Syrians Face Death in Sudan Amid Clashes

Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum (Reuters)
Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum (Reuters)
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Syrians Face Death in Sudan Amid Clashes

Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum (Reuters)
Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum (Reuters)

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Sunday that it was following with concern the developments in Sudan, a week after deadly clashes erupted in the country, killing 11 Syrians.

Syria is also following with great interest the situation of its nationals and the diplomatic mission in Sudan, it said.

State-owned Syrian News Agency (SANA) official news agency quoted an official source as saying that the Ministry instructed the Syrian embassy in Khartoum to register the names of Syrian community members wishing to be evacuated.

Syrian refugees residing in Sudan had sent out, via social media, distress calls to evacuate them from the troubled country.

A Syrian woman told Asharq Al-Awsat that she lost contact with her brother four days ago, who informed her earlier that the situation was challenging. She said he and his family were confined to their home without electricity, water, or enough food.

The woman was trying to find a way to help her brother out of the country, but that didn't seem easy.

Aside from the dangerous security situation, her brother cannot return to Syria because his passport has expired, and he is wanted by the Syrian security forces.

According to Syrian sources in Sudan, several Syrian workers were stabbed when they left their embassy in Khartoum on Friday. They also confirmed that the death toll had risen to eleven since the outbreak of the clashes a week ago; four of them were killed in an attack at the embassy five days ago.

Meanwhile, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Syrian Embassy in Khartoum, Bishr al-Shaar, stated that they were outside the embassy, and it was difficult to reach the premises due to the security conditions difficult situations.

Syrian website, Athr Press, quoted Shaar as confirming the difficulty of evacuating all 30,000 Syrians after Khartoum International Airport was closed.

He explained that other evacuation options included Port Sudan, which is a 15-hour car ride.

The official said that the embassy would prepare for the evacuation if airports were re-opened or land roads were secured, pointing out that the evacuation of 10,000 people to safe areas requires 50 planes or 200 buses.

Unofficial sources estimate over 90,000 Syrian refugees live in Sudan, mostly young men fleeing compulsory military service, and hundreds of families who oppose the regime.

Since the outbreak of the war in Syria in 2011, Sudan has been at the forefront of countries that received refugees "without conditions," treating them as Sudanese citizens. Several of them were also given passports.

The number of Syrian refugees in Sudan in 2019 was estimated at more than 250,000. Many left the country after the toppling of the Omar al-Bashir regime, and the transitional government imposed restrictions on Syrians.

The Syrians were required to obtain an entry visa, and the Sudanese passports of 10,000 of them were revoked.



Satellite Images Appear to Show Attempts to Dispose of Bodies After RSF Seized Sudan’s el-Fasher

 This satellite image from Vantor shows a smoke from a fire at the Saudi hospital in el-Fasher, Sudan, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (©2025 Vantor via AP)
This satellite image from Vantor shows a smoke from a fire at the Saudi hospital in el-Fasher, Sudan, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (©2025 Vantor via AP)
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Satellite Images Appear to Show Attempts to Dispose of Bodies After RSF Seized Sudan’s el-Fasher

 This satellite image from Vantor shows a smoke from a fire at the Saudi hospital in el-Fasher, Sudan, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (©2025 Vantor via AP)
This satellite image from Vantor shows a smoke from a fire at the Saudi hospital in el-Fasher, Sudan, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (©2025 Vantor via AP)

New satellite images analyzed Friday appear to show further efforts by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to dispose of corpses after they seized and rampaged through the city of el-Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Images by the Colorado-based firm Vantor show a fire at the Saudi hospital in el-Fasher on Thursday near a collection of white objects seen days earlier in other Vantor photos.

The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab described the images as showing the “burning of objects that may be consistent with bodies.”

“The practice of burning bodies is not consistent with Islamic burial practices,” the Yale lab said in its report. “The apparent immolation of objects that may be consistent with human remains complicates any future effort to count the number of people killed since the fall of el-Fasher and to identify and return the remains to family members.”

The Associated Press separately accessed the Vantor images and identified objects corresponding to the Yale lab’s report, including the fire and the white objects. Such objects in other imagery from el-Fasher appear to correspond to dead bodies, showing the scale of the killings in the city.

Earlier satellite images of el-Fasher appear to show mass graves being dug and later covered at two sites in the city, one at a mosque just north of the Saudi hospital where some 460 people reportedly had been killed and another by a former children’s hospital that the RSF had been using as a prison.

The RSF has denied killing anyone at the Saudi hospital.

However, testimonies from those fleeing el-Fasher, online videos and satellite images offer an apocalyptic vision of the attack.

Another satellite image appeared to show the RSF likely blocking an exit to el-Fasher to the west. A new berm had been added to the site, the Yale lab said.

Drones reportedly intercepted

Meanwhile, the Sudanese army intercepted drones fired overnight by its rival paramilitary group on two cities in Sudan's northeast, a military official said Friday.

The army official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the matter, said 15 drones targeted Atbara, a city north of the capital, in River Nile province. He confirmed that strikes caused no casualties. Local media reports said residents heard explosions.

The official added that ground defenses intercepted a smaller-scale drone attack that also targeted Omdruman, the sister city of the capital Khartoum.

The RSF drone strikes come a day after the group announced that it has agreed to a humanitarian truce proposed by a US-led mediator group known as the Quad.

