Sudan Conflict Sees Army Down Hostile Drone From Ethiopia and Retake Bara

The Sudan conflict has seen renewed fighting in multiple regions, with Sudanese forces reporting the downing of a hostile drone and the recapture of a key town from RSF control.

Drone Incident in Blue Nile State

Sudan's Defense Ministry stated it shot down a hostile drone over Kurmuk in Blue Nile State near the Ethiopian border, claiming it was launched from Ethiopian territory, with no immediate response from Ethiopian authorities. [3] The ministry said the drone was flying over the Kurmuk area in southeastern Sudan when it was intercepted. [3] Sudanese authorities did not provide further details about the drone or identify who they believe operated it. [3] There was no immediate response from Ethiopian authorities to the allegation. [3] The incident comes amid heightened fighting in Sudan's Blue Nile, Darfur and Kordofan regions, where the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been engaged in a prolonged conflict. [3] The latest allegation is not the first time Sudanese officials have accused the RSF of launching attacks from Ethiopian territory, including alleged drone operations. [3] Earlier this month, the Sudanese army said it had shot down three FH-95 drones in North Kordofan State. [3]

Recent Clashes and Displacement in Blue Nile

On 12 August 2026, the RSF had attacked the border town of Geissan in Blue Nile State, according to the paramilitary group and local authorities. [3] A Sudanese army source said the assault was launched from inside Ethiopian territory. [3] The fighting triggered fresh displacement, with about 2,500 people fleeing Geissan, according to the International Organization for Migration. [3] The UN agency's Displacement Tracking Matrix estimated that around 500 families were displaced as security conditions deteriorated. [3] Most of those displaced moved to other locations within the Geissan area, while others crossed the border into Ethiopia, IOM said. [3] The agency described the situation as tense and volatile and said its teams were continuing to monitor developments. [3] Blue Nile State has emerged as an increasingly important front in Sudan's war, with the RSF conducting ground offensives and intensifying drone attacks in an effort to challenge army control in the southeast. [3] The army said on 10 July that it had repelled an attack on the areas of Dim Saad and Yara in the Geissan district. [3]

UNHCR chart shows biometric registration statistics for Sudanese refugees arriving in Chad. — Source: reliefweb

Retaking of Bara and Atrocities Discovered

Bara was known for its lemon trees. [4] Scores were planted in this North Kordofan market town, and as winter turned to spring the streets were thick with the scent of their blossom. [4] Today, after sieges, battles and massacres of civilians, Bara is destitute. [4] Its trees have been showered with blood instead of rain. [4] Before the Sudanese war broke out in April 2023, around 100,000 people lived in Bara. [4] Some of them can still be seen around the town, but they lie lifeless on the roads, refused burial by the Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries who gunned them down. [4] Middle East Eye has spoken to several sources who visited Bara in recent days, people who gained rare access after the Sudanese Armed Forces and its allies managed to decisively retake the town from the RSF in July. [4] They described how corpses lay everywhere. [4] The luckiest of Bara’s dead were sitting in shallow graves or entombed in the relative privacy of their homes. [4] Rotting flesh has replaced lemon blossom as Bara’s signature scent. [4] If left unaddressed, an engineer working in the town warns, these bodies could poison its entire water supply. [4] Bara’s water sources come from underground water and wells that have a depth of no more than 20 to 30 metres, and it’s very probable that the decomposed bodies may have mixed with these sources, the engineer told MEE. [4] If this happens, we may face a big threat to the people’s lives and even the livestock. [4] Control of Bara, which lies on the strategic route that links Khartoum to resource-rich Kordofan, has seesawed in recent months. [4] After subjecting it to several raids, the RSF captured the city in October 2025, using it as a base to pummel SAF stronghold el-Obeid, 60km away, with drone strikes. [4] Osman Abdulatif, a member of Bara’s popular resistance committee backing the SAF against the RSF, believes similar scenes took place in his town, too. [4] The clashes and RSF atrocities that have taken place in Bara haven’t been reported like in other areas, but we believe that the RSF has killed hundreds of people inside Bara and the villages around it, he told MEE in el-Obeid. [4] We visited the city few days after SAF gained control of it and we found that everything had been destroyed. [4] There were bodies in the streets and houses, and the entire population had left and been displaced to el-Obeid and other areas. [4] Abdulatif said the authorities need to begin removing the bodies as soon as possible, as well as the huge number of unexploded war materials and ordinance that threat the life of the civilians. [4] We found only two old people still living in Bara - a man and a woman - and luckily they managed to survive despite the RSF preventing them from eating for a long time, he said. [4] Sources working in local organisations and humanitarian volunteers told MEE that hundreds of bodies need to be retrieved in nearby Gabrat al-Shiekh and Um Syala, too. [4] A volunteer from Um Syala, which lies adjacent to Bara, told MEE that there are at least 200 bodies still stranded in the area. [4]

