Yarmouk Military Industrial Complex (YIC) ( ar, مجمع اليرموك للصناعات العسكرية), also known as the Yarmouk Munitions Factory (), is a military complex located in Khartoum, the capital of

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

History

The complex was established in 1993 and inaugurated in 1996 with the aim of establishing advanced military industries to meet defence needs in Sudan and contribute to the transfer and localisation of modern technology and benefit from it in the field of defence. It produces rifles, pistols, launcher cannons and tanks such as '' Al Basheer MBT (Type 85M-II)'', '' Al Zubair 1 MBT'', and '' Al Zubair 2 MBT'', as well as ''Amir IFV'' and ''Amir 2 IFV''' armoured vehicles and self-propelled guns, as well as ammunition of various kinds. It was managed by the General Intelligence Service, as part of the Military Industry Corporation, and it 35% owned by Iran. Personnel from the

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

were also reported to be working there. In 2012, it was suggested that the Israeli Air Force conducted an air strike on the facility. During the

2023 Sudan conflict An armed conflict between rival factions of the military government of Sudan began on 15 April 2023, when clashes broke out in cities, with the fighting concentrated around the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region. As of 27 May, at le ...

, the Rapid Support Forces claimed control of the complex.

2012 explosion

On 23 October 2012 at midnight local time (21:00 GMT) there was an explosion at the factory. The factory had been built in 1996. According to Khartoum State Governor Abdel Rahman Al-Khidir, the explosion probably happened at the main storage facility. The resulting fire resulted in the death of two people and one person being injured. Ahmed Bilal Osman, Sudanese culture and information minister, blamed the explosion on an airstrike by four Israeli aircraft. He claimed that unexploded Israeli rockets had been recovered. Analysts had said that Sudan was being used as an arms-smuggling route to the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

, which is governed by the Islamist militant organization Hamas. According to the

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

, the Israeli operation "was seen as a dry run for a forthcoming attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities." Analysis by military experts at the

Satellite Sentinel Project The Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) was conceived by George Clooney and Enough Project co-founder John Prendergast during their October 2010 visit to South Sudan. Through the use of satellite imagery, SSP provides an early warning system t ...

suggested that the target may have been a batch of around 40 shipping containers, containing highly volatile cargo.

Reaction to the explosion

* Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations, brought the case to the UN Security Council. He also claimed that Israel had violated Sudanese air space three times in recent years. Three hundred people chanted outside of a government building "Death to Israel" and "Remove Israel from the map." Osman further said that Sudan has a "right to react" and to strike Israel. * Amos Gilad, an Israeli defence official, said that "Sudan is a dangerous terrorist state" but refused to confirm Israeli involvement. * sent two warships to Sudan, where the fleet commanders met with Sudanese navy commanders.

Sudanese civil war

During the

Sudanese civil war The term Sudanese Civil War refers to at least three separate conflicts: *First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) *Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005) *South Sudanese Civil War (2013–2020) It could also refer to other internal conflicts in Suda ...

and the further Battle of Khartoum the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), on 7 June, a fuel-storage facility located close to an army base and the factory caught fire during heavy fighting. On the same day the RSF claimed control of the complex. On 14 June, the SAF claimed that the RSF had begun using drones, which were believed to have come from the factory. On 17 June, 17 people, including five children, were killed in an SAF air strike on the factory. The airstrike occurred earlier in the day of June 17, before the three-day ceasefire was set to be implemented later that evening. While the initial perpetrator was unknown, doctors' committees in Khartoum later accused SAF of the airstrike. A local medical group called The Emergency Room announced that seventeen people were killed in the airstrike, including five children. This toll was corroborated by the Sudanese Ministry of Health, who also stated eleven others were wounded. Twenty-five houses were also flattened in the attack, which targeted the El Ezba market south of Yarmouk. The RSF alleged the SAF of being behind the airstrike, but this couldn't be verified. The Southern Khartoum Emergency Room, referring to the airstrike as the "Yarmouk massacre," stated that the airstrike targeted RSF militants in the Yarmouk neighbourhood. Later, the death toll grew to over 30 people killed, according to the

Sudanese Doctors' Union The Sudan Doctors' Syndicate (SDS) (), also sometimes referred to as the Sudan Doctors' Trade Union or Sudanese Doctors Association, is a professional association of Sudanese doctors. It has been actively involved in addressing the challenges fac ...

. Following the airstrike, the three-day ceasefire from renewed negotiations in the Treaty of Jeddah went into effect.

References

External links