Reuters Exclusive: Pakistan nears $1.5 billion deal to supply weapons, jets to Sudan, sources say

The deal includes attack aircraft and drones, sources say. Jets and drones could revive Sudan army's fortunes. Pakistan's weapons industry is on the rise. It was a "done deal", said Aamir Masood, a retired Pakistani air marshal who continues to be briefed on air force matters. Read full story.

From Reuters

By Saad Sayeed and Mubasher Bukhari

Published Friday 09 January 2026 1:35 PM GMT 

Updated 09 January 2026 - full copy:

Exclusive: Pakistan nears $1.5 billion deal to supply weapons, jets to Sudan, sources say

Pakistan Air Force's JF-17 Thunder jets fly past during the sea phase of Pakistan Navy's Multinational Exercise AMAN-23, in the North Arabian Sea near Karachi, Pakistan, February 13, 2023

Summary

• Deal includes attack aircraft and drones, sources say
• Jets and drones could revive Sudan army's fortunes
• Pakistan's weapons industry is on the rise

ISLAMABAD, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Pakistan is in the final phases of striking a $1.5-billion deal to supply weapons and jets to Sudan, a former top air force official and three sources said, promising a major boost for Sudan's army, battling the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Their conflict has stoked the world's worst humanitarian crisis for more than 2-1/2 years, drawing in myriad foreign interests, and threatening to fragment the strategic Red Sea country, a major gold producer.

The deal with Pakistan encompasses 10 Karakoram-8 light attack aircraft, more than 200 drones for scouting and kamikaze attacks, and advanced air defence systems, said two of the three sources with knowledge of the matter, who all sought anonymity.

It was a "done deal", said Aamir Masood, a retired Pakistani air marshal who continues to be briefed on air force matters.

Besides the Karakoram-8 jets, it includes Super Mushshak training aircraft, and perhaps some coveted JF-17 fighters developed jointly with China and produced in Pakistan, he added, without giving figures or a delivery schedule.

Pakistan's military and its defence ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for Sudan’s army did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment.

Assistance from Pakistan, especially drones and jets, could help Sudan's army regain the air supremacy it had towards the start of its war with the RSF, which has increasingly used drones to gain territory, eroding the army's position.

Sudan's army accuses the RSF of being supplied by the United Arab Emirates, which has denied supplying weapons.

POSSIBILITY OF SAUDI BACKING

The sources did not say how the deal was being funded but Masood said it was possible the finances would come from Saudi Arabia.

"Saudi Arabia may favour and support all the favourable regimes in Gulf for procurement of Pakistani military equipment and training," he said.

One of the sources said the Saudis brokered the deal but added there was no indication they were paying for the weapons. Another source said Saudi was not providing funds.

Reuters has reported that Islamabad is in talks with Riyadh for a defence deal that could be worth between $2 billion and $4 billion.

Masood said the weapons for Sudan could be included in such an agreement, without confirming discussions with Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are part of the U.S.-led quad grouping of nations that has tried to push Sudan's army and the RSF towards peace talks.

On recent visits, Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan requested Saudi assistance in the war, according to Sudanese and Egyptian sources.

Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are embroiled in a major feud sparked by recent events in Yemen.

The two most powerful countries in the Gulf have sharp differences on a range of volatile Middle East issues, from geopolitics to oil output.

Their difference burst into the open with an advance of UAE-backed southern Yemeni separatists in early December that brought them into conflict with Saudi-backed forces.

PAKISTAN'S DEFENCE AMBITIONS

The deal is another feather in the cap for Pakistan's growing defence sector, which has drawn growing interest and investment, particularly since its jets were deployed in a conflict with India last year.

Last month, Islamabad struck a weapons deal worth more than $4 billion with the Libyan National Army, officials said, for one of the South Asian nation's largest arms sales, which includes JF-17 fighter jets and training aircraft.

Pakistan has also held talks with Bangladesh on a defence deal that could includes the Super Mushshak training jets and JF-17s, as ties improve ties with Dhaka.

