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Fighting Resumes after Sudan Ceasefire

Smoke billows over Khartoum's Bahri district on June 21, 2023 as Sudan's warring generals resumed. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows over Khartoum's Bahri district on June 21, 2023 as Sudan's warring generals resumed. (Photo by AFP)
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Fighting Resumes after Sudan Ceasefire

Smoke billows over Khartoum's Bahri district on June 21, 2023 as Sudan's warring generals resumed. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows over Khartoum's Bahri district on June 21, 2023 as Sudan's warring generals resumed. (Photo by AFP)

Clashes resumed between Sudan's military and the Rapid Support Forces after a three-day ceasefire expired Wednesday morning.

Sudan descended into conflict in mid-April after months of worsening tensions exploded into open fighting between rival generals seeking to control the country.

The war pits the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, against the RSF commanded by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. Their main differences were over internationally backed plans for a transition away from military rule following a coup in 2021.

The ceasefire, brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States, expired Wednesday at 6 a.m. local time. The truce had brought relative calm to Sudan's capital, Khartoum, since it took effect, but fierce fighting was reported starting Tuesday night in parts of the city.

Residents said the clashes centered around an intelligence headquarters near Khartoum International Airport. There were sporadic clashes elsewhere in the capital, according to three people who live in the capital.

Fierce clashes were also reported around a military facility in the neighboring city of Omdurman, according to area resistance committees that are part of a wider group that spearheaded pro-democracy demonstrations over the past years.

The fighting has killed thousands of people and forced more than 2.5 million people to flee their homes to safer areas in Sudan and neighboring countries, according the UN migration agency.

The UN said Wednesday that within the last month, it has helped truck 17 tons of aid to various parts of Sudan, including 50 truckloads in the first two days of the latest ceasefire.

“We will continue to deliver, ceasefire or not,” UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said at the world body's headquarters, while emphasizing that the fighting needs to stop so that the world body can reach all people in need.

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Israel Says it Struck Hezbollah Weapons Smuggling Sites in Syria, Testing a Fragile Ceasefire

FILE PHOTO: Israeli soldiers patrol in Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon, on the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, as seen from Israel's side of the border, in northern Israel, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Israeli soldiers patrol in Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon, on the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, as seen from Israel's side of the border, in northern Israel, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov/File Photo
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Israel Says it Struck Hezbollah Weapons Smuggling Sites in Syria, Testing a Fragile Ceasefire

FILE PHOTO: Israeli soldiers patrol in Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon, on the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, as seen from Israel's side of the border, in northern Israel, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Israeli soldiers patrol in Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon, on the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, as seen from Israel's side of the border, in northern Israel, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov/File Photo

Israeli aircraft struck Hezbollah weapons smuggling sites along Syria's border with Lebanon, the Israeli military said Saturday, testing a fragile, days-old ceasefire that halted months of fighting between the sides but has seen continued sporadic fire.
The military said it struck sites that had been used to smuggle weapons from Syria to Lebanon after the ceasefire took effect, which the military said was a violation of its terms. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities or activists monitoring the conflict in that country. Hezbollah also did not immediately comment, The Associated Press said.
The Israeli strike, the latest of several since the ceasefire began on Wednesday, came as unrest spread to other areas of the Middle East, with Syrian insurgents breaching the country's largest city, Aleppo, in a shock offensive that added fresh uncertainty to a region reeling from multiple wars.
The truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, brokered by the United States and France, calls for an initial two-month ceasefire in which the militants are to withdraw north of Lebanon's Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border.
The repeated bursts of violence — with no reports of serious casualties — reflected the uneasy nature of the ceasefire that otherwise appeared to hold. While Israel has accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire, Lebanon has also accused Israel of the same in the days since it took effect.
Many Lebanese, some of the 1.2 million displaced in the conflict, were streaming south to their homes, despite warnings by the Israeli and Lebanese militaries to stay away from certain areas.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli drone attacked a car in the southern village of Majdal Zoun. The agency said there had been casualties but gave no further details. Majdal Zoun, near the Mediterranean Sea, is close to where Israeli troops still have a presence.
The military said earlier Saturday that its forces, who remain in southern Lebanon until they withdraw gradually over the 60-day period, had been operating to distance “suspects” in the region, without elaborating, and said troops had located and seized weapons found hidden in a mosque.
Israel says it reserves the right under the ceasefire to strike against any perceived violations. Israel has made returning the tens of thousands of displaced Israelis home the goal of the war with Hezbollah but Israelis, concerned Hezbollah was not deterred and could still attack northern communities, have been apprehensive about returning home.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and its assault on southern Israel the day before. Israel and Hezbollah kept up a low-level conflict of cross-border fire for nearly a year, until Israel escalated its fight with a sophisticated attack that detonated hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah fighters. It followed that up with an intense aerial bombardment campaign against Hezbollah assets, killing many of its top leaders including longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah, and it launched a ground invasion in early October.
More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.