Nicole Grajewski, the author of Russia and Iran: Partners in Defiance from Syria to Ukraine, said that Iran does not possess the Wing Loong Drone in its arsenal.
Neither the US nor Israel is known to operate Wing Loong II drones, but Saudi Arabia and the UAE have them in their arsenal.
The Wing Loong drone has featured prominently in Sudan’s civil war, where the UAE has deployed them in support of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, according to The New York Times.
10. International human rights law applies concurrently with international humanitarian law, including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, to which Sudan is a state Party. International criminal law also applies, and the situation in Darfur from 1 July 2002 is subject to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court pursuant to United Nations Security Council resolution 1593 ( 2005 ).
(…)
14. The Rapid Support Forces’ military campaign was reinforced by local Arab militias and allied groups, and by mercenaries reportedly deployed through foreign security firms or networks and equipped with advanced weaponry and communications systems. Witnesses described the Rapid Support Forces’ use of heavy artillery, drones and electronic warfare capabilities. The Rapid Support Forces appear to have benefited from logistical military support, in violation of the arms embargo under Security Council resolution 1593 (2005 ).
19 February 2026
GENEVA – The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said in a new report today that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out a coordinated campaign of destruction against non-Arab communities in and around El-Fasher, the hallmarks of which point to genocide. While the Mission documented war crimes and crimes against humanity, the evidence establishes that at least three underlying acts of genocide were committed.
These acts include killing members of a protected ethnic group; causing serious bodily and mental harm; and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part — all core elements of the crime of genocide under international law.
The report to the Human Rights Council, “Hallmarks of Genocide in El-Fasher,” found that genocidal intent is the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from the RSF’s systematic pattern of ethnically targeted killings, sexual violence, destruction, and public statements explicitly calling for the elimination of non-Arab communities, particularly the Zaghawa and Fur.
Mona Rishmawi, a member of the UN Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan (FFMS) and an expert on the Darfur conflict, said the mission‘s conclusion represents a “serious and urgent” finding that should compel governments to take immediate steps to halt weapons flows to the RSF.
“This report, and the conclusion that the threshold of genocide has been reached, has to be taken extremely seriously,” she told MEE in an interview on Sunday. “If the same modus operandi continues, we will see more situations like el-Fasher. Stopping the flow of weapons is essential.”
Though it denies the charges, there is widespread evidence, as reported by MEE, linking the United Arab Emirates with the supply of arms and other goods to the RSF.
The conflict, now well into its third year, has seen the RSF, SAF and their allies battle each other across one of Africa‘s largest countries
The top American and Emirati diplomat spoke Friday about the need to end the Sudan war, the US State Department said.
“The Secretary and the Foreign Minister continued discussions on our collective efforts to achieving a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan,” State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said after a call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.
(Novemeber 20, 2025)
Trump admitted that the devastating war between Sudan‘s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was „not on my charts“ before Prince Mohammed bin Salman pushed him to get involved.
But Trump said he would now work to „stabilise“ the conflict with regional powers, notably including the United Arab Emirates, which denies accusations of backing the RSF with weapons and mercenaries.
The memories of what happened in el-Fasher were difficult for her to put into words.
“The dead bodies were everywhere – in the streets, inside houses and at the gates of many houses,” Yahya told Al Jazeera. “Wherever you are in el-Fasher, you will see dead bodies scattered.”
Her testimony is one of several accounts from people who fled North Darfur’s capital after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group fighting Sudan’s regular army, captured the city on October 26.
(November 2, 2025)
Days after Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, in a violent assault that included the killing of more than 400 people at a hospital, aid groups warn that tens of thousands of civilians are at risk amid continuing violence, including some that may be trapped in el-Fasher and others harmed while fleeing.
(Novemebr 2, 2025)
A total of 70,894 people have been displaced since the RSF took control, it said.
However, less than 6,000 have made it to the nearest camp in Tawila, 65 kilometers (40 miles) away, said Shashwat Saraf, Sudan director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, which runs the camp.
Almost 1,000 people arrived in the last three days, he said.
“The numbers are still very few. We are not seeing the hundreds of thousands that we were expecting. If people are still in el-Fasher, it will be very difficult for them to survive,” he told The Associated Press by phone from Tawila.
“What is unfolding in El Fasher recalls the horrors Darfur was subjected to twenty years ago,” Mr. Fletcher said, referring to the atrocities of the early 2000s that shocked the world and eventually led to International Criminal Court indictments.
“But somehow today we are seeing a very different global reaction – one of resignation,” he continued. “This is also a crisis of apathy.”
“The Sudan crisis is, at its core, a failure of protection, and our responsibility to uphold international law,” Mr. Fletcher said. “Atrocities are committed with unashamed expectation of impunity…the world has failed an entire generation.”
(October 30, 2025)
The United States condemns in the strongest terms the horrific violence occurring in El Fasher. The situation is both tragic and appalling.
We have said this before, and we will say it again – the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias have committed genocide.
The RSF has and continues to systematically kill men and boys – even infants – and deliberately target women and children for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence. These crimes are ethnically motivated.
RSF militias are targeting civilians as they flee, killing innocent people escaping conflict, and preventing those who remain from accessing life-saving supplies.
The United States condemns these abhorrent atrocities in no uncertain terms. Those responsible should be held accountable, including through sanctions, as noted by the Sudan Sanctions Panel of Experts in its most recent report.
