[Source: Reuters]

Sudan’s army said its anti-aircraft systems intercepted drones targeting a naval base in the wartime capital Port Sudan.

Explosions were 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.

On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry said it did not recognise a decision by Sudan’s army-affiliated defence council to sever ties with the Gulf country.

The Sudanese defence council said on Sunday it would cut ties with the UAE over army accusations that Abu Dhabi supplied the RSF with advanced and strategic weapons.

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.

As the army pushed the RSF out of most of central Sudan, the paramilitary group has made gains in western and southern areas, while shifting tactics from ground incursions to drone attacks on power stations and other facilities in army-controlled territory.

The attacks on Port Sudan have drawn condemnation from neighbouring Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as expressions of concern from the United Nations.

Damage to the airport, port and fuel facilities risks intensifying Sudan’s humanitarian crisis, which the U.N. calls the world’s worst.

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