A satellite image shows smoke rising from burning oil tanks in Port Sudan, Sudan May 6, 2025.
May 7 – Sudan has cut diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) accusing the Gulf nation of backing the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the country’s civil war.
The UAE has repeatedly denied allegations that it is giving financial, military and political support to the paramilitary force.
Sudan’s army said Wednesday its anti-aircraft systems intercepted drones targeting a naval base in the wartime capital Port Sudan for the fourth day. Since Sunday, drone strikes have hit an international airport, a major power station and a hotel in Port Sudan.
Explosions were Wednesday heard in the city, though it was not immediately clear whether they were near the Flamingo base.
Port Sudan has been hit by days of assaults – including reported drone strikes by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – that have torched the country’s biggest fuel depots and damaged its main gateway for humanitarian aid.
The Red Sea city had enjoyed relative calm since the war between the army and the RSF broke out in April 2023, triggering mass displacement, famine and ethnically-driven killings.
Port Sudan became the base for the army-aligned government after the RSF swept through much of the capital Khartoum at the start of the conflict.
The drone strikes on Port Sudan opened a new front after the army had made recent gains in the capital and central Sudan.
Momentum has swung back and forth in a conflict in which drones have played a growing role, and neither faction has looked likely to win outright.
The war erupted from a power struggle between the army and the RSF and has seen both sides draw on support from foreign allies.
