When a drone strike tore through a customary court in North Darfur this month, killing at least 35 people, rights advocates framed it not as an isolated atrocity but as the latest episode in a widening campaign of violence by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). The strike, which reportedly hit civilians attending local hearings, encapsulates a troubling reality of Sudan’s third year of civil war: the SAF are increasingly fighting with methods that treat civilian spaces as fair game.

The SAF’s drone campaign is now one of the most visible indicators of that shift. What began as sporadic use of armed drones has evolved into a systematic bombardment of markets, residential quarters and public gatherings across Darfur and Kordofan. Reports from rights monitors and UN investigators describe drones and fixedwing aircraft hitting funerals, court sessions and crowded neighbourhoods, with little evidence that adequate distinction is being made between combatant and noncombatant. In legal terms, such patterns fall squarely within the definition of indiscriminate attacks; in human terms, they erode any remaining trust that the SAF sees Sudanese citizens as worth protecting.

Most of the SAF’s drone fleet appears to be sourced from foreign backers, with Iran and Turkey playing the central role. Investigations by inter alia Human Rights Watch and specialist security think tanks have identified Iranianmade Mohajer6 combat drones operating from SAF bases, supplied via cargo flights to Port Sudan from late........

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