Latest news with #ThomasvanLinge
Al-Ahram Weekly
a day ago
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
BREAKING: Suicide bomber hits Damascus church, casualties reported - Region
A suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a church in Damascus on Sunday, killing and wounding several people, witnesses and local media said. A blast struck the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighbourhood of the Syrian capital during what appeared to be a service, with a witness telling Reuters the attacker blew himself up inside the building. The Syrian news outlet Levant 24, citing local sources, reported that the attacker opened fire on worshippers before detonating explosives. Some reports suggested at least 15 people were killed. Syria's state news agency, SANA, said ambulances were evacuating casualties and Internal Security Forces had cordoned off the area. #Syria BREAKING: a suicide attack just took place at the St. Elias church in Dwel'a, on the eastern outskirts of #Damascus. This is the first suspected Islamic State terror attack in Syria since the fall of #Assad. — Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) June 22, 2025 There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
New York Times
26-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Paramilitary Fighters Flee Sudan's Capital, a Major Shift in Civil War
Paramilitary fighters with Sudan's Rapid Support Forces began withdrawing from the battle-torn capital of Khartoum in large numbers on Wednesday, fleeing a city they had occupied since a ruinous war broke out nearly two years ago. The capture of the city by Sudan's military marks a dramatic turning point in what is currently Africa's largest war. The Rapid Support Forces, known as the R.S.F., is likely to withdraw to its stronghold in Darfur, in the west of the country, according to analysts. Surveillance drone footage circulated by Sudan's military showed hundreds of R.S.F. fighters crossing a dam on the Nile at Jebel Aulia, south of the capital — their last remaining escape route. Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdullah, a military spokesman, said the military had captured a major R.S.F. camp near the dam. 'This was their last remaining camp in Khartoum,' he said. 'A few remnants remain in pockets here and there. They will soon be destroyed.' The two generals who lead Sudan's military and the Rapid Support Forces, once allies, went to war nearly two years ago over a dispute about a plan for the R.S.F. paramilitary troops to be absorbed by the military. The fighting has killed an estimated 150,000 people and displaced more than 13 million, sending nearly four million fleeing to neighboring countries — amounting to the world's largest displacement crisis. Refugees have told of fleeing rapes, massacres and starvation. Videos posted to social media showed civilians celebrating as Sudanese military forces arrived into the south of Khartoum, hours after the paramilitaries had fled. In Kalakla, 10 miles south of the city center, civilians poured onto the streets, whooping and cheering, to hail Sudanese military forces who arrived on motorbikes. Nile River OMDURMAN NORTH KHARTOUM Sudanese Armed Forces (S.A.F.) control as of March 19 Presidential palace KHARTOUM Rapid Support Forces (R.S.F.) White Nile River SUDAN Khartoum Nile River OMDURMAN NORTH KHARTOUM Sudanese Armed Forces (S.A.F.) control as of March 19 Presidential palace KHARTOUM White Nile River Rapid Support Forces (R.S.F.) SUDAN Khartoum Note: Areas of control are as of March 19. Source: Thomas van Linge The sudden withdrawal comes five days after the army captured the presidential palace in central Khartoum, a key symbolic and strategic victory that signaled a momentous change in the direction of the war. Since then, the army has steadily seized control of the capital, taking control of the devastated city center before moving toward the international airport. Pockets of R.S.F. fighters continued to resist the military's advance. As New York Times reporters walked through the deserted city center on Tuesday, explosions and bursts of gunfire rang out from sporadic fighting a few streets away. But on Wednesday morning, the army declared that it had seized control of the airport, which is littered with the ruins of passengers jets abandoned in April 2023, at the start of the war. On Wednesday afternoon, soldiers posed on the runway for television cameras before an abandoned plane. The last concentration of R.S.F. fighters in the capital appeared to be in the southern and western part of Omdurman, on the west bank of the Nile. The army controls the northern half of Omdurman, and army controlled areas have received sporadic shellfire from R.S.F. positions in recent years.
New York Times
21-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
In Sudan's Devastated Capital, a Climatic Battle Comes Into View
Sudanese military forces pushed toward the presidential palace in the battle-scarred capital, Khartoum, on Thursday, signaling a potential turning point in Sudan's devastating civil war, now approaching its third year. Video footage showed Sudanese troops about 500 yards east of the palace compound, which overlooks the river Nile, and is controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, or R.S.F., the army's powerful paramilitary rival. Capturing the palace would be a major symbolic victory for Sudan's army, which lost most of Khartoum to the R.S.F. in the early days of the war in April 2023. It would also significantly boost the military's six-month-old drive to push the paramilitaries out of the city entirely. Early on Thursday, the army launched a blistering ambush on an R.S.F. convoy south of the palace, video footage showed. For the rest of the day, gunfire and explosions could be heard across the capital. Nile River OMDURMAN NORTH KHARTOUM Sudanese Armed Forces (S.A.F.) Presidential palace KHARTOUM Rapid Support Forces (R.S.F.) White Nile River SUDAN Khartoum Nile River OMDURMAN NORTH KHARTOUM Sudanese Armed Forces (S.A.F.) Presidential palace KHARTOUM White Nile River Rapid Support Forces (R.S.F.) SUDAN Khartoum Note: Areas of control are as of March 19. Source: Thomas van Linge The R.S.F. leader, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, has vowed to stand his ground. 'Do not think that we will retreat from the palace,' he said last week in a video address from an undisclosed location. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
