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Shrapnel scattered everywhere, smoke lingering as it fades after flames consumed the bodies of civilians, vehicles, and commercial goods long awaited by thousands of Sudanese, amid a tragic humanitarian crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n Charred corpses fused together by the bombardment that struck the market of <\/span>Jabal<\/span> <\/span>Issa<\/span> town, about 140 kilometres northwest of Al-<\/span>Malha<\/span>, on January 25, 2026. The wounded suffer in silence as the country\u2019s health system collapses after nearly three years of war.<\/span><\/p>\n Local community leaders, including Ibrahim Al-<\/span>Toum<\/span>, are leading efforts to repair the market and rescue the injured following an airstrike carried out by a drone believed to be a Turkish-made <\/span>Bayraktar<\/span> <\/span>Ak\u0131nc\u0131<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Al-<\/span>Toum<\/span> told <\/span>Darfur 24<\/span> that a drone, believed to belong to the Sudanese army, carried out a violent strike on the <\/span>Jabal<\/span> <\/span>Issa<\/span> market, killing 13 people instantly, charring more than eight additional bodies, and wounding several civilians, including women.<\/span>He explained that the attack targeted a commercial vehicle as its passengers were leaving the market, resulting in the burning of several civilians, in addition to other charred bodies inside the market whose identities have yet to be established. He also revealed heavy losses to goods owned by local residents and traders from neighboring villages.<\/span><\/p>\n Simultaneously, two corroborating sources\u2014who requested anonymity\u2014reported that a drone struck a site used as a <\/span>Starlink<\/span> satellite internet outlet west of the city of Mellit in North Darfur State, killing and wounding civilians.<\/span>According to the sources, preliminary figures indicate that around six people were killed and three others injured, some in critical condition, and were transferred to the city\u2019s rural hospital, <\/span>Darfur 24<\/span> reported.<\/span><\/p>\n In a related development, an army drone based in Port Sudan targeted the Abu <\/span>Za\u2018<\/span>eima<\/span> market in North <\/span>Kordofan<\/span> State at midday on Friday, January 23, 2025, killing five civilians and injuring thirty others to varying degrees, including women and children. The wounded were transferred to the city of Ad-<\/span>Dabba<\/span> in Northern State for treatment, according to <\/span>Madamik<\/span> newspaper.<\/span><\/p>\n The human rights group \u201cEmergency Lawyers\u201d condemned the attack in a statement, denouncing the targeting of a market and a civilian site. It stressed that targeting markets and civilian areas constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and amounts to a war crime, as it breaches the principles of distinction and proportionality.<\/span><\/p>\n The group emphasised that the protection of civilians is a non-negotiable legal obligation, and called for an immediate halt to drone attacks on civilian sites, respect for the principle of military necessity, strict adherence to international humanitarian law, and the guarantee of victims\u2019 and their families\u2019 right to justice and reparations.<\/span><\/p>\n In official reactions, the Sudan Founding Alliance (<\/span>Ta\u2019sis<\/span>) stated that on the evening of Sunday, January 25, 2026, aircraft belonging to what it described as the \u201cterrorist Muslim Brotherhood <\/span>militia\u201d targeted the <\/span>Jabal<\/span> <\/span>Issa<\/span> market in Al-<\/span>Malha<\/span> locality, North Darfur, using drones.<\/span><\/p>\n According to the alliance\u2019s statement, \u201cthis crime resulted in the complete burning of the market and the martyrdom of 23 civilians, including shop owners, vendors, and residents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The statement added: \u201cIn a similar crime that confirms the same criminal approach, the army and its Islamist militias on the same day bombed the Abu <\/span>Za\u2018<\/span>eima<\/span> market in North <\/span>Kordofan<\/span> State\u2014a market crowded with civilians\u2014killing five civilians and injuring thirty others, including women and the elderly, in criminal conduct that threatens civilian lives and flagrantly violates all international laws and norms.\u201d It continued: \u201cThe crimes of the terrorist army continue amid complete regional and international silence, encouraging these criminals to commit further atrocities, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the killing of civilians, and to persist in this war.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, as the war between the army in Port Sudan and the <\/span>Ta\u2019sis<\/span> Alliance approaches its third year, field data indicate heavy reliance on drones, particularly in bombing populated areas, markets, and hospitals.