Colombian mercenaries accused of committing war crimes in Sudan were trained on military bases in the United Arab Emirates, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch. The group’s investigation outlines how, since 2024, the Abu Dhabi-based security company Global Security Services Group hired hundreds of Colombian private military contractors, who were then deployed to Sudan to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces. Human Rights Watch found evidence that the private military contractors were in El Fasher in October 2025, when the RSF seized the key city and committed widespread massacres and rape. The report adds to evidence of the UAE’s involvement in the war in Sudan, despite the government’s repeated denials.
“UAE’s apparent support to the RSF is part of a broader pattern whereby the UAE has been intervening in neighboring conflicts for over a decade … to project its political and economic influence abroad,” says Human Rights Watch researcher Joey Shea. “The UAE still has not received any accountability and has not yet been called out by name by the international community. And in the context of Sudan, we’re still relying on these ambiguous and weak statements calling out 'external actors' fueling the war, rather than naming names and calling out the UAE.”
Nearly two months after the United States and Iran agreed to a ceasefire, are the two sides any closer to a lasting peace deal?
We speak with Robert Malley, the Middle East program director at the International Crisis Group, who worked in multiple Democratic administrations and helped negotiate the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal with Iran. He says Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of that deal in 2018 “was a completely reckless and absurd one,” with the Trump administration renegotiating many of the same issues, as well as pushing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran did not previously control. “We should never have been in the position we’re in now.”
Amid stalled U.S.-Iran peace talks, Israel has intensified its attacks across Lebanon and on Wednesday issued an evacuation order for all areas south of the Zahrani River — about 14% of the country. That includes Tyre, one of Lebanon’s largest cities.
“It’s hard to see an end in sight,” says Ramzi Kaiss, researcher at Human Rights Watch, who notes that nearly 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since the April 16 U.S.-brokered ceasefire. “The Israeli government has repeatedly not only violated the laws of war, but continues to declare its intention to commit more atrocities … And they’re able to do so because there’s no restraint on the Israeli military.”
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