Evidence of Iranian and UAE Drones Used in Sudan War

Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been accused of violating a UN arms embargo by providing drones to the warring sides in the 14-month conflict that has devastated Sudan. We analyze the evidence to support the claim.

On the morning of March 12, 2024, Sudanese government soldiers celebrated an unprecedented military advance. They finally recaptured the headquarters of the state broadcaster in the capital, Khartoum.

Like most of the city, the building fell into the hands of the Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) at the start of the civil war 11 months earlier.

What was notable about this army’s military victory was that videos showed that the attack was carried out with the help of Iranian-made drones.

In the early stages of the war, the army depended on the air force, according to Suliman Baldo, director of the Sudan Transparency and Politics Observatory.

“The military found all of its preferred forces under siege and had no combat forces on the ground,” he says.

The RSF maintained ground control over most of Khartoum and Darfur in western Sudan, while the army maintained its presence in the sky.

In early January 2024, a video emerged on Twitter of an army drone shot down by the RSF.

According to Wim Zwijnenburg, a drone expert and head of the Humanitarian Disarmament Project at the Dutch peace organization PAX, its wreckage, engine and tail resembled an Iranian-made drone called the Mohajer-6.

The Mohajer-6 is 6.5 meters long, can fly up to 2,000 km (1,240 miles) and carry out airstrikes with guided munitions in free fall.

Zwijnenburg identified another version of the drone in a satellite image of the army military base in Wadi Seidna, north of Khartoum, taken three days later.

“These drones are very effective because they can accurately identify targets with minimal training,” he says.

Three weeks after the Mohajer-6 was shot down, video emerged of another drone shot down by the RSF.

Zwijnenburg combined this with the Zajil-3 – a locally manufactured version of the Iranian Ababil-3 drone.

Zajil-3 drones have been used in Sudan for years. But January was the first time they were employed in this war, as noted by the BBC and PAX.

In March, Zwijnenburg identified yet another version of Zajil-3 captured in a satellite image of Wadi Seidna.

“[It is] an indication of active Iranian support for the Sudanese army,” he says, even though Sudan’s governing council has denied acquiring weapons from Iran.

“If these drones are equipped with guided munitions, it means they were supplied by Iran because these munitions are not produced in Sudan,” adds Zwijnenburg.

In early December, a Boeing 747 passenger plane belonging to Iranian cargo carrier Qeshm Fars Air took off from Iran’s Bandar Abbas airport toward the Red Sea before disappearing from radar.

Hours later, satellites captured an image of a plane of the same type at Port Sudan airport, in the east of the country, where Sudanese army officers are based.

A photo of the same plane on the runway later circulated on Twitter.

This flight was repeated five times until the end of January, the same month in which the use of Iranian drones was documented.

Qeshm Fars Air faces US sanctions over numerous accusations of transporting weapons and fighters across the Middle East, particularly to Syria, one of Iran’s main allies.

Sudan had a long history of military cooperation with Iran before relations ended in 2016 due to a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, with Sudan siding with Saudi Arabia.

“Many Sudanese weapons were locally manufactured versions of Iranian models,” says Baldo of the Sudan Transparency and Politics Observatory.

Since the start of the current conflict, the Sudanese government has restored relations with Tehran.

According to Baldo, each side has its objectives.

“Iran seeks a foothold in the region. If they find geostrategic concessions, they will certainly provide more advanced and numerous drones,” he says.

The BBC contacted the Sudanese army, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Qeshm Fars Air for comment on allegations that Iranian drones are being used in the conflict, but received no response.

But in an interview with the BBC, Malik Agar, vice-president of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, said: “We have not received any weapons from anywhere. Weapons are available on the black market, and the black market is now gray.”

However, evidence emerged early in the war that the RSF used quadcopter drones made from commercial components, capable of launching 120mm mortars.

Images and footage on social media show that the army shot down many of these drones.

Brian Castner, a weapons expert at Amnesty International, points the finger at the United Arab Emirates.

“The UAE has provided its allies with the same drones in other conflict areas, such as Ethiopia and Yemen,” he says.

According to a UN report presented to the Security Council earlier this year, aviation tracking experts observed an airlift of civilian aircraft allegedly transporting weapons from the UAE to the RSF – a claim the UAE denies.

The route starts at Abu Dhabi airport, passes through Nairobi and Kampala airports, before ending at Amdjarass airport in Chad, a few kilometers from the western border of Sudan, and in Darfur, where the RSF has its stronghold.

The UN report also cites local sources and military groups who report that vehicles carrying weapons unload planes at Amdjarass airport several times a week before traveling to Darfur and the rest of Sudan.

“The UAE also has economic interests in Sudan and seeks a foothold in the Red Sea,” says Baldo.

The UAE has repeatedly denied that these flights were carrying weapons, saying they were instead delivering humanitarian aid. In a statement, a government official told the BBC that the UAE is committed to seeking “a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict”.

RSF did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

The drones that both sides in the civil war allegedly imported violate a UN Security Council resolution issued in 2005 that prohibits the supply of weapons to the Sudanese government and armed factions in Darfur.

“The Security Council must take responsibility and consider the state of Sudan, the looming famine and the number of people killed and displaced, and immediately impose a comprehensive arms embargo on all of Sudan,” says Castner.

Since the appearance of drones in the skies over Sudan, the situation on the ground has partially changed.

The Sudanese army managed to break the siege imposed on its soldiers in several locations.

And the RSF withdrew from some neighborhoods west of the capital.

According to Baldo, this change happened thanks to Iranian drones.

After more than a year of war, at least 16,650 civilians have been killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (Acled).

The UN estimates that around nine million people have been forced to flee their homes – more than in any other current conflict.

Abdullah Makkawi is one of those who has now fled to Egypt. While still in southern Khartoum last July, he says he narrowly escaped death when drones, which he says belonged to the RSF, attacked.

“I ran into the house and we took refuge in a room with a concrete roof… My mother, four brothers and I hid under the beds,” he says.

Makkawi says they heard the sound of a drone crashing in the next room, which had a wooden roof.

“If we had been in the other room, we would all have died. We survived by a miracle,” he says.

In early 2024, the conflict spread to new areas outside the capital. Civilian deaths due to drone strikes were reported for the first time in northern, eastern and central Sudan.

Before fleeing to Egypt, Makkawi left his family in Port Sudan, considering it a safe place. But now he fears drones could reach them too.

“The Sudanese people are tired of war. All we want is for the war to end. If foreign countries stop supporting both sides with weapons, this will end.”

More on Sudan’s civil war from the BBC:

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