Aerial photos show that a small airport in southeast Libya has become a key transit point for arms and supplies to the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group in Sudan, according to government and intelligence officials.
Satellite images show that the airport in Kufrah has been renovated and expanded in the past year, Reuters reported, with a steep increase in cargo flights that coincided with the growth of the Sudanese paramilitary group, also known as the RSF.
The RSF has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces, known as the SAF, since April 2023. The two sides are fighting over control of the government and the country’s economy and natural resources, including gold.
The civil war has evolved into one of the deadliest conflicts on Earth, with estimates of 12,000 to 15,000 killed and millions of people forced from their homes. Famine now devastates vast expanses.
The RSF controls large areas of Sudan, especially in the western Darfur region, but has had problems maintaining operations because of the logistics of overland transport and international restrictions on arms deals. Meanwhile, countries with political or strategic interests in Sudan, including the United Arab Emirates, have tried to influence the war with arms and supplies.
The increased activity at the airport first was observed in satellite images from the European Copernicus program dated July 12, 2025, Agenzia Nova reported. The images showed at least two Russian-made transport aircraft, which authorities said indicated with “reasonable certainty” the presence of operations to move military equipment or “specialized personnel,” Nova reported.
“This type of evidence represents a useful reminder that the recent surge in illicit arms shipments to eastern Libya, observed particularly since late May, has been orchestrated by the UAE government on behalf of the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces,” analyst Jalel Harchaoui reported on X.
The RSF had controlled Khartoum until March 2025, when the SAF overpowered it. Military supplies passing through the airstrip, 300 kilometers from Sudan’s border, have helped the RSF push back since then, Reuters reported. The supplies were critical to the RSF’s capture of the city of el-Fasher in October, which allowed it to consolidate its control over Darfur.
A United Nations official told Reuters that the RSF’s use of Kufrah had “changed the whole game,” allowing a steady stream of weapons, fuel and fighters to sustain the siege of el-Fasher.
The desert region of Kufrah is controlled by a Libyan military commander with ties to the UAE, which the U.N. says is supporting the RSF. The UAE has denied backing either side in the Sudan war.
Regional powers have jockeyed for position in Sudan since the civil war began. They want access to the country’s resources and its trade routes in the Horn of Africa. The Africa Center for Strategic Studies has reported that Egypt, Iran, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have supported the two competing factions. China, Turkey and the UAE have flooded Sudan with modern weapons, from surface-to-air missiles and heavy artillery to commercial- and military-grade drones, researchers report. The Center for Strategic and International Studies says the outside forces have prolonged the war.
Government officials and researchers say supplies flown into Kufrah might be flown directly to Sudanese airfields in RSF-controlled areas such as Nyala in South Darfur, or moved through desert corridors spanning Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan. This desert region has few regulated entry points, allowing supply shipments and smuggling to go unchecked.
The Horn Review of Ethiopia reports that Egyptian strikes in the region are believed to be responses to arms and supplies convoys that strayed into Egyptian territory. Recent Egyptian operations, the news service said, are intended to stop southeastern Libya from being used as a logistics rear base for the RSF and to deter Libya and the UAE from involvement in Sudan.
In late January, Egypt and Saudi Arabia stepped up pressure on Libya over its role in facilitating Emirati military support to the RSF, Middle East Eye reported. The news agency said Egyptian officials had confirmed that UAE had supplied the RSF with “weapons, military equipment, portable air defence systems and drones.” Libyan fuel tankers have also transported fuel to the RSF in Darfur, sources told the news agency.
The UAE has long planned to partner with Sudan in regional expansion, according to the Sri Lanka Guardian. Before the civil war, the UAE had planned to invest billions of dollars in Sudanese farmland and a Red Sea port.