Sudan’s army said the Rapid Support Forces carried out drone strikes on Port Sudan, targeting Osman Digna Air Base, a goods warehouse and other facilities in the area around the city’s airport. The attack matters because Port Sudan had been viewed as one of the safer corners of the country during the war, and the strike brought the conflict into a place that had become a hub for government activity, aid work and displaced civilians.
According to the army spokesman quoted by Al Jazeera, the attack used suicide drones and caused damage after one of them hit an ammunition depot. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The RSF did not immediately comment, leaving the army’s statement as the main public account in the first hours after the strike.
The geography of the target helps explain why the report is significant. Al Jazeera noted that both civilian and military airports in Port Sudan sit in the same area. That means the target was not a narrow military site isolated from the rest of the city. It was part of a shared aviation zone where commercial and military use overlap, making any strike more disruptive and harder to assess in the immediate aftermath.
The attack also had a direct effect on travel. Flights to and from Port Sudan were suspended until further notice, according to a government source cited by AFP in the report. A passenger plane departing Dubai was redirected to Jeddah after being unable to land, and travelers were evacuated from the terminal. Even without casualty reports, the operational effect was immediate and concrete.
Port Sudan has held unusual importance in the war that began in April 2023. The city is the country’s main port of entry, home to the primary airport, army headquarters and a seaport. The government relocated there from Khartoum early in the conflict, and UN agencies moved staff and offices there as well. That makes the strike more than a local military incident. It hits a city that has served as the administrative fallback for a country in crisis.
The broader war context is severe. Al Jazeera said the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 12 million people. Hunger has reached catastrophic levels, famine has been confirmed in 10 areas, and more than half of Sudan’s population needs humanitarian assistance. The Port Sudan strike suggests the conflict is widening into places that had previously escaped bombardment.
That matters for both military and humanitarian reasons. If eastern Sudan is no longer off limits, then the idea of a secure rear area for civilians and aid agencies becomes harder to sustain. The attack therefore marks not just another drone strike, but a shift in the war’s map.
