On 30 June, several international and Libyan media outlets reported about a joint investigative report by Lighthouse Reports, Evident Media (video report), and Sudan War Monitor that was released the day before.
The report claims, based on an interview with an anonymous defector from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), that there is a training and logistic camp for the RSF near Benghazi (14 km northeast of Benghazi-Benina airport). In the camp, called ‘Camp 17’, weapons and military equipment are stored until they are moved onwards to Sudan. The defector, who said that he arrived in Libya in mid-2023, reported that he was trained by mercenaries from Columbia in the use of heavy weapons provided by the Emirates – ‘DShK heavy machine gun[s], Multiple Rocket Launcher[s] [and] RPGs’ – in this camp for three months. The report notes the presence of vehicles ‘which match the model of truck the United Nations say the UAE regularly sends to Libya and to the RSF.’
The vehicle shown in the film is a Toyota Land Cruiser 79.
According to the report, other RSF training bases in Libya are located in Sebha, al-Jufra, and in Seweidiya (southwest of Kufra).
There have also been drone strikes against RSF convoys passing from south-eastern Libya to northern Sudan this week.
On 1 and 2 July, OSINT satellite imagery indicates several large fires along the smuggling route from south-eastern Libya into Sudan’s North Darfur. The density of heat signatures points to a significant wave of strikes, unlike anything seen since November 2025. This is likely to have been the Sudaense Armed Forces carrying out the strikes.
On 3 July, at an emergency UN Human Rights Council session, the UAE declared that the military escalation in El Obeid (360 km southwest of Khartoum) proves the Sudanese conflict cannot be resolved militarily. Condemning all violations of international law and the targeting of civilians, the UAE called for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire and an expanded UN arms embargo across all of Sudan.
On 5 July, the RSF-backed Sudanese Peace Government issued a statement condemning a drone strike on a ‘commercial convoy’ traveling from Libya – likely in reference to the strikes early in week. The administration blamed the Sudanese army for the attack, which they report caused civilian casualties and material losses. According to the government, the convoy was transporting food and essential goods for Sudanese civilians, making the strike a direct violation of international humanitarian.