“Any airport is a legitimate target for us.” What is the truth about the video of Hemedti’s threats to Egypt?

A video clip spread on social media on Monday, allegedly displaying threats from the leader of the Rapid Support militia in Sudan, Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), to Egypt, coinciding with the announcement of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, headed by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to form a committee to investigate what he described as a “painful accident” involving two Sudanese miners “in the border region between Sudan and Egypt.” The video received tens of thousands of views on social platforms such as the X website, prompted by a misleading description that said: “Hemedti’s statement about the Egyptian aggression today.”

In part of the video, Hemedti said in a warning: “A very important message. We have been silent for a long time... We are any plane that takes off from any airport from a neighboring country, any plane that is shot down, hit, killed, any drone that takes off from any airport. For us, this airport is a legitimate target.”

By splitting the video into stills and using a reverse search, we found a version of it on YouTube, posted on October 22, 2025. The viral clip turned out to be taken from a longer 18:47-minute video, which included a speech by the Rapid Support Commander on October 21.

The Arabic website ofuq News had published Hemedti's statements at the time, in which he accused Egypt of supporting the Sudanese army, led by Al-Burhan, in its extended war against his forces since mid-April 2023. The return of the video to circulation again coincided with the circulating pictures and videos on social media during the last hours of what was said to be air strikes against gold miners.

Egypt did not issue a statement about the incident, while the Egyptian army previously announced that it was launching a campaign against “illegal” gold mining within Egyptian territory. Meanwhile, the Transitional Sovereignty Council in Sudan announced, on Monday, the formation of a fact-finding committee to investigate what it described as a “painful accident” to which a number of Sudanese miners were exposed in the border region between Sudan and Egypt, according to an official statement.

A statement by the Council affirmed that "protecting the lives of Sudanese citizens and preserving their safety and dignity is an inherent responsibility of the state," and stressed "the necessity of dealing with the incident seriously in a way that ensures revealing the facts and protecting and respecting borders." The statement indicated that "the leadership of the two countries is in contact immediately after the accident occurs, to ensure the protection of lives, the preservation of the relationship between the two brotherly peoples, knowledge of the circumstances of the accident, and the ownership of the facts to public opinion."