Evidence of drone use in Iran and UAE

Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been accused of violating a United Nations arms embargo by supplying drones to both sides in a 14-month conflict that has dealt a devastating blow to Sudan. We look at the evidence supporting this claim.

On the morning of March 12, 2024, Sudanese government soldiers were celebrating unprecedented military progress. They finally recaptured the headquarters of the state broadcaster in the capital Khartoum.

Like much of the city, the building fell into the hands of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) when the civil war began 11 months ago.

What is noteworthy about this military victory by the army is that the footage shows that the attack was carried out with the help of Iranian-made drones.

Suliman Bardo, director of the Sudan Observatory for Transparency and Policy, said that in the early stages of the war, the army relied on the air force.

“The armed forces found that all of their priority forces were under siege and they had no ground combat troops,” he said.

MSF forces maintain ground control over much of Khartoum and Darfur in western Sudan, while the army maintains an air presence.

In early January 2024, a video surfaced on Twitter showing a military drone being shot down by Doctors Without Borders.

Wim Zwijnenburg, a drone expert and director of the humanitarian disarmament program of the Dutch peace organization PAX, said that its wreckage, engine and tail are similar to the Iranian-made Mohajer-6 drone.

The Mohajer-6 is 6.5m long, can fly up to 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) and can conduct air strikes using guided free-fall munitions.

Mr Zwinenburg spotted another version of the drone in satellite images taken three days later of the Wadi Sedna army base north of Khartoum.

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

Three weeks after the Mohajer-6 was shot down, a video showed another drone being shot down by Doctors Without Borders.

Mr Zwijnenburg matched the aircraft with a Zajil-3 – a locally manufactured version of Iran’s Ababil-3 drone.

Zajil-3 drones have been used in Sudan for many years. But according to BBC and PAX Watch, January is the first time they have been employed in this war.

In March, Mr. Zwijnenburg discovered another version of Zajil-3 captured in Wadi Seidna satellite imagery.

“[It is] This shows Iran’s active support for Sudan’s military,” he said, even though Sudan’s Governing Council denied receiving weapons from Iran.

“If these drones are equipped with guided munitions, it means they are provided by Iran because these munitions are not produced in Sudan,” Zweinenburg added.

In early December, a Boeing 747 airliner of Iran’s Qeshm Fars Airlines took off from Bandar Abbas Airport in Iran, flew to the Red Sea, and then disappeared from radar.

Hours later, satellites captured images of the same aircraft at the Port Sudan airport in the east of the country, where Sudanese army officials are stationed.

Photos of the same plane on the runway later circulated on Twitter.

The flight was repeated five times until the end of January, the same month that the use of Iranian drones was recorded.

Qeshm Fars Airlines faces U.S. sanctions over multiple accusations of transporting weapons and fighter jets across the Middle East, particularly to Syria, one of Iran’s main allies.

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

“Many Sudanese weapons are locally manufactured versions of Iranian models,” said Mr Bardo of the Sudanese Observatory for Transparency and Policy.

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

Mr Bardo said both sides had their own goals.

“Iran is looking for a foothold in the region. If they find geostrategic concessions, they will certainly provide more advanced and larger numbers of drones,” he said.

The BBC contacted the Sudanese army, Iran’s foreign ministry and Qeshm Fars Airlines for comment on allegations of Iranian drone use in the conflict but has yet to receive a response.

But Malik Agar, deputy chairman of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, told the BBC: “We have not received any weapons from any party. Weapons can be bought on the black market, and the black market is now gray.”

Meanwhile, evidence emerged early in the war that the RSF used quadcopter drones made from commercial parts and capable of dropping 120mm mortar shells.

Images and videos on social media showed the military shooting down many drones.

Brian Kastner, a weapons expert at Amnesty International, pointed the finger at the UAE.

“The UAE has supplied the same drones to its allies in other conflict zones such as Ethiopia and Yemen,” he said.

Aviation tracking experts observed an air bridge of civilian aircraft allegedly transporting weapons from the UAE to Doctors Without Borders, a charge the UAE denies, according to a U.N. report to the Security Council earlier this year.

The route departs from Abu Dhabi Airport, passes through Nairobi and Kampala airports, and ends at Amjaras Airport in Chad, a few kilometers from the western border of Sudan, and Darfur, the Médecins Sans Frontières stronghold.

The U.N. report also cited local sources and military groups saying weapons-carrying vehicles unloaded aircraft at Amjaras airport several times a week before heading to Darfur and other parts of Sudan.

“The UAE also has economic interests in Sudan and is seeking a foothold in the Red Sea,” Mr Bardo said.

The UAE has repeatedly denied the flights were transporting weapons, saying they were carrying humanitarian aid. A government official told the BBC in a statement that the UAE was committed to finding “a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict”.

MSF has not yet responded to the BBC’s request for comment.

The drones imported by both sides of the civil war are said to violate a 2005 United Nations Security Council resolution banning the supply of weapons to the Sudanese government and armed factions in Darfur.

“The Security Council must take responsibility for taking into account the situation in Sudan, the impending famine and the number of deaths and displacements, and immediately impose a comprehensive arms embargo on the entire Sudan,” Mr Kastner said.

Since drones appeared over Sudan, the situation on the ground has partly changed.

The Sudanese army has successfully broken through sieges on its soldiers in several locations.

Doctors Without Borders has already withdrawn from some communities west of the capital.

Mr Bardo said the 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 United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 12 million people have been forced from their homes, more than in any other current conflict.

Abdullah Makkawi has now fled to Egypt. Last July, while he was still south of Khartoum, he was nearly killed when a drone he said belonged to Doctors Without Borders struck him.

“I rushed into the house and we hid in a room with a concrete roof… My mother, four siblings and I hid under the bed,” he said.

Mr Makkawi said they heard drone shells falling into the next room, which had a wooden roof.

“Had we been in another room, we would have all been killed. Miraculously we survived,” he said.

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.

Mr Makkawi left his family in Port Sudan, believing it to be a safe place before fleeing to Egypt. But now he worries drones might get there too.

“The people of Sudan are tired of war. All we want is for the war to stop. If foreign countries stop providing arms support to both sides, it will end.