Drone strike targets Port Sudan naval base: army source

Ongoing drone strikes in Sudan raise fears of humanitarian aid disruption and escalating conflict with UAE involvement.

A drone strike targeted Sudan's biggest naval base on Wednesday (May 7, 2025), an army source told AFP, marking the fourth straight day the seat of the army-backed government has come under attack.

It comes a day after the government severed ties with the United Arab Emirates, which it accuses of supplying the rival paramilitaries with weapons used to attack the army.

Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast had been a safe haven, hosting hundreds of thousands of displaced people and United Nations offices, until Sunday (May 4, 2025) when drone strikes blamed on the RSF began.

Wednesday's (May 7, 2025) drone strikes "were met with anti-aircraft missiles", the source said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

An AFP correspondent reported a series of explosions and then a cloud of smoke coming from the direction of the Flamingo Base, just north of the city.

War has raged since April 2023 between Sudan's regular armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which the army-backed government has called a "proxy" of the UAE.

Drones struck across Port Sudan on Tuesday (May 6, 2025), hitting the main port, the city's power station and the country's last functioning civilian international airport.