Strategic Impact on North Kordofan

The SAF has now managed to secure the road, and with it a supply line to el-Obeid, which has long been under siege by the RSF. [4] Godat Abdul Hadi, a senior member of the armed popular resistance in North Kordofan, believes the SAF advance has shifted the war’s balance of power in the army’s favour. [4] This advance has given the SAF more a secure position and protection of el-Obied, opening the shortest route between Kordofan and the capital Khartoum. [4] It basically means that el-Obied and Omdurman have become safer, he said. [4] Mohammed Abbas, a trader in el-Obeid’s market, said life had become a lot easier since the siege was lifted and the Export Road secured. [4] We have seen the market opening and the supplies flowing to el-Obied after a long time. [4] All these have happened after the liberation of Bara and the other areas, he told MEE. [4] According to military sources, drone attacks on el-Obeid and even Omdurman, Khartoum’s sister city across the Nile, have declined markedly. [4] The heavy drone attacks have been decreased after the SAF seized Bara and other areas in Kordofan because these are the areas these air offensive operations are launching from, Abdul Hadi said. [4] In June, the situation in el-Obeid looked bleak. [4] Incessant RSF attacks and the threat of invasion stoked fears that the North Kordofan state capital would face the same fate as el-Fasher, where at least 60,000 people were estimated killed in October 2025. [4] The UK, France and other European countries, as well as senior figures at the UN, urged the RSF to cease its attacks on el-Obeid, fearing another bloodbath. [4] Abdulatif, of the North Kordofan popular resistance, told MEE these pleas for the RSF to not commit violations against civilians rang hollow. [4] If they were being honest, they should have forced the RSF to lift the siege, rather than just telling them not to commit atrocities, he said. [4] The international community lost its credibility regarding what happened in el-Obeid and Kordofan. [4] When they urge the RSF not to commit crimes, they are actually encouraging them indirectly to continue the siege and increasing the humanitarian suffering of the people, he added. [4] But thank god we already succeeded in lifting the siege at this stage ourselves, especially after liberation of Bara and other areas. [4] The RSF has not abandoned its hopes of controlling North Kordofan, however. [4] In recent weeks, it has countered the SAF advance with intensive drone strikes on Gabrat al-Sheikh and beyond, including Omdurman, al-Damar and even Atbara in River Nile State north of Khartoum. [4] The SAF insists that all counterattacks around Bara and el-Obeid have been repulsed, and says its forces are now moving through West Kordofan towards the RSF stronghold of Darfur. [4] However, a source intimately familiar with the situation in North Kordofan said RSF fighters remain in the Sodari and al-Mazroob areas, which are about 100km from Bara. [4] The recent SAF victories can be set back soon if they don't advance to secure other areas around in North and West Kordofan, the source, who asked for anonymity for security reasons, told MEE. [4]

Displaced women walk through the deserted streets of Bara in Sudan. — Source: middleeasteye

Army-Aligned Force Claims Against RSF

Sudan’s army-aligned force says 49 RSF vehicles destroyed, 70 fighters captured. [5] 4 members of Joint Force of Armed Movements killed in clashes in desert region. [5]

Refugee Situation in Chad

UNHCR reported on the Sudan emergency situation and biometric registration of Sudanese refugees arriving in Chad as of 23 August 2026, amid the broader conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced around 13 million people since April 2023. [3] UNHCR Chad issued an update on the CORE Sudan Emergency Situation on 23 August 2026. [1] UNHCR Tchad issued statistics on the biometric individual registration of Sudanese refugees on 23 August 2026. [2]

What to watch next: RSF fighters remain in the Sodari and al-Mazroob areas about 100km from Bara and have countered with intensive drone strikes on Gabrat al-Sheikh and beyond.