Category News

In Sudan, sexually violent victims are frequently forced to endure in silence, their tears being shed where no one can hear them. However, Mariam*, a woman, was able to follow the horror of war wherever she went.

Armed men stopped Mariam’s car as she attempted to leave Gezira State and travel to Khartoum in the early hours of last year. The only other passenger who was targeted was her.

According to Mariam, “They stopped us on the street and forced us down,” Mariam told Asma Mohammed of Al Jazeera Arabic.

They reportedly desired to search our location. She recounted, her voice trembling, “Two of them consulted with each other, then called me over.” They took me to a location where there was a mattress and an empty room. They raped me after I told them to lie down.

Mariam was shattered in the waiting car and returned to her family.

Her aunt told Al Jazeera, “She immediately explained what happened… How many of them there were.” They were, of course, members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Is there a woman living here?

Mariam’s story is not unusual. El-Fasher repeats itself with even more brutality in the tragedy.

Um Kulthum, a medical student, claimed she was forced to go to jail for being a victim of mass rape and murder before becoming one herself.

According to Um Kulthum, “the RSF forces entered and besieged the area.” In front of us, they killed my uncle, the one who raised me.

We shared a four-girl home with the neighbor’s daughter. The RSF forces then brutally assaulted us.

The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) released a chilling new report last November that documented nearly 1,300 cases of sexual and gender-based violence in 14 states since the war started in April 2023.

The regional director of SIHA, Hala Al-Karib, explained to Al Jazeera in November that these are not random acts, but rather a deliberate attempt to treat women as “property.”

When a home is entered, a specific question is asked, “Is there a girl in this house?” Kidnappings frequently occur at the start of an invasion. Do you know any young women? Al-Karib, ” said.

Many witnesses have said, “I am coming to take this girl,” we have heard. “

Trafficking and sexual slavery

Beyond a simple assault, the violence extends to prolonged captivity. Al-Karib described the terrifying reality of “sexual slavery” and forced labor.

According to Al-Karib, “Women are kidnapped for “sexual slavery,” particularly young, middle-aged women, and also for performing forced labor on the soldiers.

She further revealed that the exploitation has gone beyond domestic boundaries, which is even more alarming.

According to Al-Karib, “Women are also kidnapped for the purposes of enslavement and sale in markets.” They are brought into neighboring African nations via the border.

She added that survivors are being crushed by stigma and frequently refusing to go back to their families out of shame because they are being “used as weapons in this war… to defeat communities.”

The Masalit is being punished.

Arnold Tsunga, a lawyer and former director of Africa for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), who conducted a fact-finding mission to eastern Chad to interview refugees fleeing the violence, further confirmed this.

Tsunga described his “heartbreaking” mission to Adre and Geneina in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic from Harare.

According to Tsunga, “The RSF are the ones who attacked the Masalit group.” They made up the majority of those who experienced rape and sexual violence.

It saddens me to see that violence is now being used systematically as a means and weapon of war to evict people from their homes and punish Masalit men who attempted to defend their land.

Tsunga remarked that the demise of the rule of law has created an “absolute environment” for these crimes.

There are no functioning justice institutions, he said, adding that the RSF is now in charge of these matters. The issue with impunity is related to rewarding criminals, which leads to even more impunity.

infants as a target

Local hospitals have been overburdened by the violence’s scope. The director general at Omdurman Maternity Hospital described a pattern of atrocities that spared no one, not even infants.

According to Imad al-Din Abdullah al-Siddiq, “the rapes are in very large numbers, far more than what is recorded.”

More than 14 female babies under the age of two were raped. a youngster! He claimed that NGOs have documented this.

According to Al-Siddiq, the hospital has received a large number of victims, mostly unmarried girls, between the ages of 11 and 23. They occur as a result of pregnancy. For those who are under three months, we had to perform abortions.

Since the start of 2024, UNICEF has found more than 200 cases of sexual assault on children, some younger than five.

A pattern that is followed consistently

A planned three-stage pattern is described in the SIHA report: initial home invasions and looting followed by rape, subsequent attacks in public spaces, and finally long-term detention.

This violence takes place in the midst of a worsening famine. Millions of people in Sudan will be at risk of starvation as a result of severe funding gaps, according to the UN’s World Food Programme, which has warned it will cut rations starting in January.

International pressure is also rising in the present. Four senior RSF commanders have been given sanctioned in the UK for allegedly engaging in mass murder and sexual violence.

The diplomatic maneuvers, however, offer little consolation to survivors like Mariam and Um Kulthum. The international investment in reintegrating these women is still “very, very small,” according to Al-Karib.

Lebanon’s Beirut attacks are the latest of Israel’s attacks on its northern neighbor.

Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that the United States had agreed to, Israel has consistently bombed Lebanon and carried out drone strikes. More than 10,000 ceasefire violations by Israelis have been documented by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), including 2,500 ground violations and 7,500 airspace violations.

Despite agreeing to withdraw all of its forces, the Israeli military continues to occupy five locations in Lebanon.

Before bombing the locations, Israel forced residents to leave four villages in the south of Lebanon on Monday and the eastern region of the country, Bekaa Valley, in eastern Lebanon. Hezbollah and Hamas, according to the Israeli military, are both known for their involvement in the attacks.

