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Sudan’s Military Leader Survives Drone Strike That Killed 5, Says Army

FILED - 23 October 2019, Russia, Sochi: Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chairperson and Army Commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan attends the Russia-Africa summit. Photo: Kremlin/dpa
FILED - 23 October 2019, Russia, Sochi: Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chairperson and Army Commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan attends the Russia-Africa summit. Photo: Kremlin/dpa
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Sudan’s Military Leader Survives Drone Strike That Killed 5, Says Army

FILED - 23 October 2019, Russia, Sochi: Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chairperson and Army Commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan attends the Russia-Africa summit. Photo: Kremlin/dpa
FILED - 23 October 2019, Russia, Sochi: Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chairperson and Army Commander General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan attends the Russia-Africa summit. Photo: Kremlin/dpa

Sudan’s military leader, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, survived a drone attack Wednesday on an army graduation ceremony he was attending in the country’s east, the military said. The attack that killed five people was the latest twist in the conflict Sudan has been going through since a popular uprising removed its veteran leader Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

The attack by two drones took place in the town of Gebeit after the ceremony was concluded, the military added. Burhan was not hurt, according to Lt. Col. Hassan Ibrahim, from the military spokesman's office.

Videos posted by Al Araby TV showed multiple people running along a dusty road at the time of the drone attack, while other footage showed people at the graduation ceremony apparently looking to the sky as the drone strike hit.

Another video posted on Facebook by the Sudanese Armed Forces showed a crowd of people gathering around Burhan following the drone strike, cheering for him as he smiled.

“A spontaneous popular gathering of the people of the Jebait region with the President of the Sovereign Council and Commander-in-Chief following the graduation of a new batch of officers,” the post read.

Sudan has been torn by war for more than a year between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). With fighting in the capital, Khartoum, the military leadership largely operates out of eastern Sudan near the Red Sea Coast.

The RSF has not commented on the assassination attempt yet, which comes nearly a week after its leader said that he planned to attend ceasefire talks in Switzerland next month.

Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the RSF, emphasized at the time that the talks would become “a major step” toward peace and stability in Sudan and create a new state based on “justice, equality and federal rule.”

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday responded to the US invitation to the talks in Geneva, saying the military-controlled Sudanese government is prepared to take part but said that any negotiation before implementing the Jeddah Declaration “wouldn’t be acceptable to the Sudanese people.”

The Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect Civilians passed last year meant to end the conflict, but neither side committed to its objectives.

Representatives from the Sudanese Army and the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamadan Dagalo, engaged in revived talks brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia in Jeddah, focusing on the delivery of humanitarian aid, achieving ceasefires and paving the way toward a permanent cessation of aggression, among other objectives.

In its Tuesday statement, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry accused the RSF of being the only party that attacks cities, villages and civilians. The military-controlled Sudanese government demanded sanctions be imposed on “rebels to stop their continuous aggression, end their siege on cities, and open roads.”

“Those taking part in the initiative are the same as the parties who participated in the Jeddah talks, and the topics are identical to what was agreed upon,” the statement read.

The ministry added that the military-led government must be consulted about the planned agenda for any negotiations and parties taking part, with the provisions in the Jeddah Declaration being the basis of future talks.

The conflict has created the world’s largest displacement crisis with more than 10 million people forced to flee their homes since April 2023, according to the UN migration agency. They include more than 2.2 million who crossed into neighboring countries, it said.

 

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Arab World

Truce Gradually Draws South Beirut Residents Back Home

A branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan in Beirut’s southern suburbs after it was hit by an Israeli strike during the 2024 war (File photo, Asharq Al-Awsat)
A branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan in Beirut’s southern suburbs after it was hit by an Israeli strike during the 2024 war (File photo, Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Truce Gradually Draws South Beirut Residents Back Home

A branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan in Beirut’s southern suburbs after it was hit by an Israeli strike during the 2024 war (File photo, Asharq Al-Awsat)
A branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan in Beirut’s southern suburbs after it was hit by an Israeli strike during the 2024 war (File photo, Asharq Al-Awsat)

Residents are gradually returning to Beirut’s southern suburbs after a ceasefire agreement was extended for six weeks, three months after they were displaced from the area, and after the suburbs were largely spared Israeli bombardment during the truce.

Residents say they have no choice but to return after experiencing the hardship of displacement and a sense of joblessness.

The return to the southern suburbs began early this week, although residents told Asharq Al-Awsat that complete reassurance remains absent. They said returning to livelihoods and homes had become necessary, driven by the need to restore the rhythm of daily life.

Livelihoods reopen doors

In an area where a large part of the population depends on self-employment and small shops, restoring livelihoods has become essential to restarting life itself.

