Sudan's Saudi Hospital struck in drone attack, at least 70 killed

The head of the World Health Organization stated on Sunday that a functioning hospital in El Fasher, Darfur, Sudan, was attacked by a drone, resulting in 70 deaths and dozens of injuries. According to an anonymous source from Agence France-Presse, the bombing of the Saudi Hospital late Friday "led to the destruction of the hospital's emergency building."

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on social media platform X: "As the only functioning hospital in El Fasher, the Saudi Teaching Maternity Hospital provides services including obstetrics, internal medicine, surgery, and pediatrics, and has a nutritional stabilization center." He added, "We continue to call for a cessation of all attacks on healthcare facilities in Sudan and allow full access to quickly repair damaged facilities."

The Governor of Darfur, Mini Minawi, stated on X that a Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drone attacked the emergency room of the hospital in the capital of North Darfur, leading to the deaths of patients, including women and children. Agence France-Presse could not independently verify which side of the warring Sudanese factions launched the attack. Since April 2023, the Sudanese army has been fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has seized large areas of western Darfur.

Last week, the Rapid Support Forces issued an ultimatum, demanding that the army and its allies withdraw from the city by Wednesday afternoon, in preparation for an expected offensive. Local activists reported sporadic fighting since then, including multiple shellings by the Rapid Support Forces on the famine-stricken Abu Shouk displacement camp. According to the civil society organization General Coordination of Displaced Persons and Refugees in Darfur Camps, heavy shelling led to the deaths of eight people in the camp on Friday morning alone. According to medical sources, the emergency building of the Saudi Hospital had been hit by a Rapid Support Forces drone "weeks earlier."

Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab observed three advanced drones at Nyala Airport, 200 kilometers south, under Rapid Support Forces control, between December 9 and January 14. The lab stated in a report that these Chinese-made drones have "significant electronic surveillance and combat capabilities and can be equipped with air-to-ground munitions," but could not verify which countries purchased the drones. The United Arab Emirates has been repeatedly accused of supplying weapons, including drones, to the Rapid Support Forces.

UN experts deemed these allegations "credible" in December 2023, but Abu Dhabi has repeatedly denied them in the face of growing international criticism. In December, the UAE assured the outgoing US President Joe Biden administration that it was "not currently transferring any weapons to the Rapid Support Forces." But on Friday, two US politicians stated that the UAE had violated its commitment to Washington and was "continuing to supply weapons to the Rapid Support Forces," while the US earlier this month determined that the Rapid Support Forces had committed "genocide" in Darfur.

The Rapid Support Forces have recently tried to consolidate their control over the war-torn Darfur region, an area roughly the size of France, home to a quarter of Sudan's population. Meanwhile, the Sudanese army claims to have achieved major victories elsewhere. About 850 kilometers to the east, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan inspected the country's largest Jaily refinery on Saturday, a day after his forces recaptured it. His ruling Transitional Sovereignty Council said in a statement that Burhan "pledged to rebuild everything the militia destroyed" and repair a critical economic resource.

The military also broke the paramilitary forces' siege of its Khartoum headquarters on Friday, which the Rapid Support Forces had been besieging since the start of the war in April 2023. Earlier this month, the military successfully regained control of Wad Madani, a key state capital south of Khartoum, from the Rapid Support Forces. Since the start of the war, both the army and the Rapid Support Forces have been accused of war crimes, including attacks on civilians and indiscriminate shelling of residential areas. Before leaving office on Monday, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on Burhan, accusing the army of attacking schools, markets, and hospitals, and using food deprivation as a weapon of war.

According to official data, as much as 80% of the country's healthcare facilities have been forced to cease operations. The war has killed tens of thousands of people so far, displaced over 12 million, and put millions more on the brink of mass starvation.