Hemedti threatens regional aviation
RSF targets Khartoum Airport ahead of planned flight resumption
The commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, has threatened to strike any airport in the region that is found to be supporting the Sudanese Armed Forces’ (SAF) air operations. His threat came just hours after RSF drones targeted Khartoum Airport, disrupting government plans to reopen the facility for domestic flights for the first time since 2023.
In a recorded address from an undisclosed location, Hemedti said that the RSF would not confine its attacks to Sudan, threatening airports in neighboring countries as well:
“This is an important message. We have been silent for a long time now. Listen to this from me now. Others have said it before but listen to it from me now:
“Any airplane that takes off from any neighboring country—any airplane that is dropping supplies, bombing, or killing—any drone that takes off from any airport—for us it is a legitimate target.
“We are certain of this. If we were not certain, we would not say these words. Any aircraft, any drone, that takes off from an airport — that airport, for us, is a legitimate target. Whoever wishes to continue, let him continue; and whoever wants to stop this wickedness, let him stop it. But any drone and any airplane that takes off from an airport, for us it is a legitimate target.”
He did not name specific countries, but pro-RSF media and Hemedti previously have repeatedly accused Egypt of aiding the Sudanese military’s air operations. RSF supporters also often blame Qatar, Iran, Turkey, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen for their alleged support for the Sudanese military. Hemedti’s omission could be intentional, designed to create ambiguity and keep multiple regional governments under pressure while allowing the RSF to maintain plausible deniability.
Hemedti’s threats might also be intended to deter airdrops to El Fasher, which the RSF have besieged for 18 months, subjecting the populace to famine conditions. Earlier this month, airplanes belonging to the Sudanese military (or contracted by it) dropped supplies, ammunition, and weapons to troops in El Fasher. Previously, contracted airplanes from Kyrgyzstan, with links to the network of Russian arms dealer Victor Bout, flew missions to Darfur on behalf of the Sudanese military.
The Sudanese military also use their own airplanes for resupply missions, including Antonov and Ilyusin cargo planes. Since 2023, the RSF have shot down several airplanes in both Darfur and Khartoum, including both contracted cargo planes and military jets, lending credence to Hemedti’s threats. They also carried out long-range drone strikes on Port Sudan International Airport earlier this year.
One possible consequence of Hemedti’s threats is that humanitarians will rule out airdrops to El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. Recently, many Sudanese have shared appeals on social media for airdrops to help the starving civilians of the besieged city. Hemedti’s remarks increase the likelihood that the RSF will indiscriminately target airplanes over the skies of the city.
Hemedti’s threats could also hamper the recovery of the commercial aviation sector in SAF-controlled parts of central Sudan. Although the RSF have retreated from central Sudan, the economy is still suffering from two years of devastating fighting, and many people have still not returned to the cities where fighting took place, including Khartoum, Omdurman, Wad Madani, and many smaller cities and villages.
Retaliation for SAF bombings
The warning by Hemedti, who is the head of a self-declared parallel government, followed a series of Sudanese military air raids on RSF-held areas in Darfur and Kordofan, which Hemedti described as acts of “ethnic cleansing and genocide.”
Visibly angry, Hemedti accused the army of systematically targeting civilians and community leaders through indiscriminate bombardments. He cited recent attacks in Al-Mazroub of North Kordofan and Koma in North Darfur, saying the strikes were aimed not at military positions but at “annihilating entire communities.”
“Our people in Al-Mazroub, the nazir [paramount chief] and local leaders — may God have mercy on them — and all those martyred in the last four days and earlier, before and after April 15, in all cities: may God grant them mercy.”
“Brothers, our people in Al-Mazroub — may God have mercy on them — the sheikhs and leaders of that group and the brave youths with them, those martyred and wounded — may God heal the wounded and bless the martyrs. We must not forget all our civilian martyrs in Koma, Kabkabiya, Al-Geneina and elsewhere. These are local administrations — a gathering of local leaders — and thank God some local administrations were spared. The attackers hit Al-Zurq twice, they hit across Kordofan, they struck tanks and convoys across the Fula and other areas — all regions that suffered from this satanic, terrorist campaign of deliberate, terrifying and cleansing strikes. But they will not intimidate us,” he said.
Hemedti accused the Sudanese army of trying to “wipe tribes off the map,” saying government forces deliberately bombed internally displaced persons’ camps and tribal councils.
“They aim to wipe tribes off the map. They targeted camps for displaced people; the camp was hit because the displaced came out of El-Fasher — they were moving to find safety — and the strike hit the displacement camp. Displaced people are not the target for wrongdoing. The attack on local administrations is a form of cleansing meant to erase tribes, to remove them from the map. But they made a huge mistake. Truly, we are people who will not give in.”
