Western Officials: Iran Supplies Sudan’s Army with Combat Drones

The war in Sudan began on 15 April 2023. Reuters file photo
The war in Sudan began on 15 April 2023. Reuters file photo
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Western Officials: Iran Supplies Sudan’s Army with Combat Drones

The war in Sudan began on 15 April 2023. Reuters file photo
The war in Sudan began on 15 April 2023. Reuters file photo

Iran has supplied Sudan’s army with combat drones, Bloomberg cited senior Western officials.

The war in Sudan between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, began on 15 April 2023.

Both factions have asserted their influence over various states. However, recent months have borne witness to a noteworthy surge in the RSF, gaining ground at the expense of the army, which has faced significant setbacks in key strategic locations, notably in Darfur and Gezira.

Sudan received shipments of the Mohajer-6, a single-engine unmanned aircraft manufactured in Iran that carries precision-guided munitions, said three Western officials, requesting anonymity to divulge sensitive information.

Analysts who examined satellite imagery confirmed the drone’s presence in the country.

Among the evidence proving the Mohajer-6’s presence in Sudan is a Jan. 9 satellite image of the UAV at the Wadi Sayyidna air base north of the capital, Khartoum, according to Wim Zwijnenburg, project leader of humanitarian disarmament at PAX, a Dutch organization seeking to foster peaceful societies.

He also identified a radio antenna from a control center inside a truck on the airstrip as a common sight where the UAV is operated.

The Mohajer-6 is capable of conducting air-to-surface attacks, electronic warfare and targeting on the battlefield, according to US officials.

Arming Sudan would bolster Tehran’s military sway in the broader Middle East - where it supports groups ranging from armed groups in Gaza to Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen - as well as groups in Syria and Iraq.

On Saturday, Sudan's Foreign Minister-designate Ali al-Sadiq met in Uganda with the Iranian First Vice President, Mohamed Mokhber, on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Kampala.

A Sudanese statement said the officials discussed restoring bilateral relations and accelerating steps to reopen embassies.

Sudan severed its relationship with Iran in 2016, but last October, its foreign ministry announced the resumption of diplomatic relations. No additional steps have been taken since then.

Sudan has a pivotal 800 km stretch of the Red Sea coastline. Its ports have become the center of international competition for major powers such as the US, China, Russia, and Türkiye. The growing influence of Iran in Sudan has raised significant international concerns.

“Regaining an ally in Sudan, especially along the Red Sea, would be a major win for Iran but will spook other regional and Western powers,” said Alan Boswell, Horn of Africa project director for the International Crisis Group.

The US has accused Iran of providing Mohajer-6 drones to Russia in its war against Ukraine. Washington last year expanded its Iran-related sanctions, citing Tehran’s “continued, deliberate proliferation of UAVs enabling Russia, its proxies in the Middle East and other destabilizing actors.”



UN Refugee Chief Says Airstrikes in Lebanon Have Violated Humanitarian Law

A general view shows damage in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Choueifat, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon, October 6, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer
A general view shows damage in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Choueifat, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon, October 6, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer
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UN Refugee Chief Says Airstrikes in Lebanon Have Violated Humanitarian Law

A general view shows damage in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Choueifat, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon, October 6, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer
A general view shows damage in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Choueifat, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon, October 6, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer

The United Nations' refugee chief Filippo Grandi said on Sunday that airstrikes in Lebanon had violated international humanitarian law by hitting civilian infrastructure and killing civilians, in reference to Israel's bombardment of the country.

"Unfortunately, many instances of violations of international humanitarian law in the way the airstrikes are conducted that have destroyed or damaged civilian infrastructure, have killed civilians, have impacted humanitarian operations," he told media in Beirut, Reuters reported.

Grandi was in Lebanon as it struggles to cope with the displacement of more than 1.2 million people as a result of an expanded Israeli air and ground operation.

Fighting had previously been mostly limited to the Israel-Lebanon border area, in parallel to Israel's war in Gaza against Palestinian group Hamas.

Grandi said all parties to the conflict and those with influence on them should "stop this carnage that is happening both in Gaza and in Lebanon today".

More than 2,000 people have been killed and nearly 10,000 wounded in Lebanon in nearly a year of fighting, most in the past two weeks, the Lebanese health ministry says. Israel says around 50 civilians and soldiers have been killed.

Israel says it targets military capabilities and takes steps to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, while Lebanese authorities say civilians have been targeted.

Israel accuses both Hezbollah and Hamas of hiding among civilians, which they deny.

Grandi said the World Health Organization briefed him "about egregious violations of IHL in respect of health facilities in particular that have been impacted in various locations of Lebanon", using an acronym for international humanitarian law.

Attacks on civilian homes may also be violations, though the matter requires further assessment, he said.

The fighting has led some 220,000 people to cross the Lebanese border with Syria, 70% of whom are Syrians and 30% Lebanese, Grandi said, saying these were conservative estimates.

Israel's bombardment of the main border crossing with Syria at Masnaa on Friday was "a huge obstacle", to those flows of people continuing, he said.

Many of the Syrians leaving Lebanon had sought refuge and fled war and a security crackdown after the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

Now was an opportunity for the Syrian government to show that returnees' "safety and ability to go back to their homes or wherever they need to go is respected", Grandi said.