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Drone Strike Kills Guardians of Religion Commander Near Idlib

A journalists' convoy is seen at the entrance of Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, Syria August 24, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
A journalists' convoy is seen at the entrance of Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, Syria August 24, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
    Damascus, London – Asharq Al-Awsat
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Drone Strike Kills Guardians of Religion Commander Near Idlib

A journalists' convoy is seen at the entrance of Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, Syria August 24, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
A journalists' convoy is seen at the entrance of Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, Syria August 24, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

An Uzbek military commander was killed on Thursday in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province following a drone strike believed to be mounted by the US-led International Coalition. The strike targeted a vehicle near the town of Sarmada.

“A drone believed to be affiliated with the International Coalition targeted a four-wheel drive vehicle near the town of Sarmada in Idlib countryside, which led to the killing of the Uzbek leader, known by his alias ‘Abu Yahya’ and wounding two of his companions,” a source in the Syrian opposition’s civil defense in Idlib province told DPA.

The source pointed out that the commander was identified through the papers that were found inside the vehicle and the ID card he was carrying under which his name and position were specified. The card was issued by the military wing of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Information circulated on social media pages affiliated with the extremist Guardians of Religion Organization revealed that the Uzbek commander works as an independent military trainer.

Idlib and Aleppo’s countryside fall under the control of extremist groups, including the HTS and factions from the National Front for Liberation which is an offshoot of the Syrian opposition’s National Army.

Leaders of militant groups in Idlib throughout the past years have been the target of drone strikes staged by the International Coalition. Dozens were killed.

For its part, the opposition’s Sham network reported on a drone strike targeting a military vehicle en route the southern mountainous road of the Sarmada town in Idlib. It said that the strike had hit an Uzbek commander that goes by Abu Yahya and has led to his death.

On June 24, a drone strike believed to belong to the International Coalition targeted a military vehicle traveling the road connecting the town of Binnish to Idlib. The strike resulted in two deaths.

The Guardians of Religion Organization, at the time, announced the death of the commander Abu al-Qassem in an air strike that targeted Idlib.

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UN: Sudan Faces the World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis as Second Anniversary of War Nears

A Sudanese citizen and a resident of the Shambat neighbourhood of Khartoum, Abdulilah Mohamed, looks at items inside his destroyed and looted home, following his return to his family home after fleeing from civil war as the Sudanese army retakes ground, in the Sharg Elnil area in the state of Khartoum Sudan March 16, 2025. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A Sudanese citizen and a resident of the Shambat neighbourhood of Khartoum, Abdulilah Mohamed, looks at items inside his destroyed and looted home, following his return to his family home after fleeing from civil war as the Sudanese army retakes ground, in the Sharg Elnil area in the state of Khartoum Sudan March 16, 2025. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
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UN: Sudan Faces the World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis as Second Anniversary of War Nears

A Sudanese citizen and a resident of the Shambat neighbourhood of Khartoum, Abdulilah Mohamed, looks at items inside his destroyed and looted home, following his return to his family home after fleeing from civil war as the Sudanese army retakes ground, in the Sharg Elnil area in the state of Khartoum Sudan March 16, 2025. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A Sudanese citizen and a resident of the Shambat neighbourhood of Khartoum, Abdulilah Mohamed, looks at items inside his destroyed and looted home, following his return to his family home after fleeing from civil war as the Sudanese army retakes ground, in the Sharg Elnil area in the state of Khartoum Sudan March 16, 2025. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

A nearly two-year-old war has engulfed Sudan in the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and led the African country to become the only nation experiencing famine, a senior UN official said Thursday.
Nearly 25 million people — half of Sudan’s population — face extreme hunger, while people are dying in famine-hit areas in western Darfur, said Shaun Hughes, the World Food Program’s emergency coordinator for Sudan and the region.
Sudan plunged into conflict on April 15, 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including the vast western Darfur region, The Associated Press said.
Since then, at least 20,000 people have been tallied as being killed, though the number is likely far higher.
“By any metric, this is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis,” Hughes told UN reporters, pointing to over 8 million people displaced within Sudan and 4 million who have fled across borders to seven countries that also face hunger and need humanitarian aid.
Famine was initially confirmed last August in Zamzam camp in North Darfur, where about 500,000 people sought refuge, but Hughes said it has since spread to 10 other areas in Darfur and Kordofan. He said 17 other areas are at risk of famine in coming months.
“The scale of what is unfolding in Sudan threatens to dwarf anything we have seen in decades,” Hughes said.
He warned in a video press conference from Nairobi that “tens of thousands more people will die in Sudan during a third year of war unless WFP and other humanitarian agencies have the access and the resources to reach those in need.”
Late last month, the Sudanese military regained control over Khartoum, a major symbolic victory in the war. But the rival Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group still controls most of Darfur and some other areas.
Hughes said what’s happening in Zamzam camp, which is caught in the conflict, is “horrific” — as is the situation in North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, which has been besieged by the RSF since May 2024. It is the only capital in Darfur that the RSF does not hold.
Hughes said WFP receives daily reports from its humanitarian partners and contacts on the ground in North Darfur “that excess mortality is occurring as a result of the famine.”
While WFP has not been able to reach Zamzam with a convoy since October, he said the agency has been able to help some 400,000 people there, in El Fasher and other camps, by transferring cash digitally into people’s bank accounts so they can buy food and other items. However, this is only possible where markets exist.
Hughes said WFP’s assistance to Sudanese people in need has tripled since mid-2024 and that the agency is now reaching over 3 million per month, mainly through a surge in the use of digital cash transfers.
WFP said it wants to help 7 million people in Sudan in the next six months but needs $650 million.
Hughes was asked whether Trump administration funding cuts were responsible for any of that needed amount. He replied: “All allocations that the US government has made to Sudan remain effective, for which we are grateful.”
WFP said it needs an additional $150 million to help people who have fled to Chad, South Sudan, Central African Republic and elsewhere.
“Without funding we either cut the number of people receiving assistance, or cut the amount of assistance we provide people,” Hughes said. “That’s already happening.”