In this report, the Darfur Victims Support Organization documents a new incident within an ongoing pattern of aerial attacks carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces since the outbreak of the war on 15 April 2023, using military aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), which have directly or indiscriminately targeted civilians and civilian objects. The Organization affirms that this pattern of targeting cannot be explained as incidental or collateral damage; rather, it reflects a deliberate military approach aimed at destroying public infrastructure and depriving the civilian population of the basic means of survival, in clear violation of the rules and principles of international humanitarian law, in particular the principles of distinction, proportionality, and the obligation to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians.
In this context, on Tuesday, 16 December 2025, at approximately 2:00 p.m. Sudan time, Mellit Locality—located about 65 kilometers north of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State—was subjected to an aerial attack carried out by a drone belonging to the Sudanese Armed Forces. The attack targeted the Mellit Locality market and Al-Kenzi Secondary School (Second Campus), both of which are civilian sites protected under international humanitarian law and used exclusively for civilian purposes.
An eyewitness interviewed by the Darfur Victims Advocacy Organization inside the city reported that the drone flew at a low altitude over the area before directly releasing its munitions onto the market and the school, at a time when large numbers of civilians were present and engaged in their normal daily activities, with no indications of military presence or military objectives in or around the targeted sites.
The attack resulted in the killing of five civilians, including a woman identified as Nafisa Hassan Rashid, aged 67, a resident of the western neighborhood of Mellit. The bombardment also caused extensive damage to the targeted market and school, further exacerbating the suffering of the local population, particularly in light of the severe deterioration of basic services and the absence of viable educational and service alternatives.
This incident is not an isolated event, but rather forms part of a broader pattern of repeated violations against Mellit Locality since the outbreak of the war. The city has been subjected to more than seventy aerial strikes carried out by military aircraft and drones operated by the army. These attacks have caused widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, including water stations, schools, and health facilities, and have resulted in the forcible displacement of tens of thousands of civilians. The gravity of these violations is compounded by the fact that Mellit has become one of the largest hosting centers for internally displaced persons fleeing El Fasher and surrounding areas, rendering its repeated targeting a direct erosion of the remaining civilian protection afforded to populations already living in conditions of extreme humanitarian vulnerability.
The Darfur Victims Support Organization considers that the targeting of the Mellit market and Al-Kenzi Secondary School constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law, including the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and relevant customary international law, which prohibit attacks directed against civilians and civilian objects, as well as indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks. Given the recurrent and systematic nature of these airstrikes, and the absence of any apparent military necessity to justify them, such acts may amount to war crimes, giving rise to individual criminal responsibility for commanders and perpetrators involved in planning, ordering, or executing the attacks.
The continued use of air power against civilian areas in Darfur represents a systematic policy aimed at depopulating these areas, destroying the foundations of civilian survival, and imposing a catastrophic humanitarian reality. The Organization emphasizes that these violations require serious and urgent international action to ensure the protection of civilians, to put an end to the use of aerial force against them, and to guarantee that those responsible for these crimes are not allowed to enjoy impunity, in accordance with the principles of international justice.