Ali Zeineddine, a father of two and the owner of a clothing shop in Beirut’s southern suburbs, said, “People are returning because they have work, a business, or a source of income. Today, the return is tied more to earning a living than to feeling reassured.”

He said owning the shop helped him reopen at a time when many others faced difficulty returning because of rent burdens and losses. But reopening did not mean life had fully returned to what it was before.

“There is movement, but it is timid. There is buying and selling on a limited scale, but it helps cover part of the family’s expenses,” he said.

He added that the pattern of life itself had changed after the war.

“Before the war, we used to work until late at night. Today, I open in the morning and close earlier, before sunset, because people’s movement has changed. Many come down during the day and then leave in the evening, so the night is no longer what it used to be.”

He said the overall scene still reflects a gradual return rather than full stability. “People are trying to restore their lives with what is available, but no one is acting as if everything has returned to normal.”

A long wait

Wissam Shehab, the owner of a vegetable shop and a father supporting a family of five, had not initially planned to return quickly, but found himself facing a different reality as time passed.

“We returned because my source of income is here. My shop is in the southern suburbs, and it is how I live and support my family. At first, we thought the displacement phase would be short and that it only needed some time. But when the period began to drag on, it was no longer possible to keep life suspended,” he said.

He added that keeping the family in an open-ended state of waiting would make matters more complicated, both economically and psychologically. That is why he decided to return and settle in his home again.

But the return did not lead him to rule out other possibilities. “We kept our place of displacement in Mount Lebanon as it is, in case of any new developments. It is true that we returned and settled in the southern suburbs, but no one feels that conditions have become fully settled,” he said.

Shehab said the feeling of insecurity was no longer tied to one particular area. “The southern suburbs today appear relatively spared, but insecurity has become a general condition people feel wherever they are.”

Return does not end displacement

By contrast, Umm Hassan Harqous and her family have not yet decided to return fully. The family still moves between the southern suburbs and Bchamoun, where they are currently displaced.

She said she goes down to the suburbs during the day and leaves before sunset, because, for her, returning does not simply mean opening the house door for a few hours.

She explained that the reasons for delaying the return are not only security concerns but also the loss of the source of income on which the family had depended. The grocery shop that had provided its main income became a means of survival during the war, after the family relied on the food items inside it during the displacement period.

“We lived on what was in the shop, and we gradually consumed its contents during the war so we could continue,” she said.

“How can a person return and settle if their very source of livelihood has stopped? Return is not just about a home. People need work and a life they can sustain,” she added.

She said members of her family had also suffered professional and livelihood losses, making the decision to return fully more difficult.

Institutions wait, individuals return

Sawsan Ammar, a teacher at a school in Beirut’s southern suburbs, said schools located deep inside the suburbs, including the one where she works, have not yet reopened due to concerns about the safety of students and teaching staff.

“There is no need to take risks while instability continues,” she said.

She noted that educational institutions differ by nature from individual businesses. “It is not about one person making a decision for themselves, but about hundreds of students and employees.”

Home is less harsh than displacement

On the other side, Hassan Maatouk sums up another aspect of the scene. The man, who had been living with his family in a school designated for displaced people, decided to return home despite realizing that fears remain.

“Returning home, even with a relative risk, remains better than staying in a state of continuous displacement,” he said.

He added that the long period of displacement had left a deep psychological impact. “When a person lives for a long time outside their home, they feel as if they are living a temporary life, as if they are a guest in a place that is not theirs.”

“No one can say they returned because they are no longer afraid, but people grow tired of the life of waiting itself,” he said.

Arab World

Families of Beirut Strike Victims Vow to Fight for Justice

Ghida Krisht and Wael Sabbagh both lost relatives in an Israeli strikes. Anwar AMRO / AFP
Ghida Krisht and Wael Sabbagh both lost relatives in an Israeli strikes. Anwar AMRO / AFP
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Families of Beirut Strike Victims Vow to Fight for Justice

Ghida Krisht and Wael Sabbagh both lost relatives in an Israeli strikes. Anwar AMRO / AFP
Ghida Krisht and Wael Sabbagh both lost relatives in an Israeli strikes. Anwar AMRO / AFP

Standing before their devastated building in central Beirut, childhood neighbors Wael Sabbagh and Ghida Krisht vow to fight for justice after an Israeli strike killed their family members.

On April 8, hours after a ceasefire was announced between the United States and Iran, Israel launched a massive wave of airstrikes across Lebanon including the heart of the capital, killing more than 350 people.

Sabbagh's mother and brother, and Krisht's parents and another relative, were killed in a strike on a building in central Beirut's well-off Tallet al-Khayat district, on what Lebanese now refer to as Black Wednesday.

Their parents had lived there for decades and thought they would be safe, said AFP.

"I lost my mother, my brother, my home, my childhood," said Sabbagh, 52, a businessman who now lives in Mexico.

Through images online, he came to the heart-wrenching realization that his family's building had been struck.

"Nine people were killed in the building... It gets talked about as if they were just numbers, but they were our loved ones," he said, lighting one cigarette after another.

Sabbagh said he and Krisht are putting together a legal file to demand justice even though "the road will be long".

"There are people that do not have the emotional capacity... the financial ability, people that are not connected in any way to be able to reach any accountability," he said.

"We do have a voice, we are connected, we are emotionally strong, in spite of everything that's happened to us, to demand accountability."

- 'My brother's bracelet' -

In the ruins, Sabbagh picked out bits of his family's shattered life -- a scrap of his mother Afaf's bedspread, chunks of wooden furniture from their dining room, a red sofa cushion.

"This is my brother Hassan's bracelet," he said, showing it on his wrist, his voice trembling.

It took three days to identify the body of his brother, who was wearing the bracelet at the time.

Krisht's mother -- well-known poet Khatoun Salma, 70 -- was killed along with her father Mohammed, 72, and a relative who had fled Israeli bombardment on south Lebanon's Tyre region.

"As soon as I learnt about the strike, I called my father but the line was off. I called my mother, but her phone rang out," said Krisht, 41, who works for a humanitarian organization and lives in another Beirut district that was also hit that day.

Rescuers did not let her see her parents disfigured faces -- just their hands and feet.

She said she recognized her mother's from her red nail polish.

"We want to gather all the testimonies and evidence we can to document this and have a complete case. We can't be silent about what happened," she said.

"We to want to pursue the path to international justice" and be an example for other victims' families, she added.

Until now, only French-Lebanese artist Ali Cherri has launched legal action in France after parents were killed in a 2024 Israeli strike on their residential building in Beirut.

Lebanon says Israeli attacks since the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2 have killed more than 3,000 people.

- 'Did you see the smoke?' -

"There were no weapons in the building. There was no political activity. There was no reason to destroy this building and its inhabitants," Sabbagh said.

Shortly after the Tallet al-Khayat strike, Israel's army said it had "struck a Hezbollah commander in Beirut".

Krisht's parents and their relative were on the sixth floor, while Sabbagh's mother and brother lived on the seventh.

Sabbagh said the owner of the building, who lived on the eighth floor, was also killed, as well as an elderly man, his son and their Ethiopian housekeeper who lived on the third.

The man and his son had the same surname as a Hezbollah official who Israel a day after the strike said it killed in Beirut on April 8, without specifying where.

Israel's army identified the official as Ali Yusuf Harshi, saying he was the "personal secretary and nephew of Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem".

Hezbollah never confirmed his death.

With part of the nine-story building still standing, Sabbagh was able to use a crane to reach one of his mother's cupboards and retrieve a photo album.

Krisht managed to find a purse with her mother's last hand-written poem inside.

"Did you see the smoke?

Did you smell the fire?

Did you gather up my weakness?

Did you gather up my weariness, or see how pieces of me are scattered?"

Arab World

Morocco, France Prepare Treaty to Foster Ties

France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) is received by Morocco's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita (R) in Rabat on May 20, 2026. (AFP)
France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) is received by Morocco's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita (R) in Rabat on May 20, 2026. (AFP)
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Morocco, France Prepare Treaty to Foster Ties

France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) is received by Morocco's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita (R) in Rabat on May 20, 2026. (AFP)
France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) is received by Morocco's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita (R) in Rabat on May 20, 2026. (AFP)

Moroccan and French foreign ministers said on Wednesday the two countries are preparing to sign a treaty to strengthen ties during an upcoming state visit by King Mohammed VI to France.

The treaty will be the first Morocco signs with a European country, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser ‌Bourita told reporters after ‌talks with his French counterpart, ‌Jean-Noel ⁠Barrot.

The two ministers ⁠did not specify when the King's visit will take place. Relations between the two countries have improved since Paris recognized Rabat's sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara territory in 2024.

"Moroccan-French partnership is living its best era at all levels," Bourita said, citing defense industry, ⁠security, aeronautic cooperation.

Barrot also said that "this will be ‌the first treaty of ‌its kind with a non-European country," adding that the goal ‌is to lay the basis for long-term relations ‌between the two countries.

Neither party specified what the treaty implies and its details.

France backs the resumption of direct talks between parties involved in the Western Sahara conflict on the ‌basis of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty and in line with the most recent UN Security ⁠Council ⁠resolution 2797, Barrot said.

This position led to worsening ties with Algeria which hosts and backs the Polisario Front, an armed group seeking Western Sahara's independence.

Morocco is France's top economic partner in Africa, and a logistical and financial hub between France and part of the continent, Barrot said, adding that it was "natural" for the two countries to work together in Africa.