They expressed suspicions that the munitions may have contained chemical weapons. New U.S. SanctionsThese allegations came as new U.S. sanctions entered into force on July 20, 2026, after Washington concluded that the Sudanese army had used chemical weapons during 2024. The U.S. State Department said that Washington had determined that the Sudanese authorities had failed to fulfill the obligations stipulated under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and the Chemical Weapons Convention. A Troubling Situation on the GroundThese developments come after rights organizations documented, in recent weeks, airstrikes targeting the Jabra al-Sheikh area in North Kordofan using barrel bombs dropped from military transport aircraft. It pointed out that “this attack comes as a continuation of the indiscriminate airstrikes carried out by the army against civilian areas in North Kordofan since October 2023.