DUBAI: A drone strike targeted an eastern Sudanese army base during a visit by army chief General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, eyewitnesses told Reuters on Wednesday, casting doubt over recent efforts to bring an end to a 15-month civil war.
A statement by the army said the attack took place at a graduation ceremony at the Gibeit army base, about 100 km (62 miles) from the army’s de facto capital Port Sudan in Sudan’s Red Sea state, and that five people were killed.
An adviser to the leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the army’s rival in the war, denied that the paramilitary force was responsible for the strike.
Witnesses said Burhan was at the base during the strike. Officials from the government, which is aligned with the army, said he was taken safely to Port Sudan afterwards.
“We heard sounds of explosions all of a sudden and everyone ran scared,” said one eyewitness, noting that many families of graduating officers were present.
A video shared on social media and verified by Reuters showed soldiers marching in a graduation ceremony before a whirring sound is heard followed by the sound of an explosion. Another video shows a cloud of dust and scores of people running.
Footage shared by the military that it says was filmed in Gibeit after the graduation ceremony shows Burhan being mobbed by cheering civilians, chanting “one army, one people.”
The drone attack is the latest in a string of such attacks on army locations in recent months, and the closest to Port Sudan. Over the past two days, drone strikes have hit Kosti, Rabak, and Kenana in Sudan’s southern White Nile state, as well as Al-Damer, to the north of the capital, according to locals.
The RSF has not commented on those strikes.
War broke out between the RSF and the regular army in April 2023 over plans to integrate the two forces under a political transition toward elections.
The two forces had shared power uneasily after staging a coup in 2021, derailing a previous transition that followed the overthrow of former leader Omar Al-Bashir in 2019.
The conflict has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, pushed half the population into a hunger crisis and driven more than 10 million out of their homes.
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Drone strike hits east Sudan base during visit by army chief
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Drone strike hits east Sudan base during visit by army chief
- An adviser to the leader of the Rapid Support Forces, the army’s rival in the war, denied that the paramilitary force was responsible for the strike
Kurdish dissident groups say they are preparing to join the fight against Iran
- Kurdish groups are widely seen as the most well-organized segment of the fragmented Iranian opposition and are believed to have thousands of trained fighters
- If the Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups were to join the war, it would be the first entry of a significant ground force into the battle
IRBIL, Iraq: Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq are preparing for a potential cross-border military operation in Iran, and the US has asked Iraqi Kurds to support them, Kurdish officials told The Associated Press.
The Kurdish groups are widely seen as the most well-organized segment of the fragmented Iranian opposition and are believed to have thousands of trained fighters. Their entry into the war could pose a significant challenge to the embattled authorities in Tehran and could also risk pulling Iraq further into the conflict.
Khalil Nadiri an official with the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, based in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region said Wednesday that some of their forces had moved to areas near the Iranian border in Sulaymaniyah province and were waiting on standby.
He said Kurdish opposition group leaders had been contacted by US officials regarding a potential operation, without giving more details.
Asked about reports that the Trump administration was considering arming Iranian Kurdish groups, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday: “None of our objectives are premised on the support or the arming of any particular force. So, what other entities may be doing, we’re aware of, but our objectives aren’t centered on that.”
Before the US and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, triggering a new war in the Middle East, the PAK had claimed attacks on the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for Tehran’s violent crackdown on protests. But an official with the group said it had not sent forces from Iraq into Iran.
If the Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups were to join the war, it would be the first entry of a significant ground force into the battle. The Kurdish groups have battle experience from the fight against the Daesh group.
An official with Komala, another of the Kurdish Iranian groups, said Wednesday that their forces are ready to cross the border within a week to 10 days and were “waiting for the grounds to be suitable.” He spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns.
Kurds in Iran have a long history of grievances and uprisings against both the current Islamic Republic and the monarchy that preceded it. During the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Kurds were marginalized and repressed and sometimes rebelled.
After Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the new theocracy also battled Kurdish insurgents. Iranian forces destroyed Kurdish towns and villages in fighting that killed thousands over several months.
While they share a desire to see the current authorities ousted, the Kurdish groups have also butted heads with other opposition groups — notably the faction led by the former shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, who has accused the Kurds of being separatists aiming to carve up Iran.
Iraqi Kurds hesitant to join the fray
The potential operation has put leaders of the Iraqi Kurdish region in a delicate position.
Three Iraqi Kurdish officials told the AP that a call took place Sunday night between US President Donald Trump and Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani — the heads of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, or KDP, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, the two main Kurdish parties in Iraq — to discuss the situation in Iran.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
One of the officials said Trump had asked the Iraqi Kurds to militarily support the Iranian Kurdish groups in operations in Iran and to open the border to allow the Iranian Kurdish groups to move freely back and forth.
When asked about the call and reports that Trump has sought military support for Iranian Kurdish groups, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “He did speak to Kurdish leaders with respect to our base that we have in northern Iraq” but denied that Trump had agreed to a specific plan.
The Iraqi Kurdish official said the Iraqi Kurds were concerned that getting directly involved in the conflict would draw a harsh Iranian response. Already the Kurdish region has seen a string of drone and missile attacks by Iran and allied Iraqi militias in recent days, targeting US military bases and the US Consulate in Irbil as well as the Kurdish groups’ bases.
While most of the attacks have been intercepted, civilian homes have been damaged, and the region is suffering from electricity cuts after a key gas field halted operations due to security concerns.
In a statement, the PUK confirmed that Talabani had spoken by phone with Trump, who “provided clarification and vision regarding US objectives in the war.” The statement said the PUK “believes that the best solution is a return to the negotiating table.”
Spokespeople for the Kurdish regional government in Iraq and for Barzani declined to comment.