The government sees Pakistan's burgeoning industry as a catalyst to secure long-term economic stability.

Pakistan is now in a $7-billion IMF programme, following a short-term deal to avert a sovereign default in 2023. It won IMF support after Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies provided financial and deposit rollovers.

Reporting by Saad Sayeed in Islamabad and Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore; Additional reporting by Ariba Shahid, Khalid Abdelaziz and Ahmed Shalaby; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

View original:  https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/pakistan-nears-15-billion-deal-supply-weapons-jets-sudan-sources-say-2026-01-09/

Ends

UN has called for safe passage for trapped civilians out of el-Fasher North Darfur after RSF announced they had seized control of the army's main base there

UN Human rights chief Volker Türk warned that the "risk of further large-scale, ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in el-Fasher is mounting by the day". 

Communication lines to el-Fasher have been almost completely cut off, while those who managed to flee are enduring harrowing hours filled with fear and uncertainty. 

The UN's top humanitarian official Tom Fletcher said he was deeply alarmed at the reports of civilian casualties. 

"With fighters pushing further into the city and escape routes cut off, hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped and terrified - shelled, starving, and without access to food, healthcare, or safety," Fletcher said in a statement.

Read more from BBC News

By Barbara Plett Usher, Africa correspondent 

and Richard Kagoe, Africa editor, BBC World Service

Published Monday 27 October 2025, 08:42 GMT - full copy:

UN pleads for safe passage for civilians trapped in war-hit Sudan city

IMAGE SOURCE, AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES. Image caption,

Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes because of the conflict in Sudan

The UN has called for safe passage for trapped civilians out of the Sudanese city of el-Fasher after paramilitary fighters announced they had seized control of the army's main base there.

Sudan's military has not acknowledged loss of the site, which would be a significant victory for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the ongoing civil war.

UN chief António Guterres said the latest fighting marked a "terrible escalation" in the conflict, adding that the suffering of civilians was "unbearable", AFP news agency reports.

El-Fasher is the last army foothold in the vast western region of Darfur, and has been besieged by the RSF and its allies for 18 months.

Heavy fighting has been reported since Saturday after RSF fighters captured the home of the North Darfur governor.

UN Human rights chief Volker Türk warned that the "risk of further large-scale, ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in el-Fasher is mounting by the day".

The Sudanese Doctors' Network said the RSF had already carried out ethnically motivated killings of dozens of people in the city and had looted medical facilities and pharmacies.

Imran Abdullah, an adviser to the RSF commander, denied the group's fighters were targeting civilians.

"On the contrary, they are the sole guarantor and protector of all those fleeing conflict areas, particularly in el-Fashir," he told BBC Arabic's Middle East Lifeline radio programme.

Social media videos verified by the BBC now show RSF combatants celebrating the capture of the army's el-Fasher headquarters.

They claim to have seized full control of the city, but the army's local allies say fighting continues in some parts.

Communication lines to el-Fasher have been almost completely cut off, while those who managed to flee are enduring harrowing hours filled with fear and uncertainty.

"We've witnessed many of our relatives being massacred - they were gathered in one place and all killed. Now we have no idea what has happened to those who are still alive," one man told the BBC.

Another resident who fled said they were "extremely worried, as we still have no information about what has happened to the people inside el-Fasher - the children, the elderly, the wounded".

The RSF has been accused of targeting civilians in airstrikes and trapping nearly 250,000 people after encircling the city with an earth wall, leaving many on the brink of starvation.

The city is one of the worst battlegrounds of Sudan's civil war, leading the UN to call it an "epicentre of suffering".

The UN's top humanitarian official Tom Fletcher said he was deeply alarmed at the reports of civilian casualties.

"With fighters pushing further into the city and escape routes cut off, hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped and terrified - shelled, starving, and without access to food, healthcare, or safety," Fletcher said in a statement.

"Civilians must be allowed safe passage and be able to access aid," he added.

The US has also called for safe passage and is trying to negotiate a ceasefire.

Taking el-Fasher would be a crucial comeback for the RSF after defeat in Khartoum.

But it is likely a sign that the civil war will continue, not end.

Sudan has been ravaged by conflict since 2023, after top commanders of the RSF and Sudanese army fell out and a vicious power struggle ensued.

More than 150,000 people have died across the country and about 12 million have fled their homes, creating one of the worst humanitarian crises.

The army controls most of the north and the east, with el-Fasher being until now the last major urban centre in Darfur still held by government forces and its allies.

The RSF controls almost all of Darfur and much of the neighbouring Kordofan region.

The group has previously said that it hopes to form a rival government in el-Fasher when it assumes complete control.

Additional reporting by Natasha Booty, Damian Zane, Danai Nesta Kupemba and Peter Mwai

More BBC stories on Sudan:

Sudan's fertile region where food is rotting amid famine and war

A simple guide to the war in Sudan

Inside Khartoum, a city left in ruins after two years of war

'Our children are dying': Rare footage shows plight of civilians in besieged Sudan city

A pregnant woman's diary of escape from war zone: 'I prayed the baby wouldn't come'

View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gw8w73lngo

End 

Hundreds killed in Sudan landslide, UN says. BBC Verify Live is looking at checks on video and images

EARLY this morning, BBC Verify Live's editor, Rob Corp, writes: “Our Africa specialist is looking at checks on video and images following a landslide in the Darfur region of western Sudan which local officials say has killed at least 1,000 people.”

You can read more about that story here (early version copied here below).

Note, BBC Verify uses open-source intelligence, satellite imagery, fact-checking and data analysis to help report complex stories. 

This feed is where they post their work throughout the day.

Get in touch with BBC Verify by following this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/send/u179565631

___________________________

Report from BBC News

By James Chater

BBC News

Published Tuesday 2 September 2025, 02:59 BST

Updated around 09:00 BST - full copy:

Hundreds killed in Sudan landslide, UN says

IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERS

Image caption, More than 800,000 have fled the western Darfur region, where the landslide occurred, since conflict erupted in 2023

A landslide has killed at least 370 people in the remote Marra Mountains in western Sudan, a UN official has told the BBC.

Antoine Gérard, the UN's deputy humanitarian co-ordinator for Sudan, said that it was hard to assess the scale of the incident or the exact death toll as the area was very hard to reach.

Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, the armed group in control of the affected area, had earlier said that at least 1,000 people had died.

Days of heavy rain triggered the landslide on Sunday, which left just one survivor and "levelled" much of the village of Tarasin, the group said in a statement.

The movement has appealed for humanitarian assistance from the UN and other regional and international organisations.

Getting aid quickly to the area would be difficult, Mr Gérard said.

"We do not have helicopters, everything goes in vehicles on very bumpy roads. It takes time and it is the rainy season - sometimes we have to wait hours, maybe a day or two to cross a valley... bringing in trucks with commodities will be a challenge."

Many residents from North Darfur state had sought refuge in the Marra Mountains region, after war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) forced them from their homes.

Darfur's army-aligned governor, Minni Minnawi, called the landslide a "humanitarian tragedy".

"We appeal to international humanitarian organisations to urgently intervene and provide support and assistance at this critical moment, for the tragedy is greater than what our people can bear alone," he said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency.

Pictures show two gullies on the side of a mountain which converge at a lower level where the village of Tarasin was.

The civil war that broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the RSF has plunged the country into famine and has led to accusations of genocide in the western Darfur region.

Estimates for the death toll from the civil war vary significantly, but a US official last year estimated up to 150,000 people had been killed since hostilities began in 2023. About 12 million have fled their homes.

Factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, which controls the area where the landslide occurred, have pledged to fight alongside the Sudanese military against the RSF.

Many Darfuris believe the RSF and allied militias have waged a war aimed at transforming the ethnically mixed region into an Arab-ruled domain.

Additional reporting by Anne Soy.

View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdj2jygzzk9o

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