Then, on Tuesday, Israel launched additional attacks in southern Lebanon, claiming to be targeting Hezbollah members.

Hezbollah’s strength

In connection with its conflict with Hezbollah, Israel has killed more than 4, 000 people in Lebanon since October 2023.

Between September and November of this year, more than 1.2 million people were forced to flee as a result of Israel’s evacuation warnings.

According to the World Bank, Israel left Lebanon with reconstruction and recovery needs of about $11 billion.

Hezbollah’s influence in the nation was severely diminished by the war, too. Hassan Nasrallah, a long-time leader of the country, was among the members who died as a result of the intensification. The group is being pressured to give up the weapons that have long been its “resistance” group in the wake of the war.

The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) were to be given the go-ahead in August 2025 when the government approved a plan to disarm Hezbollah. In addition to bolstering the Lebanese state, the decision was popular domestically outside of Hezbollah’s support base as a result of growing pressure from the US and Israel.

Hezbollah has for its part consistently refrained from requesting devastation. Israel, according to the group, has not adhered to the ceasefire’s terms.

Naim Qassem, Nasrallah’s successor, said in a speech on January 3, 2026, that you are not working in Lebanon’s interests but rather in the interests of what Israel wants. “To demand exclusive arms control while Israel is committing aggression and the United States is imposing its will on Lebanon.

We call for the Lebanese Army to be able to function as a security force for the nation against enemies, in addition to other duties it performs in the face of spies, drug and theft gangs, and other tyrannies.

Lebanon’s internal conflict

Despite this, Hezbollah has largely been disarmed south of the Litani River, according to Lebanon’s Army and government officials. The only places Lebanoni military officials were unable to use were close to the five locations that were under Israeli occupation, according to Lebanoni military officials.

The end of 2025 was the deadline to end all weapons below the Litani. The Litani River, which runs along southern Lebanon and is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Israeli border, is the subject of Lebanon’s cabinet’s scheduled meeting on Thursday for “phase two” of the disarmament plan. It would also include the disarmament of Palestinian militias along with the Awali River, which runs just north of Sidon. Between the Litani and Awali, there are roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) of territory.

Nawaf Salam, the prime minister of Lebanon, stated on social media that his administration was concentrating on putting an end to Israeli attacks, removing Israeli troops from the five southern Lebanon locations, and releasing Lebanese detainees held by Israel.

He wrote, “We commit to carry on the reform and the expansion of state control” together.

Salam and others in the Lebanese government acknowledge that the LAF are unable to directly confront Israel. They have also made an appeal to international allies and regional allies.

Imad Salamey, a political scientist at Lebanese American University, stated on Al Jazeera that “appealing to the international community is a necessary but limited strategy.”

It is unlikely on its own to stop attacks unless paired with verified, objective progress on disarmament and believable security guarantees, even though diplomatic engagement can help restrain the scale of Israeli operations and preserve space for negotiations. International actors typically place greater pressure on Lebanon to deliver results on the ground than on Israel to follow restraint, which weakens the effectiveness of this strategy unless Lebanon can secure a binding agreement that links its implementation to measurable Israeli de-escalation.

Without many cards to play, the Lebanese government is in a difficult position. The Lebanese Army’s operations south of the Litani have largely been unaffected by Hezbollah. However, according to analysts, the organization won’t be as accommodating in the future if Israeli attacks continue.

Hezbollah must first stop attacking Lebanon and releasing prisoners, according to Qassem Kassir, a Lebanese political analyst close to the organization, and the Lebanese state must begin rebuilding the damage done by Israel both during and since the war, according to Kassir.

He said, “Only then can the future of weapons be discussed.”

Kassir warned that tensions will increase if those issues are not addressed before the second phase of the disarmament plan is put into effect.

Otherwise, we’ll have to fight back.

Hezbollah was beaten but unpunished.

Meanwhile, the US and Israel are under increasing pressure, and Hezbollah’s refusal to disarm.

Hezbollah and its supporters can legitimately argue that disarmament outside the south makes them more vulnerable as long as Israeli strikes continue, according to Salamey.

Israel’s strikes are used as strategic messaging in an effort to undermine Lebanon’s claim that it has reestablished state control and finished disarmament south of the Litani.

Israel has also vowed to refute UNIFIL’s claims that Hezbollah is relocating to the south, and it has also claimed that the Lebanese Army is moving too slowly in its disarmament effort.

The consequences could be severe, according to Salamey, “if Israel continues to attack as the LAF moves toward phase two of disarmament north of the Litani River.” Israel may use any disruption or delay as justification for expanding its target group, which will increase instability and increase the chance of a new conflict when Lebanon is least able to absorb it.

Analysts think Hezbollah might feel threatened and act violently if the Lebanese Army continues to attack targets in Lebanon.

And despite the claims that Israel’s war against Lebanon in 2024 left Hezbollah severely damaged, international diplomats and analysts still think the organization is strong enough to face any domestic difficulties.

According to Salamey, “phase two runs the risk of shifting from a technical security measure to a more global political conflict over sequencing, guarantees, and internal stability in Lebanon.”