EL FASHER – The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced on Thursday that it had downed a Turkish-made “Akinci” drone belonging to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) over the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.
According to a statement released by RSF spokesperson Al-Fateh Qarashi on July 10, 2025, the drone was shot down after allegedly conducting repeated “indiscriminate bombing operations” targeting civilians areas. The statement claimed that the airstrikes had struck residential zones and vital infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Zamzam, Kuma, and Mellit.
“The drone was brought down after carrying out a series of indiscriminate bombings against civilians in Zamzam, Kuma, and Mellit,” Qarshi said in the statement.
The incident comes amid an intensified RSF campaign to seize El Fasher, a key military and symbolic stronghold for the SAF in Darfur. The city has been under RSF siege since mid-May 2024, as the paramilitary force tightens its grip on the region, having already asserted control over four of Darfur’s five states.
The prolonged siege has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis for the estimated hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in El Fasher. Residents face acute shortages of food, clean water, and medical supplies, with health facilities suffering heavy damage from repeated RSF shelling and drone strikes. The situation has been exacerbated by sustained group attacks by RSF forces, which have persisted for over a year and resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties.
The RSF accused the SAF of targeting non-combatants in violation of international humanitarian law and warned of further retaliation if such attacks continue.
“Our Forces are fully prepared to counter any aerial threats,” Qarshi said, warning the army and its allied militias against what he described as the ongoing targeting of civilians.
He also reiterated the RSF’s stated commitment to ending the war in a way that reflects the aspirations of the Sudanese people. The RSF, which portrays itself as a revolutionary force, claims its military actions are aimed at preventing the return of Sudan’s former Islamist regime and dismantling the power structures of what it calls the “old state.”
There was no immediate comment from the SAF regarding the downed drone or the RSF’s allegations of civilian targeting.
El Fasher remains the last major urban center in Darfur under SAF control. its fall would mark a significant strategic and symbolic victory for the RSF, further tipping the balance of power in the protracted Sudanese civil war, which has plunged the country into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
