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.



EU Top Diplomat Urges Ceasefire to Save Lebanon from ‘Chaos’

Members of the Lebanese Civil Defense inspect a damaged building after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following renewed hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 9, 2026. (Reuters)
Members of the Lebanese Civil Defense inspect a damaged building after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following renewed hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 9, 2026. (Reuters)
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EU Top Diplomat Urges Ceasefire to Save Lebanon from ‘Chaos’

Members of the Lebanese Civil Defense inspect a damaged building after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following renewed hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 9, 2026. (Reuters)
Members of the Lebanese Civil Defense inspect a damaged building after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following renewed hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 9, 2026. (Reuters)

The EU's top diplomat called Monday for a 2024 ceasefire to be upheld to prevent Lebanon from "sliding into chaos," saying Israel's "heavy-handed" response to Hezbollah attacks was further destabilizing the region.

"Israel should cease its operations in Lebanon," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement after crisis talks with a dozen Middle East leaders including Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.

She likewise called for Hezbollah to "disarm and cease all actions against Israel," saying: "Diplomacy and a return to the ceasefire offer the best chance of averting Lebanon from sliding into chaos."


Israel Says Killed Head of Hezbollah Unit in South Lebanon

This photograph taken during a media tour organized by the Hezbollah shows a man installing a flag of Hezbollah on the balcony of a damaged building at Nabi Sheet town after an Israeli military operation in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, on March 7, 2026.  (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)
This photograph taken during a media tour organized by the Hezbollah shows a man installing a flag of Hezbollah on the balcony of a damaged building at Nabi Sheet town after an Israeli military operation in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, on March 7, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)
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Israel Says Killed Head of Hezbollah Unit in South Lebanon

This photograph taken during a media tour organized by the Hezbollah shows a man installing a flag of Hezbollah on the balcony of a damaged building at Nabi Sheet town after an Israeli military operation in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, on March 7, 2026.  (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)
This photograph taken during a media tour organized by the Hezbollah shows a man installing a flag of Hezbollah on the balcony of a damaged building at Nabi Sheet town after an Israeli military operation in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, on March 7, 2026. (Photo by FADEL itani / AFP)

Israel announced on Monday that its military had killed the head of Hezbollah's Nasr unit operating in part of southern Lebanon during renewed fighting with the Iran-backed armed group.

Defense minister Israel Katz "was briefed on the elimination of the commander of Hezbollah's Nasr Unit", Abu Hussein Ragheb, during an overnight strike, a statement from the defence ministry said, Reuters reported.

The Nasr unit operates in an eastern sector south of Lebanon's Litani River and opened Hezbollah's cross-border attacks on Israel following Hamas's attack in October 2023.


Israeli Fire Kills Priest in South Lebanon's Qlayaa

 Israeli tanks gather at a position along the Israel-Lebanon border on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
Israeli tanks gather at a position along the Israel-Lebanon border on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
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Israeli Fire Kills Priest in South Lebanon's Qlayaa

 Israeli tanks gather at a position along the Israel-Lebanon border on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
Israeli tanks gather at a position along the Israel-Lebanon border on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)

A south Lebanon parish lost its priest on Monday when Father Pierre al-Rai of Al-Qlayaa died of wounds sustained from Israeli tank fire, according to state media and a medical source.

The border village had not previously been caught up in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

The National News Agency (NNA) reported that a house in the Christian town was "hit twice in succession by artillery shelling from a hostile Merkava tank" on Monday.

The first strike wounded the homeowner and his wife, according to NNA. After several neighbours, including Rai, and Red Cross paramedics rushed to the scene, the house was hit a second time, wounding Rai and three others.

The priest later died of his wounds, a medical source told AFP.

It was not clear why Israeli forces targeted the house, which is located on the outskirts of the town.

On Friday, Rai had taken part in a gathering organized by locals in the neighboring town of Marjayoun, where they said they were determined to remain in their homes despite evacuation warnings issued by the Israeli army to all residents south of the Litani river, about 30 kilometres from the border.

In a speech, Rai had said: "When we defend our land, we defend it peacefully, and we carry only the weapons of peace, goodness, love and prayer."

"We are compelled to remain in danger because these are our homes and we will not leave them."

Residents of Christian towns along or near the border are trying to stay out of the confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel.