Video circulated online as evidence of Sudanese army aircraft pursuing retreating RSF and allied forces near the Ethiopian border was actually filmed during Sri Lanka’s civil war more than 17 years ago, according to a fact-check.
The footage was shared by social media accounts claiming it showed Sudanese warplanes chasing Rapid Support Forces and allied fighters after they withdrew from areas in southern Blue Nile close to Ethiopia.
Fact-checking platform Misbar said the claim was misleading and traced the footage to the Sri Lankan Air Force in 2009.
The original footage predates Sudan’s current war by more than a decade and has no connection to the fighting now taking place in Blue Nile.
Its circulation comes amid intense competing claims over recent battles in the region, where the Sudanese army is confronting forces belonging to the Sudan Founding Alliance, including the RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu.
The Sudanese army said on Friday that it had repelled a joint attack around Al-Kayli, southeast of Ed Damazin, claiming that several armed vehicles were destroyed and two drones were brought down.
Neither the RSF nor the SPLM-N had publicly responded to those specific army claims at the time of the report, and the reported battlefield losses could not be independently verified.
Fighting along the southeastern front has intensified in recent months following advances by TASIS-aligned forces in parts of Blue Nile.
RSF channels say TASIS forces captured the strategic Surkum and Bakkori military bases in August, while Sudan Tribune has reported that the RSF and SPLM-N also control Kurmuk and Geissan near the Ethiopian border.
The resurfacing of old foreign-war footage highlights the growing volume of unverified battlefield material accompanying the conflict, with videos frequently circulated by supporters of competing sides before their origin can be established.
