31 Killed in Sudanese City of Sennar Reportedly Killed by RSF

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces in the capital Khartoum (file photo- Reuters)
Sudan's Rapid Support Forces in the capital Khartoum (file photo- Reuters)
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31 Killed in Sudanese City of Sennar Reportedly Killed by RSF

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces in the capital Khartoum (file photo- Reuters)
Sudan's Rapid Support Forces in the capital Khartoum (file photo- Reuters)

At least 31 people have been killed and 100 wounded by an assault blamed on the Rapid Support Forces on the city of Sennar in southeastern Sudan on Sunday, a legal activist group said.

Several parts of the city including the main market have been targeted by RSF artillery fire, said Emergency Lawyers, which has monitored civilian deaths and other humanitarian violations, Reuters reported.

The progress of the RSF, which already controls most of Sennar and at least half of the country, has slowed in the southeast as heavy rains have made movement difficult.

Its war with Sudan's army has created the world's largest hunger and internal displacement crises, killing tens of thousands of civilians and destroying most of Sudan's infrastructure and economy.

Emergency Lawyers said the army had killed at least four people in al-Souki, a town near Sennar, during airstrikes. The RSF killed one person and wounded 17 in artillery strikes on el-Obeid, another town it has struggled to assert full control of.

Both sides in Sudan's 18-month-old civil war have committed abuses that may amount to war crimes, a UN-mandated mission said on Friday, calling for peacekeepers and a country-wide arms embargo.

On Saturday, Sudan's army-aligned foreign ministry rejected both recommendations, calling the idea of international peacekeepers "the wish of Sudan's enemies and it will not be fulfilled."



Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said his administration would announce the new structure of the defense ministry and military within days.

In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, al-Sharaa said that his administration would not allow for arms outside the control of the state.

An official source told Reuters on Saturday that Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency that toppled Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, had been named as defense minister in the interim government.
Sharaa did not mention the appointment of a new defense minister on Sunday.
Sharaa discussed the form military institutions would take during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA said.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said last week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former opposition factions and officers who defected from Assad's army.

Earlier Sunday, Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks with al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Jumblatt expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he added.