Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus in the first visit by an Iraqi premier to the country since 2011.

The two discussed a range of issues including the security of their shared 600km border and mitigating the impact of drought.

They also agreed to enhance cooperation to reduce drug smuggling.

"I welcome the Iraqi prime minister on this visit, the importance of which comes from the nature of the deep relationship between the two brotherly peoples," said Assad, speaking at the joint press conference.

"This visit is important to take practical steps to strengthen bilateral relations, particularly in light of international circumstances and common challenges, especially the fight against terrorism."

Sudani said Iraq supported the lifting of sanctions on Syria, which have choked the country's economy since the beginning of the civil war in 2011.

Baghdad and Damas...

Sudanese representatives have arrived in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah to resume talks with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudanese government sources said on Saturday, after three months of fighting between the army and RSF.

Previous talks in Jeddah facilitated by Saudi Arabia and the United States were suspended by both countries in early June after numerous ceasefire violations. Saudi Arabia and the US have yet to confirm the resumption of talks between Sudan's warring factions.

Separately, a mediation attempt launched by Egypt began on Thursday, an effort welcomed both by the Sudanese army, which has close ties to Egypt, and the RSF.

A series of ceasefires have failed to halt the fighting which broke out on 15 April as the army and RSF vied for power. The conflict has seen more than three million people uprooted, including more than 700,000 who have fled to neighbouring countries.

There were new clashes on Saturday in both Omdurman and Bahri, Khartoum's adjoining cities that make up the wider capital, witnesses said.

"If you want to buy something cheap in Sudan," a trader in Omdurman told Middle East Eye, "you just come to the Dagalo markets. Whatever it is."

In a country that has been at war since 15 April, sourcing basic provisions is a day-to-day struggle for most. Buying anything else is a bonus. In this environment, a wave of popular markets has sprung up across Sudan, responding to the shortages brought about by war by selling the stolen profits of war. 

Goods looted by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is locked in conflict with the Sudanese army, are sold at the markets. And these markets are named after the man who leads the RSF: Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the general better known as Hemeti.

Smugglers, black market traders, eyewitnesses and victims of looting have told MEE that the Dagalo markets can now be found across the Khartoum metropolitan area, in Kordofan, Darfur and other parts of war-torn Sudan.

Looting has been widespread in Khartoum, which has long been the wealthiest part of Sudan and has, unusually in the country's history, been at the centre of fighting since the war began. Eyewitnesses in the capital and its twin cities Omdurman and Bahri say the looting is being committed by the RSF and criminal gangs.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has launched an investigation into reports of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, and other crimes committed in Sudans ongoing internal conflict. 

The courts top prosecutor Karim Khan told the UN Security Council on Thursday that we now are in peril of allowing history to repeat itself, in Darfur as violence in the western region surges. 

We are not on the precipice of a human rights catastrophe, we are in the midst of one, he said. 

ICC prosecutors will examine reports of extrajudicial killings, burning of homes and markets, and looting, in el-Geneina, West Darfur, as well as the killing and displacement of civilians in North Darfur and other locations across Darfur," said a report by Khan's office. 

Allegations of sexual and gender-based crimes, including mass rapes and alleged reports of violence against and affecting children," will also be reviewed.