Fighting in Sudan’s Capital, South after Generals Briefly Surface

A picture taken from Omdurman shows smoke billowing in the distance in Khartoum North amid ongoing fighting in war-torn Sudan, on July 18, 2023. (AFP)
A picture taken from Omdurman shows smoke billowing in the distance in Khartoum North amid ongoing fighting in war-torn Sudan, on July 18, 2023. (AFP)
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Fighting in Sudan’s Capital, South after Generals Briefly Surface

A picture taken from Omdurman shows smoke billowing in the distance in Khartoum North amid ongoing fighting in war-torn Sudan, on July 18, 2023. (AFP)
A picture taken from Omdurman shows smoke billowing in the distance in Khartoum North amid ongoing fighting in war-torn Sudan, on July 18, 2023. (AFP)

Air strikes, street battles and artillery fire shook Sudan's capital Khartoum and the major southern city of El-Obeid on Thursday, witnesses told AFP.

"Artillery fire targeted paramilitary bases of the Rapid Support Forces," said a resident of El-Obeid, 350 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of Khartoum.

Fighting between the RSF and the regular army, led by feuding generals, has killed at least 3,000 people and displaced more than 3.3 million since April 15.

Army jets on Thursday were striking paramilitaries, who were responding with anti-aircraft fire, said another El-Obeid resident, who asked not to be named for security reasons.

In Khartoum's south, witnesses reported three air raids in the early morning.

"The blasts were terrifying," one of them told AFP.

The army on Wednesday accused the RSF of targeting a residential area of the capital in a drone strike that left "14 civilians dead and 15 injured".

Residents told AFP at least 13 civilians were killed.

The conflict pits army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

'Victory or martyrdom'

Burhan on Tuesday appeared in rare video footage shortly after an audio recording of Daglo was released.

In the video clip of less than one minute, Burhan, carrying a pistol and an automatic rifle, and donning a T-shirt and cargo pants, is seen in the army headquarters as he greets the army top brass.

The massive complex in central Khartoum has been the site of frequent clashes between the warring sides.

Daglo was last seen in a short video clip the paramilitaries shot in the early days of the conflict that is now in its fourth month.

But he has released several audio recordings since, the latest on Monday evening in which he told Sudanese he was willing to "choose peace" but remained "ready for war".

The combatants loyal to him would fight until "victory or martyrdom", Daglo said.

The RSF chief also mentioned the vast western region of Darfur, which in the early 2000s saw a bloody war and which has been hit by some of the worst violence in the new conflict.

The International Criminal Court has opened a new probe into alleged war crimes in Darfur, its chief prosecutor Karim Khan said last week.

He warned against "allowing history to repeat itself" in Darfur, where 300,000 people were killed in a conflict from 2003 that led the ICC to charge former leader Omar al-Bashir with genocide.



Lebanon Returns 70 Officers and Soldiers to Syria, Security Official Says

A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
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Lebanon Returns 70 Officers and Soldiers to Syria, Security Official Says

A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)

Lebanon expelled around 70 Syrian officers and soldiers on Saturday, returning them to Syria after they crossed into the country illegally via informal routes, a Lebanese security official and a war monitor said.

Many senior Syrian officials and people close to the former ruling family of Bashar al-Assad fled the country to neighboring Lebanon after Assad's regime was toppled on Dec 8.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based organization with sources in Syria, and the Lebanese security official said Syrian military personnel of various ranks had been sent back via Lebanon's northern Arida crossing.

SOHR and the security official said the returnees were detained by Syria's new ruling authorities after crossing the border.

The new administration has been undertaking a major security crackdown in recent days on what they say are "remnants" of the Assad regime.

Several of the cities and towns concerned, including in Homs and Tartous provinces, are near the porous border with Lebanon.

The Lebanese security official said the Syrian officers and soldiers were found in a truck in the northern coastal city of Jbeil after an inspection by local officials.

Lebanese and Syrian government officials did not immediately respond to written requests for comment on the incident.

Reuters reported on Friday that Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of Assad charged in Switzerland with war crimes over the bloody suppression of a revolt in 1982, had flown out of Beirut recently, as had "many members" of the Assad family.

Earlier this month, Lebanese caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said top Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban had flown out of Beirut after entering Lebanon legally.

In an interview with Al Arabiya, Mawlawi said other Syrian officials had entered Lebanon illegally and were being pursued.