July 5, 2026 – The besieged Sudanese city of El Obeid is being torn apart by a relentless wave of drone strikes that aid workers describe as the worst violence they have seen in months. The attacks, targeting schools and fuel stations over the weekend, killed more than 20 civilians, marking a dramatic escalation in the brutal tug-of-war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
"The situation is terrible. This past weekend was the most violent yet," said an aid volunteer who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. "Over the past few months, seeing 40 or 45 drones in a day is the norm. You can literally count them." The volunteer, identified only as Fatima, has lost track of the number of assaults on this strategic city of half a million people, which now hosts over 100,000 displaced refugees living in squalid camps.
El Obeid sits on a critical fault line between RSF-held territory in western Darfur and army-controlled zones to the east. Military analysts warn that the SAF is fighting desperately to prevent the RSF from establishing another stranglehold blockade, similar to the siege that choked the city in February 2025. The UN human rights office confirmed that at least 45 people were killed and 41 injured in 15 separate drone strikes targeting El Obeid and its surroundings between June 6 and June 28. The recent weekend attacks pushed those numbers significantly higher.
International alarm is mounting. On Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk issued an urgent plea before the Human Rights Council in Geneva, stating the signs from El Obeid are clear and unmistakable. "This is not a drill. It is a red alert that needs to land on the desks of heads of state and government around the world. Their phones should be running hot," Turk declared. The emergency debate was called by the UK and backed by Germany, Ireland, Norway, and the Netherlands.
The fear now is that El Obeid could become the next El Fasher. Amnesty International released a damning report on Wednesday accusing the RSF of committing ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity during its campaign to capture El Fasher last year. A separate UN fact-finding mission has already stated that the RSF's seizure of that city bore the hallmarks of genocide against non-Arab communities. With the RSF now intensifying its drone campaign, humanitarian agencies warn that without immediate international intervention, the civilian toll in El Obeid will spiral into a full-blown catastrophe.