KHARTOUM: Three flights carrying 177 Egyptian troops from Sudan have arrived in Cairo and a separate group of 27 air force personnel are in the care of the Egyptian embassy in Sudan, according to military statements.
Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, and its sister cities Omdurman and Bahri have been rocked by fierce battles between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), leaving many stranded and causing food supplies to run short.
The RSF said it had detained 27 Egyptian air force personnel after storming Merowe air base in northern Sudan on Saturday.
The Sudanese army released a statement on Thursday correcting an earlier statement that said the 177, who were evacuated from the town of Dongola, had been captured by the RSF at the Meroe base.
The Egyptian military has said the soldiers were in Sudan for training according to a joint protocol between the two countries. Egypt and Sudan have carried out multiple joint exercises since the beginning of diplomatic tensions with Ethiopia.
The handover of the troops took place with mediation from the United Arab Emirates, the Egyptian foreign ministry and UAE news agency WAM said. The RSF said it had handed over the men to the International Committee of the Red Cross in the capital Khartoum, and the Egyptian army said 27 were now at the Egyptian embassy in Khartoum.
They would be evacuated “as soon as the situation is stable and the necessary security circumstances are available,” the Egyptian army said.
The Egyptian army said the 177 had been evacuated in three military flights on Wednesday night.
Egyptian army says soldiers stuck in Sudan back home or at embassy
https://arab.news/gtxm7
Egyptian army says soldiers stuck in Sudan back home or at embassy
- The RSF said it had detained 27 Egyptian air force personnel after storming Merowe air base
- Egyptian military has said the soldiers were in Sudan for training according to a joint protocol between the two countries
Israel warns Lebanon of severe response if Hezbollah joins US-Iran conflict
- Israel dealt heavy blows to the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah during a war in 2024
GENEVA/BEIRUT: Israel has sent an indirect message to Lebanon that it would strike Lebanon hard, targeting civilian infrastructure including the airport, in the event that Hezbollah gets involved in any US-Iran war, two senior Lebanese officials said on Tuesday.
The office of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Lebanese presidency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Iran and the US will hold a third round of nuclear talks on Thursday in Geneva, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said on Sunday, amid growing concerns about the risk of military conflict between the adversaries.
Israel dealt heavy blows to the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah during a war in 2024, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah along with thousands of its fighters and destroying much of its arsenal.
Shiite Muslim Hezbollah was established by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982.
Hezbollah’s new leader
Naim Qassem
said in a televised address last month that the group was “not neutral” in the standoff between Washington and Tehran, and that it was “targeted by the potential aggression.”
“We are determined to defend ourselves. We will choose in due course how to act, whether to intervene or not,” Qassem said.
The U.S
. State Department
is pulling out non-essential government personnel and their eligible family members from the US embassy in Beirut, a senior State Department official said on Monday. (
