SAF Drone Strikes on Nyala Enter Third Consecutive Day — Al-Masane Weapons Depots Targeted as Hemedti Reported in City

Sudan's Armed Forces conducted drone strikes on Nyala, South Darfur, for a third consecutive day on May 17, 2026, targeting RSF weapons depots in the Al-Masane district and eastern Nyala neighborhoods harboring RSF command infrastructure. The Al-Masane district — located on the western edge of Nyala city center — serves as a key RSF logistics and armament staging area for the South Darfur theater, making it a recurring priority target for SAF's aerial campaign. SAF's sustained focus on Nyala is driven by credible intelligence indicating RSF commander-in-chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) is present in the city, which has served as his primary operational headquarters since RSF's expulsion from Khartoum in March 2025. The three-day Nyala aerial campaign (May 15–17) forms part of SAF's broader Darfur air campaign, which has targeted all RSF-held Darfur state capitals in rapid succession: Nyala (South Darfur, May 10–11 and May 15–17), Al-Daein (East Darfur, May 12), El Geneina (West Darfur, May 13), and Al Zorg (North Darfur, May 14). SAF uses Turkish-supplied Bayraktar TB2 loitering munitions and Chinese CH-4 drones for Darfur strikes. The RSF Bayraktar Akinci UCAV — used for Port Sudan and Red Sea state strikes — was shot down on May 11 in the first confirmed destruction of a major RSF drone asset. One earlier strike in this series hit a house in Nyala hosting a senior RSF commanders' meeting (the commanders had departed before impact). Simultaneously, SAF is pressing multi-front ground advances in South Kordofan, West Kordofan (cleared Al-Khiwai, May 11), and Blue Nile (recaptured Khor Hassan, May 16). The convergence of aerial pressure on Nyala and the Al Zorg strikes (killing 64 civilians including two Hemedti relatives on May 14) represents SAF's most sustained direct pressure on RSF's Darfur power base since the war began.