Drone Strikes on Sudan Markets Kill 33

Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals' forces have entered their third week.(Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals' forces have entered their third week.(Photo by AFP)
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Drone Strikes on Sudan Markets Kill 33

Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals' forces have entered their third week.(Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals' forces have entered their third week.(Photo by AFP)

A drone attack hit two markets in RSF-controlled towns in southwest Sudan, killing 33 people, a medical source told AFP on Sunday.

The strikes targeted the markets of Abu Zabad and Wad Banda in West Kordofan state -- part of the resource-rich Kordofan region that is currently the fiercest battlefield in the nearly three-year war between Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces.

A doctor at Abu Zabad hospital, one of the few medical facilities still serving the area, said two drones struck the markets on Saturday, injuring 59 people.

Speaking via a Starlink connection and requesting anonymity, the doctor said 30 of the wounded remain receiving treatment. The two towns lie roughly 15 kilometres (9 miles) apart.

A resident of Abu Zabad town, Hamad Abdullah, said he helped bury 20 people on Saturday following what he described as an army drone strike on the town's market.

"Four of them were my relatives who worked in the market," he told AFP.

A military source rejected the accusations, telling AFP that the "armed forces do not bombard civilian areas".

"This is a lie with no basis. We only target rebels, their equipment and their weapons depots," the source said, requesting anonymity because they are not authorised to brief the media.

Since war broke out in April 2023, both sides have been accused of war crimes including targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million and fuelled what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.



Lebanon Postpones Parliamentary Elections by Two Years

Lebanon's parliament Speaker Nabih Berri heads a parliamentary session at the headquarters in Beirut on March 9, 2026. (AFP)
Lebanon's parliament Speaker Nabih Berri heads a parliamentary session at the headquarters in Beirut on March 9, 2026. (AFP)
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Lebanon Postpones Parliamentary Elections by Two Years

Lebanon's parliament Speaker Nabih Berri heads a parliamentary session at the headquarters in Beirut on March 9, 2026. (AFP)
Lebanon's parliament Speaker Nabih Berri heads a parliamentary session at the headquarters in Beirut on March 9, 2026. (AFP)

Lebanon's parliament on Monday postponed legislative elections, initially due to be held in May, by two years, according to a statement from the parliament speaker, due to the war between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

MPs convened on Monday including Mohammed Raad, head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, even as Israeli warplanes flew above the nearby southern suburbs of Beirut.


Israel Strikes Beirut's Southern Suburbs after Warning

Smoke plumes rise from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on March 9, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)
Smoke plumes rise from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on March 9, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)
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Israel Strikes Beirut's Southern Suburbs after Warning

Smoke plumes rise from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on March 9, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)
Smoke plumes rise from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on March 9, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)

Israel on Monday renewed its strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanese state media reported, after Israel warned it would target branches of a financial firm linked to Hezbollah. 

Footage on AFPTV's live broadcast showed large plumes of smoke rising from the area, where the Iran-backed group holds sway. 

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military warned it would strike branches of Al-Qard al-Hassan, a financial firm mainly operating in Hezbollah strongholds across Lebanon's south, east and Beirut's southern suburbs. 

Israel launched at least three strikes Monday on Beirut's south, according to the state-run National News Agency and AFP correspondents. 

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Iran-backed group Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes. 

Israel, which had kept up strikes targeting Hezbollah even before the war despite a 2024 ceasefire, launched multiple attacks last week across Lebanon and sent ground troops into border areas. 

Roads leading to one of Al-Qard al-Hassan's branches in Beirut were closed on Monday, according to witnesses. 

In Lebanon's southern city of Sidon, an area outside of Hezbollah's traditional strongholds, an AFP correspondent saw ambulances and civil defense vehicles gather around another branch. 

Israel also bombed the firm's branches during its last war with Hezbollah in 2024, including the one in Sidon. The company is under US sanctions. 


Pro-Iran Factions in Iraq Welcome New Supreme Leader as Symbol of Continuity

 Protesters wave Iranian flags as another holds up an image of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed by a US airstrike in Tehran, during a symbolic funeral in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP)
Protesters wave Iranian flags as another holds up an image of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed by a US airstrike in Tehran, during a symbolic funeral in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP)
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Pro-Iran Factions in Iraq Welcome New Supreme Leader as Symbol of Continuity

 Protesters wave Iranian flags as another holds up an image of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed by a US airstrike in Tehran, during a symbolic funeral in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP)
Protesters wave Iranian flags as another holds up an image of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed by a US airstrike in Tehran, during a symbolic funeral in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP)

Iraq's pro-Iran groups welcomed on Monday the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's new supreme leader after his predecessor and father was killed in US and Israeli strikes.

The Badr organization said the new leadership represents a "blessed continuity of the path of the Islamic revolution".

The Asaib Ahl al-Haq faction said choosing Mojtaba Khamenei shows continuity and "reinforcement of the Islamic republic's role as a central pillar in the axis of resistance".

Armed faction Kataeb Hezbollah said it reflects a profound understanding "of the existential challenges confronting the nation".

"The best successor to the best predecessor," said Kataeb Hezbollah, which is part of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq -- a pro-Iran alliance that has been claiming attacks on US bases since the start of the war in the Middle East.

Iran wields significant influence in Iraqi politics, and also backs armed groups whose power has grown both politically and financially.

Iraq has for decades been a proxy battleground between the US and Iran.

Senior Iraqi politician and moderate cleric Ammar al-Hakim wished the new supreme leader "success in following the path of his martyred father".