Yarmouk Military Industrial Complex (YIC; ), also known as the Yarmouk Munitions Factory (), is a military complex located in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

, the capital of

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

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 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, the

Rapid Support Forces The Rapid Support Forces (RSF; ) is a paramilitary force formerly operated by the government of Sudan. The RSF grew out of, and is primarily composed of, the Janjaweed militias which previously fought on behalf of the Sudanese government. RSF ...

claimed control of the complex.

2012 Israeli airstrike

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, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

, which is governed by the Islamist militant organization

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

. According to the Sunday Times, 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 ...

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 The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, brought the case to the

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

. 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 and the further

Battle of Khartoum Battle of Khartoum may refer to: * Siege of Khartoum The siege of Khartoum (also known as the battle of Khartoum or fall of Khartoum) took place from 13 March 1884 to 26 January 1885. Mahdist State, Sudanese Mahdist forces captured the city of ...

the

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

References

External links