Residents of el-Obeid (a strategically located city in Sudan's North Kordofan state, roughly halfway between the capital Khartoum and the Darfur region) are facing intensifying attacks and severe shortages as the city becomes a front line in Sudan's civil war between the national Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF carried out at least 15 drone strikes over three weeks in June, killing at least 45 civilians and destroying fuel depots, markets, and power generators, leaving some 500,000 residents and over 100,000 displaced people struggling to access food, water, and medical care. With Sudan's state institutions largely collapsed and international aid reduced — including the dismantling of USAID in 2025 — the burden of relief has fallen on grassroots volunteer groups called Emergency Response Rooms, which run communal kitchens, blood drives, and food distribution networks despite being caught between two warring parties that have each targeted civilian activists and diverted humanitarian aid meant for non-combatants.