<\/span>Drone attacks are currently increasing in South <\/span>Kordofan<\/span>, amid fears of an expanded scope of targeting and escalating security threats in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n Mona Abdel Fattah said that the impact of drones in the Sudanese war should not be exaggerated to the point of portraying them as an overwhelming factor that changes all rules of engagement. \u201cTheir impact is significant,\u201d she said, \u201cbut it operates in conjunction with artillery, armored vehicles, and logistical lines.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She added that since the outbreak of the Sudanese war in April 2023, drones have entered the battlefield as a decisive tool that has redrawn the balance of power between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, turning the sky into a battlefield no less ferocious than the ground. While the war began as a conventional conflict, the introduction of drones transformed it into a low-cost, high-impact technological war, with blurred boundaries and broader possibilities.<\/span><\/p>\n She noted that Sudanese army drones\u2014particularly Iranian-made Mohajer-6 models\u2014have given the army a clear operational advantage, thanks to their ability to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and precision strikes using small guided munitions of the <\/span>Qaem<\/span> type. These aircraft, she said, provided the army with an effective means to offset its limited ground deployment in urban areas and helped it regain the initiative in the skies over Khartoum and other cities.<\/span><\/p>\n In a related context, <\/span>The New York Times<\/span> reported that the Sudanese army has frequently been accused of indiscriminate shelling in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, often killing dozens at once, with most of these attacks also occurring in Darfur.<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the army commander in Port Sudan, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, addressed the international community in an article published in a Turkish magazine, stating that what Sudan is <\/span>facing is not an internal armed conflict, \u201cbut a broader test that touches the essence of state sovereignty, social cohesion, and the future of the surrounding regional order,\u201d as he put it.<\/span>Al-Burhan made this assertion as a condition for peace in his message to the international community, reiterating that Sudan is facing not an internal armed conflict, \u201cbut a broader test that touches the essence of state sovereignty, social cohesion, and the future of the surrounding regional order.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n This came after an article he published in <\/span>The Wall Street Journal<\/span>, which leading Sudanese analysts viewed as evidence of contradiction in al-Burhan\u2019s positions and indifference to the suffering of the people.<\/span><\/p>\n In this context, activist Ibrahim <\/span>Borsi<\/span> said that \u201cthere is only one thing in Abdel Fattah al-Burhan\u2019s article published in <\/span>The Wall Street Journal<\/span> on November 26, 2025, that can be considered true: the man is writing from within a void\u2014the void of the state, the void of legitimacy, and the void of the very idea itself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He added that one can observe a clear attempt at \u201cchanging skin,\u201d a process known in Western political literature as image laundering, whereby a leader implicated in chaos seeks to present himself abroad as a \u201cstatesman who lost his way and then returned.\u201d He continued: \u201cThe article does not merely conceal the past; it falsifies the present. Al-Burhan writes as if he had not, just a day earlier, attacked the US president\u2019s envoy, <\/span>Massad<\/span> <\/span>Boulos<\/span>, and as if the United States were not a state of institutions with a single position embodied in clearly defined official stances.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n * Bayethe Msimang is an independent writer, analyst and political commentator.<\/em><\/p>\n ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of or Independent Media. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shrapnel scattered everywhere, smoke lingering as it fades after flames consumed the bodies of civilians, vehicles, and commercial goods long awaited by thousands of Sudanese, amid a tragic humanitarian crisis. Charred corpses fused together by the bombardment that struck the market of Jabal Issa town, about 140 kilometres northwest of Al-Malha, on January 25, 2026. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":267976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[20158,12394,8099,20159,20157,14159],"class_list":["post-271206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-039technologies","tag-burns","tag-crisis","tag-death039","tag-powered","tag-sudan"],"yoast_head":"\nMassacre at Abu <\/span>Za\u2018<\/span>eima<\/span> Market<\/span><\/h2>\n
The Drone War<\/span><\/h2>\n
The Strategy of Contradiction<\/span><\/h2>\n