Widespread burning of homes, hospitals, and markets has been documented across South Sudan's Jonglei State (a remote eastern region long held by opposition groups) as government forces conducted a counteroffensive against armed factions loyal to detained opposition leader Riek Machar. Satellite imagery analysed by the Centre for Information Resilience, combined with witness accounts, points to destruction across more than two dozen sites between late January and early February 2025, with residents describing soldiers arriving in armoured vehicles and setting fire to civilian infrastructure after opposition fighters had already withdrawn. The violence, which has killed civilians and forced tens of thousands to shelter in swamps and forests, has raised fears of famine and drawn condemnation from aid organisations including Doctors Without Borders, whose evacuated hospital in the town of Lankien was bombed and looted during the offensive.