Port Sudan rocked by RSF drone strikes for third consecutive day
Sites across Port Sudan were targeted by drone strikes launched by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on May 6th, marking the third such attack on the city in as many days, as reported by The National.
The escalating series of assaults represents a significant intensification of the country’s brutal civil war, now in its second year.
Once a relatively stable refuge, Port Sudan has become the de facto administrative capital of Sudan after RSF forces seized control of Khartoum early in the conflict.
The coastal city, located on the Red Sea, had remained largely untouched by direct hostilities until this recent wave of drone attacks.
The latest strike, carried out on May 6th, follows a devastating RSF drone assault on May 5th that targeted the country’s main fuel depots in Port Sudan.
According to the military-backed government, the attack ignited massive fires, raising fears of a fuel crisis and compounding the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding across the nation.
A day earlier, on May 4th, RSF drones reportedly struck Port Sudan International Airport, the first such attack on the city since hostilities erupted in April 2023.
This sequence of strikes on Port Sudan marks a strategic shift in RSF operations, expanding their offensive into areas previously considered safe zones for displaced civilians and government operations.
The renewed violence is a grim addition to a conflict that has already cost tens of thousands of lives and driven more than 13 million people from their homes. An estimated 26 million Sudanese are now in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, with over half the population facing acute food insecurity.
Authorities evacuated the airport on May 6th and suspended flights, witnesses said.
A hotel about 200 metres from the Presidential Palace was also hit, but sustained minor damage.
The attacks started fires that sent huge plumes of dark smoke over the Red Sea city.
“This attack reflects a deliberate attempt by these militias to paralyse life and target citizens’ basic needs,” Sudan’s Energy and Petroleum Minister Mohiedienn Naiem said about the May 5th attack.
The RSF has not yet claimed responsibility for the drone strikes.
The National/Maghrebi
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