KHARTOUM, Sudan
An alliance led by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has called the Sudanese city of El-Obeid a “legitimate military target,” despite growing international warnings over the humanitarian impact of continued attacks.
In a statement released Sunday, the Sudan Founding Alliance (Tasees), led by RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, claimed that El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, “contains military bases, command centers, operations rooms, ammunition depots and facilities used to direct military operations.”
It argued that those facilities make the city “a legitimate military target under international humanitarian law.”
The alliance also claimed that “the presence of civilians does not turn a legitimate military objective into an illegitimate one.”
The RSF has launched drone attacks on El-Obeid for nearly a month. The strikes have targeted the city’s main power station, fuel facilities and other civilian sites.
UN officials have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe and human rights abuses in El-Obeid over the ongoing RSF assault and called on the rebel group to halt its attacks on the city.
On Sunday, the International Organization for Migration warned that El-Obeid could face the same fate as El-Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur, were mass abuses were reported following the RSF takeover of the city in 2025.
Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the army and the RSF over plans to integrate the paramilitary force into the military. The war has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, killing tens of thousands and displacing nearly 13 million.
