Despite the defeat in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime and the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran continues its military expansion in the Middle East. According to Bloomberg, Tehran is negotiating with the Sudanese army to establish a naval base in Port Sudan, a crucial strategic location on the Red Sea. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have already set up a cargo airlift to Port Sudan, bypassing the Arabian Peninsula to supply weapons, ammunition and attack drones to the Sudanese army. This assistance takes place in the context of a bloody civil war which pits General Al-Burhan’s regular army against General Dagalo’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Russia is not left out in this race for influence. Moscow, which is gradually withdrawing its forces from Syria, is also seeking to establish a naval presence in Port Sudan. According to Bloomberg, the Russians even offered an S-400 air defense system to the Sudanese army in exchange for a base, an offer declined for fear of Western sanctions.
“The war in Sudan is taking place as if in a parallel universe,” notes the newspaper, while tens of thousands of people have been killed, villages burned, and millions displaced. The conflict has created a patchwork of complex international alliances: Turkey supplies drones to Al-Burhan’s army, while the United Arab Emirates supports the RSF, with help from the Wagner Group and Libyan General Haftar.
Russia, at the same time, is moving sophisticated military equipment from Syria to Libya, including S-400 and S-300 systems, as well as combat aircraft. Moscow is for the moment maintaining its strategic bases of Tartous and Hmeimim in Syria, essential for its operations in Africa, but is seeking to establish itself permanently on the Libyan coast to challenge NATO in the southern Mediterranean.
