SAF Airstrikes Hit Al Zorg — Hemedti's Hometown — Killing 64 Civilians, Destroying Hospital

Sudan's Armed Forces conducted a series of airstrikes on Al Zorg (Al-Zurg), the North Darfur hometown of RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) and the ancestral seat of his family and tribe. The strikes killed at least 64 civilians, destroyed the local hospital, and killed two of Hemedti's relatives along with local tribal leader Bashir Barma Baraka Allah. The attack on Al Zorg represents one of the war's most significant SAF strikes on a location symbolically tied to RSF leadership — targeting not a military installation but the civilian and tribal heartland from which Hemedti's social, familial, and logistical power base originates. Hemedti's family and the broader Dagalo clan play a central role in RSF tribal recruitment, gold extraction from Darfur, and civilian governance in RSF-controlled areas. The destruction of the town's hospital compounds the humanitarian disaster in the locality, eliminating medical capacity for an area that serves Hemedti-aligned communities in North Darfur. The human rights implications are severe: with 64 civilian deaths and the deliberate destruction of the only hospital, the strike raises questions of proportionality and distinction under international humanitarian law, analogous to the concerns raised about RSF strikes on medical facilities in SAF-controlled territory. At the same time, from a strategic perspective, it signals that SAF is prepared to target symbolic RSF geography with lethal force in ways that go beyond purely military targets. UN Human Rights Chief Türk's May 11 statement warned that drone strikes account for over 80% of civilian deaths in 2026; the Al Zorg strike continues that pattern of aerial warfare against populated areas regardless of military significance.