RSF Drone Strike Kills Several in Sudan Hospital

File photo of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (AP)
File photo of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (AP)
TT
20

RSF Drone Strike Kills Several in Sudan Hospital

File photo of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (AP)
File photo of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (AP)

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces bombarded El-Obeid on Friday, killing six people in a hospital in the key southern city, medical and army sources said.

"The militia launched a drone strike on the Social Insurance Hospital, killing six and wounding 12, simultaneously attacking residential areas of the city with heavy artillery," an army source told AFP, adding that the bombardment had also hit a second hospital in the city center.

A medical source at El-Obeid Hospital, the city's main facility, confirmed the toll, adding that the Social Insurance Hospital had been forced shut "due to damage" sustained in the drone strike.

El-Obeid, a strategic city 400 kilometres (250 miles) southwest of Khartoum which is the capital of North Kordofan state, was besieged by the RSF for nearly two years before the regular army broke the siege in February.

It was one of a series of counteroffensives that also saw the army recapture Khartoum, but El-Obeid has continued to come under RSF bombardment.

The city is a key staging post on the army's supply route to the west, where the besieged city of El-Fasher is the only state capital in the vast Darfur region still under its control.

The RSF and the army have clashed repeatedly along the road between El-Obeid and El-Fasher in recent weeks.

On Thursday, the RSF said they retaken the town of Al-Khoei, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of El-Obeid, after the army recaptured it earlier this month.

The war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 13 million since it erupted in April 2023.

The United Nation says the conflict has created the world's biggest hunger and displacement crises.

It has also effectively split Sudan in two, with the army holding the centre, east and north, while the RSF forces and their allies control nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south.

Since losing Khartoum in March, the RSF has adopted a two-prong strategy: long-range drone strikes on army-held cities accompanied by a counteroffensive in the south.

On Thursday, the RSF also announced they had recaptured Dibeibat, in South Kordofan state some 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of El-Obeid, another town that the army had retaken earlier this month.

Swathes of South Kordofan are controlled by a rebel group allied with the RSF, Abdelaziz al-Hilu's faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North.



Egypt Welcomes Tehran’s Renaming of ‘Islamabouli Street’ as a Turning Point in Relations with Iran

Relations between Egypt and Iran saw a notable thaw following Araghchi’s visit to Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
Relations between Egypt and Iran saw a notable thaw following Araghchi’s visit to Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
TT
20

Egypt Welcomes Tehran’s Renaming of ‘Islamabouli Street’ as a Turning Point in Relations with Iran

Relations between Egypt and Iran saw a notable thaw following Araghchi’s visit to Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
Relations between Egypt and Iran saw a notable thaw following Araghchi’s visit to Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)

Egypt has welcomed Iran’s decision to rename a Tehran street once dedicated to Khalid al-Islamabouli - the Egyptian army officer who assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981 - describing the move as a significant step toward resetting bilateral relations.

In the first official Egyptian response to the development, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ambassador Tamim Khallaf told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Renaming the street is a positive step in Egyptian-Iranian relations. It helps put matters back on the right track.”

The street, long a source of tension between Cairo and Tehran, has now been renamed after Hassan Nasrallah, the former Secretary-General of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, following a decision by the Tehran City Council.

Iranian media reported that a formal ceremony was held to unveil the new name, attended by officials, intellectuals, and civil society figures. The change was part of a wider initiative that saw 11 streets in the capital renamed last month.

Dr. Hoda Raouf, a Cairo-based expert on Iranian affairs, said the move reflects “a meaningful shift and a clear sign of Iran’s serious intent to restore relations with Egypt.”

She noted that Egyptian-Iranian ties have two key dimensions: regional security - particularly Egypt’s opposition to Iranian interference in countries such as Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen - and the bilateral relationship, which has long been strained over symbolic gestures such as honoring Sadat’s assassin.

Political philosopher and Iran specialist Dr. Mohamed Khairy echoed that assessment, calling the street name change “a significant development.”

He emphasized that the decision was passed by majority vote and attended by influential figures from Iran’s political establishment, which he said reflects a genuine desire within Iran to repair ties with Cairo.

The gesture comes amid signs of warming relations between the two nations. Iranian top diplomat Abbas Araghchi recently visited Cairo, where he met President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and senior officials.

His visit included a symbolic walk through the historic Khan el-Khalili bazaar, prayers at the Al-Hussein Mosque, and dinner at the famed Naguib Mahfouz restaurant.

Sisi also held a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during the recent Israeli escalation against Iran, in which he affirmed Egypt’s rejection of Israeli attacks on Iranian territory.