The news site Axios first reported the call between Trump and the Kurdish leaders, and CNN reported that the Trump administration was in discussions with Kurdish groups over providing military support.
Iraq moves to seal the border
The presence of armed Iranian Kurdish groups in northern Iraq has been a point of friction between the central Iraqi government in Baghdad and Tehran.
Iraq in 2023 reached an agreement with Iran to disarm the groups and move them from their bases near the border areas with Iran — where they potentially posed an armed challenge to Tehran — into camps designated by Baghdad.
Their military bases were shut down and their movement within Iraq restricted, but the groups did not give up their weapons.
Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qassim Al-Araji said in a post on X that Ali Bagheri, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, had requested in a call between them “that Iraq take the necessary measures to prevent any opposition groups from infiltrating the border between the two countries.”
Al-Araji said Iraq is committed to “preventing any groups from infiltrating or crossing the Iranian border or carrying out terrorist acts from Iraqi territory” and noted that security reinforcements had been sent to the border.
In addition to retaliation by Iran, any movement by Iraqi Kurds to join a cross-border attack would likely inflame tensions with Iran-backed Iraqi militias, which have already claimed missile and drone strikes on Irbil in recent days.
The Kurdish groups are widely seen as the most well-organized segment of the fragmented Iranian opposition and are believed to have thousands of trained fighters. Their entry into the war could pose a significant challenge to the embattled authorities in Tehran and could also risk pulling Iraq further into the conflict.
Khalil Nadiri an official with the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, based in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region said Wednesday that some of their forces had moved to areas near the Iranian border in Sulaymaniyah province and were waiting on standby.
He said Kurdish opposition group leaders had been contacted by US officials regarding a potential operation, without giving more details.
Asked about reports that the Trump administration was considering arming Iranian Kurdish groups, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday: “None of our objectives are premised on the support or the arming of any particular force. So, what other entities may be doing, we’re aware of, but our objectives aren’t centered on that.”
Before the US and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, triggering a new war in the Middle East, the PAK had claimed attacks on the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for Tehran’s violent crackdown on protests. But an official with the group said it had not sent forces from Iraq into Iran.
If the Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups were to join the war, it would be the first entry of a significant ground force into the battle. The Kurdish groups have battle experience from the fight against the Daesh group.
An official with Komala, another of the Kurdish Iranian groups, said Wednesday that their forces are ready to cross the border within a week to 10 days and were “waiting for the grounds to be suitable.” He spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns.
Kurds in Iran have a long history of grievances and uprisings against both the current Islamic Republic and the monarchy that preceded it. During the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Kurds were marginalized and repressed and sometimes rebelled.
After Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the new theocracy also battled Kurdish insurgents. Iranian forces destroyed Kurdish towns and villages in fighting that killed thousands over several months.
While they share a desire to see the current authorities ousted, the Kurdish groups have also butted heads with other opposition groups — notably the faction led by the former shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, who has accused the Kurds of being separatists aiming to carve up Iran.
Iraqi Kurds hesitant to join the fray
The potential operation has put leaders of the Iraqi Kurdish region in a delicate position.
Three Iraqi Kurdish officials told the AP that a call took place Sunday night between US President Donald Trump and Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani — the heads of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, or KDP, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, the two main Kurdish parties in Iraq — to discuss the situation in Iran.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
One of the officials said Trump had asked the Iraqi Kurds to militarily support the Iranian Kurdish groups in operations in Iran and to open the border to allow the Iranian Kurdish groups to move freely back and forth.
When asked about the call and reports that Trump has sought military support for Iranian Kurdish groups, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “He did speak to Kurdish leaders with respect to our base that we have in northern Iraq” but denied that Trump had agreed to a specific plan.
The Iraqi Kurdish official said the Iraqi Kurds were concerned that getting directly involved in the conflict would draw a harsh Iranian response. Already the Kurdish region has seen a string of drone and missile attacks by Iran and allied Iraqi militias in recent days, targeting US military bases and the US Consulate in Irbil as well as the Kurdish groups’ bases.
While most of the attacks have been intercepted, civilian homes have been damaged, and the region is suffering from electricity cuts after a key gas field halted operations due to security concerns.
In a statement, the PUK confirmed that Talabani had spoken by phone with Trump, who “provided clarification and vision regarding US objectives in the war.” The statement said the PUK “believes that the best solution is a return to the negotiating table.”
Spokespeople for the Kurdish regional government in Iraq and for Barzani declined to comment.
The news site Axios first reported the call between Trump and the Kurdish leaders, and CNN reported that the Trump administration was in discussions with Kurdish groups over providing military support.
Iraq moves to seal the border
The presence of armed Iranian Kurdish groups in northern Iraq has been a point of friction between the central Iraqi government in Baghdad and Tehran.
Iraq in 2023 reached an agreement with Iran to disarm the groups and move them from their bases near the border areas with Iran — where they potentially posed an armed challenge to Tehran — into camps designated by Baghdad.
Their military bases were shut down and their movement within Iraq restricted, but the groups did not give up their weapons.
Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qassim Al-Araji said in a post on X that Ali Bagheri, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, had requested in a call between them “that Iraq take the necessary measures to prevent any opposition groups from infiltrating the border between the two countries.”
Al-Araji said Iraq is committed to “preventing any groups from infiltrating or crossing the Iranian border or carrying out terrorist acts from Iraqi territory” and noted that security reinforcements had been sent to the border.
In addition to retaliation by Iran, any movement by Iraqi Kurds to join a cross-border attack would likely inflame tensions with Iran-backed Iraqi militias, which have already claimed missile and drone strikes on Irbil in recent days.
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