A Sudanese military official told the AP on Thursday that the army welcomes the Quad’s proposal but will only agree to a truce when the RSF completely withdraws from civilian areas and give up weapons per previous peace proposals.

US-led plan for a truce

The war between the RSF and the military began in 2023, when tensions erupted between the two former allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising.

The fighting has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the WHO, and displaced 12 million. However, aid groups say the true death toll could be many times higher. Over 24 million people are also facing acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Program.

The US-led plan for a truce would start with a three-month humanitarian truce followed by a nine-month political process, said Massad Boulos, a US adviser for African affairs, earlier this week.

Also Friday, the UN’s top human rights body announced it will hold an emergency special session on Sudan on Nov. 14 over recent bloodshed and other violence against civilians in and around the Darfur city of el-Fasher.

The call for the special session by the Human Rights Council in Geneva was led by Britain, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway, and has drawn support from two dozen council members in the 47-member-country rights body so far.

Limited aid delivery The RSF’s announcement that it agreed to the truce comes more than a week after the group seized el-Fasher which had been under siege for over 18 months. It was also the last Sudanese military stronghold in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

UNICEF said Thursday that more than 81,000 people have been displaced from el-Fasher since Oct. 26, with rising needs for shelter, food, water and medical care but limited aid delivery.

The UN children agency's report said it identified more than 850 children with acute malnutrition who are now receiving treatment. It added that violence, sexual assaults and looting of health facilities remain rampant across North Darfur, with women and children being the most vulnerable.


Report: Azerbaijan Will Only Send Peacekeepers to Gaza if Fighting Stops Completely

 A Palestinian child holds a piece of wood with the rubble of destroyed buildings in the background, during sunset, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, November 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A Palestinian child holds a piece of wood with the rubble of destroyed buildings in the background, during sunset, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, November 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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Report: Azerbaijan Will Only Send Peacekeepers to Gaza if Fighting Stops Completely

 A Palestinian child holds a piece of wood with the rubble of destroyed buildings in the background, during sunset, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, November 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A Palestinian child holds a piece of wood with the rubble of destroyed buildings in the background, during sunset, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, November 6, 2025. (Reuters)

Azerbaijan does not plan to send peacekeepers to Gaza unless there is a complete halt to fighting there between Israel and Hamas, an Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry source told Reuters on Friday.

As part of President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza, the US has been speaking to Azerbaijan, Indonesia, the UAE, Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye about possible contributions from those countries to an International Stabilization Force (ISF) of around 20,000 troops.

"We do not want to put our troops in danger. This can only happen if military action is completely stopped," the Azerbaijani source said.

The source noted that any such decision would have to be approved by parliament. The head of the parliamentary security committee told Reuters that it had not yet received any draft bill on the matter.

A US-drafted resolution at the United Nations would authorize the ISF to "use all necessary measures" - meaning force, if necessary - to carry out its mandate to stabilize security in Gaza.

Hamas has not said whether it will agree to disarm and demilitarize Gaza, something it has previously rejected.


UN Issues 'Stark' Warning on Sudan's Kordofan

Displaced Sudanese who fled el-Fasher after the city fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), arrive in the town of Tawila war-torn Sudan's western Darfur region on October 28, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese who fled el-Fasher after the city fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), arrive in the town of Tawila war-torn Sudan's western Darfur region on October 28, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Issues 'Stark' Warning on Sudan's Kordofan

Displaced Sudanese who fled el-Fasher after the city fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), arrive in the town of Tawila war-torn Sudan's western Darfur region on October 28, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese who fled el-Fasher after the city fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), arrive in the town of Tawila war-torn Sudan's western Darfur region on October 28, 2025. (AFP)

The United Nations issued a "stark warning" Friday over preparations for intensified fighting in Sudan's Kordofan region, as it made a new call for an end to the violence.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have been locked in conflict with Sudan's regular army since April 2023, announced on Thursday that they had agreed to a humanitarian truce proposal made by mediators.

Following the RSF capture of el-Fasher in late October of the army's last major stronghold in the western Darfur region, the paramilitaries appear to be shifting their focus eastward towards Khartoum and oil-rich Kordofan.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said traumatized and trapped civilians were being prevented from leaving el-Fasher.

"I fear that the abominable atrocities such as summary executions, rape and ethnically motivated violence are continuing within the city," he said in a statement.

And for those who do manage to escape, the exit routes have been the scenes of "unimaginable cruelty", he added.

"At the same time, I issue a stark warning about events unfolding in Kordofan," said Turk.

"Since the capture of el-Fasher, the civilian casualties, destruction and mass displacement there have been mounting. There is no sign of de-escalation.

"To the contrary, developments on the ground indicate clear preparations for intensified hostilities, with everything that implies for its long-suffering people."

The RSF have been accused of mass killings, looting and sexual violence in el-Fasher.

Turk said that given the "cataclysmic violence" in the city, countries were on notice that without quick and decisive action, "there will be more of the carnage and atrocities that we have already witnessed".

He said the provision of military support to sustain parties committing serious violations must stop.

"I repeat my plea for an immediate end to the violence both in Darfur and Kordofan. Bold and urgent action is required by the international community," said Turk.

The fall of el-Fasher gave paramilitaries control over all five state capitals in Darfur, raising fears that Sudan would effectively be partitioned along an east-west axis.