“You can’t hide from drone attacks,” Elsadig said. For the 27-year-old, it’s a horrifying reality of life in Sudan’s besieged city of El Obeid, where even the simplest daily routines come with the threat of sudden death.
For much of Sudan’s civil war, which began more than three years ago, civilians feared fighting on the ground. In El Obeid, a strategic hub for trade and aid and home to more than 500,000 people, many now fear what will come from the sky.
In late June, Elsadig had his left leg amputated when he was struck by a drone while sitting at a water tank stop.
Nearby, sewage truck driver Ahmad, 42, was on duty when the same attack struck a group of water tankers. Her 9-year-old son and two of her co-workers, who she had picked up after school, were killed.
“My day started like any other. There were drones flying overhead, but I never imagined that I or my child would be targeted,” Ahmad told CNN.
After several hours of searching, the family found the boy’s body inside the burnt-out truck after the fire was extinguished.
CNN is identifying Elsadig and Ahmad by their first names out of concern for their safety.
“When we hear drones flying, we try to hide under concrete buildings,” Elsadig told CNN. “But it happens suddenly. You don’t know when or where it will happen.”
The attack on El Obeid, a key battleground in the battle between Sudan’s two rival armies, highlights how drones are reshaping a war that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 14 million and triggered what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The war broke out in April 2023 following a power struggle between former allies Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedi, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. The two countries, which came to power together after a 2021 coup that ousted the civilian-led government, have become rivals in the battle for control of Sudan.
Foreign-made drones are now flowing into Sudan, with the United Nations warning that the conflict is “on the verge of entering a new and more dangerous phase.” In the first four months of 2026 alone, drone attacks killed at least 880 civilians, accounting for more than 80% of civilian deaths recorded by the United Nations.
Battles that began as ground battles increasingly evolved into battles fought from the air.
With support from overseas suppliers, both the SAF and RSF have expanded their drone fleets, from modified commercial drones to advanced military systems.
According to the African Defense Forum (ADF), a military and security magazine published by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), both countries have “shifted their tactics to air weapons, and ground forces have reached a near stalemate.”
The ADF reports that unmanned aircraft supplied by Turkey, including the Bayraktar TB2, which can fly for long periods of time, can carry explosives, and are relatively low-cost, helped the SAF dislodge the RSF from Sudan’s capital Khartoum last year.
Turkey has expressed support for Sudan’s sovereignty and peace efforts, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan welcoming SAF chief Al Burhan to Ankara last month.
RSF is also expanding its drone operations, using Chinese-made FH-95 drones that can attack targets at long range. Some systems work with suppliers in the United Arab Emirates. Defense magazine Military Africa also reported that Turkish drones have appeared on the RSF side, making it difficult to “identify those responsible for individual attacks on civilians.”
The UAE has faced repeated suspicions about supplying arms to the RSF, and researchers and rights groups have traced weapons recovered in Darfur, an area largely controlled by the militia, back to Gulf states. Although the UAE rejects the claims, a UN Security Council panel deemed them “credible” in 2024.
Drones are reshaping Sudan’s battlefields and offering a glimpse into the future of proxy warfare, said Nate Allen, an associate professor of security studies at the Washington, D.C.-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
Allen, who has been following the conflict, told CNN that drones are currently being used to monitor enemy movements, support ground operations, attack supply lines and attack infrastructure. In recent years, it has been increasingly used for civilian infrastructure and densely populated areas, he said.
This technology also changed the rhythm of war. In the past, Sudan’s rainy season has often slowed fighting as roads become flooded, making it difficult to move troops, heavy weapons and supplies. But drones can continue operating even when weather slows down ground forces.
“Drones don’t rely on roads to get around, they don’t get sick, they don’t get stuck in the mud,” Allen said. “Both sides continue to use unmanned aircraft, especially those with longer range and endurance, to attack each other during the rainy season, when movement of troops and vehicles can be restricted.”
But while expanding the battlefield, drones have also brought warfare deeper into civilian life. Distance from the front line no longer guarantees safety. Homes, markets and critical infrastructure will increasingly come within range.
Residents in El Obeid and across Sudan say the sounds of drones flying overhead have become part of their daily lives.
The escalation has been particularly acute in El Obeid, which, despite being under SAF control, has endured what the United Nations describes as a “siege-like situation” for the past 18 months.
El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, is located on the main route connecting Khartoum with Darfur, the Greater Kordofan Region and southern Sudan. This position makes it a strategic objective for both the SAF and RSF. The city also shelters at least 100,000 people fleeing violence elsewhere in the country.
U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said his office had confirmed 15 drone strikes in and around the city in June alone, killing at least 45 civilians, but warned that the real death toll was probably much higher.
Turk said “drones launched by both sides have repeatedly attacked markets, schools, gas stations, water infrastructure and civilian vehicles across Kordofan,” disrupting access to food, clean water, health care and other vital services.
The strike also made it difficult to deliver aid. Earlier this month, a drone crashed into a United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) truck carrying 50 tonnes of relief supplies for displaced families. The agency said this was the second such incident this year involving a UNHCR aid truck.
Moses Okello, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies’ Horn of Africa program, told CNN that the attacks appeared to be aimed at crippling cities, not just hitting military targets.
“Both RSF and SAF drones are causing similar harm to civilians,” he said. These “appear to be deliberate attacks on dual-purpose (civilian and military) infrastructure, not as collateral (damage), but as a core military tactic.”
Residents say the effects of each strike are felt for a long time.
Rehab, a 48-year-old whose home was destroyed in a drone attack in El Obeid camp in June, said the past few weeks had been one of the toughest since the war began.
“The attacks are becoming more frequent and it feels like the war has started again,” she told CNN.
“All day long, drones are circling overhead and you can hear them all the time. People are now afraid to gather anywhere, even to help each other.”
Aid agencies have warned that the escalating attacks are leaving civilians in an increasingly desperate situation.
“Families in El Obeid are losing children, limbs and homes,” Shashwat Saraf, Sudan country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, told CNN. “Nothing has been saved and those who survived the attack are starving and have nowhere to go.”
Elsadig said he has survived three drone attacks and survived the fourth one, when he lost his legs, but now every time he goes out he fears it could be his last.
“When you go out, you don’t know if you’re going to come back,” he said. “You could be sitting somewhere and suddenly a missile flies next to you. You could live or you could die. You don’t know.”
