How Sudan’s shift to drone warfare is fuelling a civilian crisis

In the Imtidad Nasser neighbourhood east of Sudan’s capital Khartoum, residents are grappling with a terrifying new reality of skies filled with drones. “We heard the buzz of drones in the sky, but did not pay attention to it at first,” Ahmed Abdel Hamid, a resident of the area, told Al Jazeera about a recent drone attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Then, anti-aircraft fire and two huge explosions shook the area, killing three children from a family in the community. A devastating wave of drone attacks across Sudan has killed more than 160 people in recent days, marking a lethal evolution in the conflict between competing military forces which began in April 2023.