(…)
Colleagues, ending wars is a priority for President Trump, and the United States remains committed to working with our partners and other stakeholders to resolve the crisis.
Together, we are focused on securing an immediate humanitarian truce, halting external support, and advancing a transition to civilian governance.
(October 28, 2025)
British military equipment has been found on battlefields in Sudan, used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused of genocide, according to documents seen by the UN security council.
(…)
Months after the UN security council first received material alleging that the UAE may have supplied British-made items to the RSF, new data indicates that the British government went on to approve further exports to the Gulf state for military equipment of the same type.
British engines made specifically for a type of UAE-manufactured armoured personnel carrier also appear to have been exported to the Emirates, despite evidence that the vehicles had been used in Libya and Yemen in defiance of UN arms embargos.
“They’re frequent and the logistics are transferred immediately to another aircraft that is on standby and is destined for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan through the neighbouring countries,” said Abdullahi, a senior Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) commander at Bosaso Airport, who spoke to Middle East Eye using a different name for security reasons.
According to flight tracking data, satellite imagery, multiple local sources, and US and regional diplomats, the origin of these planes and their cargo is clear: the United Arab Emirates.
(…)
As MEE reported recently, Bosaso is connected to a ring of bases built and expanded by the UAE across the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. The bases, on the islands of Mayun, Abd al-Kuri, Samhah; at the Somaliland port of Berbera and the Yemeni port of Mocha, are all on territory nominally controlled not by the UAE but its allies or clients.
Since the powerful paramilitary group made a major incursion into the city last week, the UN human rights office has received “horrendous accounts of summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against humanitarian workers, looting, abductions and forced displacement,” said Seif Magango, spokesperson for the UN human rights office (OHCHR).
Speaking from Nairobi to journalists in Geneva, Mr. Magango said numerous testimonies had been received from residents who had fled in terror as the city fell, then “survived the threatening journey to Tawila, approximately 70 kilometres away” – a journey that takes three to four days on foot.
Sudan’s civil war between the regular army known as the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces continues unabated.
The conflict is well into its third year and has seen both sides allegedly commit war crimes and crimes against humanity. In addition, the RSF is implicated in atrocities that may amount to genocide, especially in the sprawling western region of Darfur.
(October 28, 2025)
Middle East Eye has reviewed dozens of video clips and images allegedly taken in el-Fasher since the RSF assault began.
Some were published by the RSF itself; others emerged on social media, particularly Sudanese Telegram groups.
The footage depicts chaotic and bloody scenes, captured by triumphant RSF fighters. Investigations suggest the videos are new.
The Arabic dialect spoken is Sudanese – particularly Darfuri – and the fighters’ dress is consistent with members of the RSF.
(October 30, 2025)
Calls to boycott the United Arab Emirates and Emirati-linked companies are growing across social media, fuelled by anger over the Gulf state’s backing of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s devastating war.
The campaign – which had been circulating in Sudanese and diaspora circles for years – gained fresh momentum after the RSF seized the city of el-Fasher in North Darfur on 26 October.
(October 28, 2025)
Horrific stories of mass-atrocities committed by the RSF militia continue to emerge, along with the tens of thousands of civilians who have fled the North Darfur city of El Fasher in Sudan.
The agency has received reports of summary executions of civilians trying to escape what was the last Sudanese military government stronghold of El Fasher – with indications of ethnic motivations for killings – and of former combatants who have put down their weapons, which is prohibited under humanitarian law.
“The risk of further large-scale, ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in El Fasher is mounting by the day,” warned UN human rights chief Volker Türk.
“Urgent and concrete action needs to be taken to ensure the protection of civilians in El Fasher and safe passage for those trying to reach relative safety.”
Das sudanesische Ärztenetzwerk teilte mit, RSF-Kämpfer hätten nach ihrem Einmarsch in Al-Faschir am Sonntag Dutzende Zivilisten getötet und Krankenhäuser und andere Gesundheitseinrichtungen geplündert.
Das Darfur-Netzwerk für Menschenrechte berichtete von mehr als 1.000 teilweise willkürlichen Festnahmen.
However, sources told Middle East Eye that the UAE, which is the RSF’s most significant patron, refused to address the situation in el-Fasher, which has been under siege for over 500 days.
The Rapid Support Forces claimed to have captured the city on Sunday, the last state capital in Darfur yet to fall to the paramilitaries.
Diplomats told Middle East Eye that representatives of Burhan’s government and its enemy, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), were both in Washington for indirect talks.
According to an Egyptian presidential source, US President Donald Trump has personally tasked Sisi to work on ending Sudan’s civil war.
The meeting was convened at the invitation of the United States. The ministers have engaged in extensive consultations on the conflict in Sudan, recalling that it has provoked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and poses grave risks to regional peace and security.
The ministers committed to the shared set of principles with regard to ending the conflict in Sudan:
The conflicting parties of Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia have committed war crimes and atrocities since mid-April 2023. On September 9, 2025, the UN Human Right Council submitted a report documenting that dozens of detainees have reportedly killed due to torture and the systematic deprivation of food and medical treatment since June.
It has been estimated that the war claimed the lives of 150,000 people by June 2024. As of July 2025, 12 million people had been forced to flee their homes, including 7.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs)—more than half of whom are children, said Migration Policy Institute on July 17, 2025.
Here is the full text of the joint statement: