Sudan Army, RSF Trade Blames for Fires at Khartoum Refinery

FILE PHOTO: Plumes of smoke rise during clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Plumes of smoke rise during clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
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Sudan Army, RSF Trade Blames for Fires at Khartoum Refinery

FILE PHOTO: Plumes of smoke rise during clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Plumes of smoke rise during clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

The Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Thursday accused each other of attacking the Khartoum refinery in Al-Jaili.

The army and the forces led by commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo have traded blame since the civil conflict erupted almost two years ago.

"The terrorist militia of Al-Dagalo deliberately set fire to the Khartoum refinery in Al-Jaili this morning in a desperate attempt to destroy the infrastructures of this country, after despairing of achieving its illusions of seizing its resources and land," the Sudanese army said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, the RSF said the army launched airstrikes on the refinery.

"The ongoing aerial bombardment of the refinery, the latest of which was this morning, which led to its destruction, represents a full-fledged war crime," Reuters quoted the RSF as saying in a statement.

Earlier this month, the army and allied forces recaptured the state capital Wad Madani from the RSF, a strategic city that could mark a turning point in the ethnic violence that has caused the world's largest internal displacement crisis.

The army and the RSF together led a coup in 2021, removing Sudan's civilian leadership, but fell out less than two years later over plans to integrate their forces.



Residents Leave Homes in Jenin as Israeli Raid Continues

Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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Residents Leave Homes in Jenin as Israeli Raid Continues

Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

Israeli drones fitted with loudspeakers ordered people to leave their homes in Jenin on Thursday, residents said, as the military demolished a number of houses on the third day of a major operation in the West Bank city.
The operation, involving large columns of vehicles backed by helicopters and drones, was launched in the first week of a ceasefire in Gaza that saw the first exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails since a brief truce in November 2023.
Israeli officials said the Jenin operation was aimed at what the military said were Iranian-backed militant groups in the refugee camp adjacent to the city, a major hub for armed Palestinian groups for years.
"We need to be prepared to continue in the Jenin camp that will bring it to a different place," Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, the head of the Israeli military, said in a statement.
Armored bulldozers have dug up roads and hundreds of people left their homes in the camp, after residents said they were ordered to evacuate, Reuters reported.
"Yesterday, we did not want to leave, we were at home," said 16-year-old Hussam Saadi. "Today, they sent down a drone to our neighborhood, telling us to leave the camp and that they will blow it up."
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Overnight on Wednesday, Israeli troops killed two armed men barricaded inside a building in Burqin, outside Jenin, after a gunfight. The two were suspected of carrying out an attack near the Palestinian village of al-Funduq earlier this month, in which three Israelis were killed.
Both were claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, which has a strong presence in the refugee camp, a crowded township for descendants of Palestinians who fled, or were forced, from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war.
Overall since the start of the operation, 12 Palestinians have been killed and 40 more wounded, Palestinian health officials said.
The raid, the third major operation by the Israeli military in Jenin in under two years, drew warnings from France and Jordan against an escalation in the West Bank, which has seen a surge in violence since the start of the war in Gaza.