Is Israel bombing Sudan again?

Here’s a story that’s really flown under the radar today. The Guardian reports: Sudan has warned that it has the right to retaliate after accusing Israel of carrying out an air strike on an arms factory, causing a huge explosion that killed two people. Ahmed Belal Osman, the Sudanese information minister, said that bombs from ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Here's a story that's really flown under the radar today. The Guardian reports:

Here’s a story that’s really flown under the radar today. The Guardian reports:

Sudan has warned that it has the right to retaliate after accusing Israel of carrying out an air strike on an arms factory, causing a huge explosion that killed two people.

Ahmed Belal Osman, the Sudanese information minister, said that bombs from four aircraft struck a complex and triggered a blast that rocked the capital, Khartoum, before dawn on Wednesday.

"Four planes coming from the east bombed the Yarmouk industrial complex," Belal told a press conference. "They used sophisticated technology … We believe that Israel is behind it."

Belal recalled a 2009 attack on an arms convoy in the Red Sea province in eastern Sudan, resulting in scores of deaths, which his government also blamed on Israel.

Israel never formally acknowledged responsibility for the 2009 attack, though Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wasn’t exactly subtle in comments made shortly afterward, saying, "We operate everywhere we can hit terrorist infrastructure – in nearby places, in places further away, anywhere we can strike them in a way that increases deterrence. Everyone can use their imagination."

According to one WikiLeaked cable from Khartoum, the Sudanese government had originally thought the U.S. had carried out the attack… and for that matter, the embassy staff didn’t seem quite sure. 

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

Tag: Sudan

More from Foreign Policy

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?

The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.
Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World

It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.

Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.
Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing

The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.