Finkelman, also announced he would be resigning.

After 15 months of war in Gaza, the first phase of a ceasefire deal with Hamas went into effect on Sunday, with three hostages being released among a planned 33 in the next six weeks. Some 94 hostages are believed to remain in Gaza, though some may have since died in captivity.

HARDLINERS RAPPED HALEVI'S CONDUCT OF GAZA WAR

Katz thanked Halevi for his contributions to the military and that he would continue to fulfill his duties until a successor is named, while there would be an orderly search for his replacement. Netanyahu also accepted Halevi's resignation.

Halevi was often criticized by hardliners in Netanyahu's government including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said his conduct of the war in Gaza was too soft.

More than 46,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict since October 2023 and the heavily built-up territory has been widely demolished by Israeli bombardments and airstrikes.

Smotrich on Tuesday praised Halevi for the military's success in shattering Hamas' military capabilities during the war but also put blame on his shoulders for the Oct. 7 debacle.

"My criticism of his failure in the campaign to eliminate Hamas' civilian and governmental capabilities, as well as his responsibility for the October 7th failure, does not diminish the great gratitude we owe him for all his work and contributions over the years and his achievements," said Smotrich, who opposed the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

"The coming period will be marked by the replacement of the senior military command as part of preparations for the renewal of the war, this time in the West Bank until complete victory."

Halevi said that despite the failings of Oct. 7, Israel had notched many military achievements since then which had "changed the Middle East".  

He pointed to Israel's military degradation of Hamas that had created conditions for returning hostages, its "unprecedented" damage inflicted on Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, a significantly weakened Iran, and its destruction of significant parts of Syria's military.