Sudan's Hemedti Visits Moscow

The deputy head of Sudan's ruling council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Reuters
The deputy head of Sudan's ruling council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Reuters
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Sudan's Hemedti Visits Moscow

The deputy head of Sudan's ruling council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Reuters
The deputy head of Sudan's ruling council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Reuters

The deputy head of Sudan's ruling council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is widely known as Hemedti, was in Moscow on Thursday for talks with the Russian government.

The official visit comes at a testing time for both countries. Russia is facing new Western sanctions after ordering troops into eastern Ukraine, while the United States has threatened Sudan's military with sanctions after the coup.

"Through this visit, we hope to advance relations between Sudan and Russia to broader horizons, and strengthen the existing cooperation between us in various fields," Dagalo said in a tweet.

The Sudanese delegation's visit to Moscow fell "within the framework of exchanging views and discussing ways to develop and strengthen cooperation between Sudan and Russia," the ruling Sovereign Council said.

The delegation, which also includes Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim as well as senior energy and trade officials, would hold a series of talks with Russian counterparts during the visit, it said in a statement.

Russia was due to send a shipment of wheat to Sudan as humanitarian aid, Sputnik News reported in January.

Military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who visited Russia in 2019, said in December that relations with Russia were strong and that an agreement on a Russian naval base on the country's Red Sea coast was under discussion.

The visit is the latest in a string of diplomatic trips Hemedti has made this year, including to the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and South Sudan.

Sudan has found itself increasingly isolated since an October 25 coup that has seen foreign aid cut as part of the international community's response to the military takeover.



Gaza Civil Defense Says 19 Killed in Israeli Strikes

Palestinians inspect the damage following overnight Israeli strikes, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage following overnight Israeli strikes, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
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Gaza Civil Defense Says 19 Killed in Israeli Strikes

Palestinians inspect the damage following overnight Israeli strikes, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage following overnight Israeli strikes, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

Gaza's civil defense agency said two Israeli air strikes killed at least 19 people in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory's north early Monday.

"Our teams found 15 martyrs and 10 wounded, mostly children and women, after an Israeli strike on three apartments" northwest of Gaza City, said the agency's spokesman, Mahmud Bassal.

It added that four other people were killed and four wounded in a strike on a house in Beit Lahiya city in the northwest.

Israeli Cabinet ministers approved plans to intensify military operations in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said on Monday.
The official said the plan was gradual and involved claiming more territory in the Palestinian enclave, where Israel already controls roughly half of the land. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the influential security Cabinet, a gathering of top ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, approved the decision early Monday.