Aid workers describe escalating drone strikes in Sudan’s El Obeid, with attacks hitting schools and fuel

Aid workers in Sudan’s El Obeid say the pace and intensity of drone strikes have sharply worsened in recent days, describing conditions that they say are now among the most violent since the attacks began in earnest in the city. In an account shared with The Guardian, an aid volunteer in El Obeid said the weekend strikes were the most severe so far and that the drone attacks have become a near-daily feature of life as the city is squeezed between Sudan’s armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces.

The volunteer, who said her name has been withheld for fear of retribution, described seeing dozens of drones repeatedly over time. She said that in the past few months, seeing 40 or 45 drones has become normal and that people can often count them as the aircraft approach. She also said the drones struck civilian infrastructure, including schools and fuel stations, killing more than 20 people, including students, during the recent period she described.

El Obeid, home to an estimated half a million people, has increasingly become a battleground in the broader war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF. The city sits along routes that connect RSF-held areas in western Darfur to army-controlled regions in the east, and it has suffered repeated strikes that target transportation and services, according to the reporting.

The city has also faced siege dynamics tied to efforts by the SAF to prevent the RSF from establishing another blockade, following an earlier siege that took place after the RSF tightened control in the area. The reporting said El Obeid was forced to absorb sustained pressure as the parties competed over whether the RSF could maintain access routes and whether the army could disrupt them.

The Guardian report cited UN human rights office figures indicating that between 6 June and 28 June, 15 drone strikes in El Obeid and surrounding areas killed at least 45 people and injured 41 more. The same reporting described growing fears of a repeat of violence that followed RSF capture of El Fasher, where the UN and rights organizations previously documented a massacre after an 18-month siege ended.

International scrutiny of the conduct of the war has intensified alongside battlefield reporting. The Guardian said Amnesty International released a report on Wednesday alleging ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity by RSF forces during their campaign to capture El Fasher, and that an independent factfinding mission for the UN had previously concluded that the RSF seizure of that city reflected serious abuses.

As the SAF-RSF conflict continues, aid workers say access to safe shelter and basic services is being undermined by strikes that hit schools and fuel supply points. They also described how the ongoing bombardment is affecting daily routines and increasing risks for families, particularly children and students, who are repeatedly caught in attacks on places used for education and day-to-day survival.

For El Obeid, the immediate next steps hinge on whether international monitoring and humanitarian operations can scale up during the continuing air attacks and on whether the parties can maintain or negotiate any localized pauses that allow civilians to reach aid and medical support, amid warnings from international bodies about atrocities and civilian harm.