Khartoum Under Drones: The War Returns to Sudan’s Heart

Security & Conflict Analysis

Executive Summary

Sudan’s fragile calm has shattered once again. Overnight drone strikes on Khartoum and Omdurman on 14 October have reignited fighting in the country’s war-torn capital, two years after the conflict between rival generals plunged the nation into chaos. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) accuse the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of orchestrating the coordinated aerial assaults, threatening the modest sense of stability that had slowly returned to the capital.

The renewed hostilities highlight a grim reality: despite territorial gains and international mediation efforts, Sudan remains deeply fractured, and peace appears more distant than ever.

Drone Strikes in the Capital: A Renewed Phase of the War

In the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, the skies above Khartoum and Omdurman once again echoed with explosions. According to military sources, several drones targeted two army bases located in the north-western sector of the capital. The SAF claims to have intercepted and destroyed most of the devices, but witnesses reported powerful detonations lasting for hours, marking the most significant assault on the capital in months.

These attacks, attributed to RSF units loyal to General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (“Hemedti”), represent a sharp escalation in a conflict that had momentarily slowed. For the army, they symbolize not only the persistence of RSF operational capability but also the continued vulnerability of Khartoum — a city struggling to rise from the rubble.

Two Years of War: A Struggle Between Generals

The Sudanese conflict, which erupted on 15 April 2023, stems from a deadly rivalry between two former allies turned enemies:

• General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and de facto head of state.
• General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (“Hemedti”), leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group originally formed from the Janjaweed militias of Darfur.

What began as a struggle over power-sharing and military integration has evolved into a full-scale civil war, claiming tens of thousands of lives and displacing over 10 million people.
The United Nations now describes Sudan as “the world’s largest humanitarian crisis,” with famine, disease, and displacement reaching catastrophic proportions.

Khartoum’s Fragile Return – and the New Fear

After months of intense fighting, the Sudanese army had managed to regain partial control over Khartoum earlier in 2025. Nearly 800,000 residents who had fled the city began to return, encouraged by government promises of rehabilitation and a cautious sense of normalcy.

The interim government, still operating from Port-Sudan, announced a reconstruction initiative for the capital, aiming to restore critical infrastructure and attract displaced populations back.

Yet, the recent drone strikes have exposed the illusion of stability. Large districts of Khartoum remain in ruins — without water, electricity, hospitals, or functioning schools. Each new explosion rekindles collective trauma and reinforces fears that the capital could once again descend into siege warfare.

Darfur: The Epicentre of Atrocity

While the strikes on Khartoum dominate headlines, the epicentre of the war’s brutality remains Darfur, where the RSF has waged a devastating campaign. For more than 18 months, the city of El-Fasher has been under siege, trapping an estimated 400,000 civilians with minimal access to food, medical care, or humanitarian aid.

Reports from humanitarian organizations describe systematic shelling of hospitals, destruction of water facilities, and targeted attacks against civilian convoys. The UN and human rights observers warn of possible ethnically motivated massacres, reminiscent of the Darfur genocide of the early 2000s.

Despite global condemnation, the RSF continues to entrench its control across Darfur and parts of southern Sudan, while the SAF holds the northern and central regions, creating a de facto partition of the country.

International Mediation and the Elusive Ceasefire

Several diplomatic initiatives — led by the African Union, IGAD, the United States, and Saudi Arabia — have attempted to broker a sustainable ceasefire. None have held.

Each side seeks to consolidate military and political leverage before returning to the table. The RSF, flush with revenue from gold mining and cross-border networks, remains defiant. The SAF, meanwhile, has received quiet backing from Egypt and the UAE, though both deny active involvement.

The resumption of drone warfare in the capital underscores the widening technological dimension of the conflict and signals that both sides are investing in asymmetric capabilities to overcome stalemates.

Strategic Assessment

• Operational Outlook: The strikes mark a tactical shift — RSF appears capable of projecting power beyond Darfur, targeting SAF command structures inside Khartoum.
• Humanitarian Impact: Renewed fighting in the capital will likely disrupt fragile aid corridors, exacerbate displacement toward Port-Sudan, and further strain food and medical supply chains.
• Political Consequences: Any hope for near-term stabilization fades. The Burhan administration will likely tighten emergency measures, while regional actors may reassess engagement amid worsening instability.
• Regional Spillover Risk: Persistent violence risks destabilizing neighbouring states — notably Chad, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic — which already host large refugee populations.

Two years into Sudan’s civil war, Khartoum’s drone strikes symbolize both technological escalation and political despair. The city’s skyline, once the symbol of Sudanese modernity, has become the new front line of a fragmented nation.

For Sudanese civilians, the promise of peace remains distant. For the international community, the message is clear: without a coordinated and enforceable ceasefire, Sudan’s conflict is on course to evolve into a prolonged, multi-front proxy war, with devastating regional consequences.