Sudan says it will continue to support Hamas — despite ‘Israeli aggression’

Khartoum has blamed Israel for air strike on a weapons complex that may have been supplying arms to Gaza

The Yarmouk military complex in Khartoum, Sudan, seen in a satellite image made on October 12, 2012, prior to the alleged attack (photo credit: AP/DigitalGlobe via Satellite Sentinel Project)
The Yarmouk military complex in Khartoum, Sudan, seen in a satellite image made on October 12, 2012, prior to the alleged attack (photo credit: AP/DigitalGlobe via Satellite Sentinel Project)

Sudan is not intimidated by “Israeli aggression” and will continue to support Hamas, the country’s Vice President Al-Haj Adam Youssef said on Sunday, in remarks quoted on the official Sudanese network Radio Omdurman.

In late October, Khartoum blamed Israel for an apparent air strike on the Yarmouk Complex, a Sudanese military factory, in which two people were killed.

Israeli officials have neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the attack.

In the past, Israel has accused Sudan of serving as a conduit for arms shipments from Iran through Egypt to Hamas in Gaza. The attack on the Yarmouk Complex was believed to be connected to this suspicion.

While Sudan has often expressed support for Hamas in the past, it has vehemently denied Israel’s accusations of providing weapons to Gaza, claiming that Jerusalem was spreading “fabricated information” as justification for its “aggression.”

Days after the attack on the Yarmouk Complex, two Iranian war ships, a destroyer and a helicopter carrier, docked in the Sudanese coastal city of Port Sudan. Sudanese officials denied that the Iranian ships were there in connection to the bombing, and claimed that it was merely a “routine visit.”

In May, a car bombing took place in Port Sudan. At the time, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti was quoted as saying that the explosion resembled a similar attack in April 2011, which Khartoum blamed on Israel.

Most Popular
read more: