Description: Sudanese RSF forces have continued to attack the country’s capital, Khartoum, for a third consecutive day using kamikaze drones further intensifying their aerial warfare campaign against the SAF. RSF initially targeted Khartoum’s main international airport, which was scheduled to reopen this week, and exponentially expanded their aerial attacks on civilian and military targets. The SAF has declined to comment on the attacks while RSF’s commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, stated that all airplanes providing assistance to the SAF were legitimate targets for RSF drones and that recent attacks were conducted in retaliation to last week’s SAF attacks on the city of Al Mazroub in north Kordofan and the city of Koma in North Darfur, which are under RSF’s control. The conflict has transferred from gritty ground assaults and skirmishes to waging prolonged aerial campaigns from both sides. SAF uses domestically produced Safaroog drones and Turkish Bayraktars while the RSF is mainly using FH – 95 kamikaze drones.
Impact: The intensified aerial campaign of attacks by the RSF aims at delegitimizing the SAF both militarily and politically. The attacks demonstrate the SAF’s lack of ability to defend the capital from drone attacks while also politically compromising the SAF’s initiative to transfer its headquarters from Port Sudan to Khartoum. By attacking important strategic points such as the international airport in Khartoum and targeting other airplanes supporting the SAF, the RSF aims to suffocate SAF’s logistical capabilities and enforce their argument for the credibility in their parallel government while continuing to lay siege on the city of El Fasher. The UN’s calls for diplomacy and recent diplomatic efforts have been diminished as both warring parties continue to intensify armed hostilities while denouncing reconciliation. The continuation of the war further compromises future efforts for stability and governmental cohesiveness which further solidifies the argument for territorial partition of the country in the long – term.