The Sudanese military’s indiscriminate bombing campaign across Darfur, which has killed and wounded thousands of civilians, has allowed Hemedti to rally support and cast himself as a defender of the innocent—though his own forces are implicated in numerous atrocities too, including ethnic killings, torture, rape, burning, and pillaging.
Hemedti praised what he called the “steadfastness” of RSF fighters, describing the movement as one that “cannot be bought or bribed,” and claimed that its members were motivated by conviction rather than material gain.
“The youths who rose up — they will not be bought or bribed; they are not mercenaries like the ones the enemy has. The youth have a cause and insight. They did what they did out of conviction,” he said.
Attack on Khartoum Airport
Hours before Hemedti’s address, RSF drones targeted Khartoum International Airport, striking three sites outside the main terminal area. The strikes, which have been geolocated by Sudan War Monitor to multiple coordinates on the airport’s southwestern perimeter, came less than 24 hours after Sudanese authorities announced plans to reopen the facility.
The RSF’s decision to attack the airport on the eve of its reopening was an attempt to prevent the normalization of life in Khartoum and undermine the government’s efforts to project authority and stability.
For months, the army-aligned administration has promoted the return of displaced civilians to Khartoum as part of a campaign to signal post-war recovery. Reopening the airport was meant to mark a turning point, demonstrating that the government could re-establish control and restore basic connectivity.
By striking the airport, the RSF sought to prove that Khartoum remains a contested city and that no part of Sudan is beyond the reach of its drones. The attack served as both a psychological weapon — instilling fear among civilians — and a strategic disruption of the government’s reconstruction narrative.
Khartoum holds both symbolic and strategic significance in the war. As the capital and seat of power, it remains the centre of Sudan’s legitimacy struggle. For the SAF, controlling Khartoum represents the restoration of sovereignty; for the RSF, denying that control undermines the army’s claim to rule.
Burhan’s visit to Khartoum airport
Following the RSF drone strike, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan visited the airport on 21 October 2025, using the visit to project control and reassure the public that the army remained in charge of the capital.
He described the facility — shuttered since the outbreak of war — as a symbol of Sudan’s endurance under military leadership. He thanked troops stationed at the airport and pledged continued defense of the nation:
“We thank [Allah] and seek His help, and we always thank God for the improvement in our circumstances and our daily conditions. We thank Him that we were in one state, and today we are in another.”
“This land was once a killing ground at the hands of the rebellious Janjaweed militia; now it is in the hands of Sudanese – of the Sudanese people. This occasion is a response to the enemies of Sudan and the Sudanese people. You have not read history, even though you are close to history and close to Sudan, and you do not know the secrets and determination of the Sudanese people.”
Invoking Sudan’s revolutionary legacy, Burhan referenced October, a month long associated with pivotal political change in Sudan’s history.
“This great month—October—has always been green: green for Sudanese, green for the people of Sudan. Any aggression in this month will be met with consequences for the aggressors,” he said.
October carries deep historical resonance in Sudan. It marks the October 1964 Revolution, which toppled the regime of General Ibrahim Aboud and ushered in Sudan’s first democratic transition, as well as the October 2021 coup, when the military seized power from the transitional government of Abdallah Hamdok. By invoking October, Burhan sought to link the army’s current struggle to Sudan’s history, presenting himself as a defender of national unity and continuity.
Escalating drone warfare
Hemedti’s claims of ethnic cleansing came amid an intensifying cycle of aerial warfare by both sides. Last week, SAF airstrikes on Koma locality in North Darfur killed at least twenty civilians, most of them community leaders. Days later, an army strike on Al-Mazroub, a town located in West Bara Locality in North Kordofan state, killed a prominent tribal chief and several members of his entourage. Both areas, as well as nearly the entire of Darfur and West Kordofan are under RSF control.
The attacks have provoked anger among tribal leaders across western and central Sudan, who accuse the army of indiscriminate bombing and undermining traditional conflict-resolution efforts. In Nyala, the seat of Hemedti’s self-declared “parallel government,” a separate air raid destroyed a police headquarters.
The RSF has retaliated with an expanding drone campaign. In El-Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur, two previous drone strikes on gatherings of worshippers killed nearly 200 people. The RSF also targeted sites in Omdurman, Khartoum Bahri, and central Khartoum, hitting electricity infrastructure and causing widespread power cuts.
Two weeks ago, RSF drones struck the 10th Division headquarters in Abu Jubeiha, South Kordofan, killing several officers, including the division’s head of intelligence. That attack marked the first major escalation of drone warfare on that front.
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