Sudan Army Spokesman to Asharq Al-Awsat: Stopping the War Hinges on RSF Ending its Rebellion 

Sudanese Army official spokesman, Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Sudanese Army official spokesman, Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Sudan Army Spokesman to Asharq Al-Awsat: Stopping the War Hinges on RSF Ending its Rebellion 

Sudanese Army official spokesman, Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Sudanese Army official spokesman, Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

As the battles intensified in Khartoum and other areas in Sudan, the Sudanese Army said the condition for stopping the war “depends on ending the rebellion by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).”

Army official spokesman Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat in a phone call from Khartoum of the presence of regional support for what he described as the “rapid support militia”, which does not need “proof or evidence.”

While he stressed that the army would not point to any particular regional party, he noted: “Things are clear as day to us.”

As for the condition for stopping the war, Abdallah said: “From day one, we had called on the rapid support militia to end this adventure, which will only lead to the destruction of the country...”

He added: “Stopping the war requires an end to the rapid support militia’s rebellion.”

Emphasizing the need to unify the army under one leadership, Abdallah vowed that the military would not allow the country to be dragged into civil war.

The army is thwarting any “attempt by the Rapid Support Forces to control the country and power by force and rebel against the state,” he noted.

“We have not relied on air strikes alone, because we know that war is a system of simultaneous actions and a joint effort by the ground, air, and other forces to achieve the military objective,” acknowledging that it was not possible to resort solely to air strikes to resolve any military operation.

Regarding the army’s use of air strikes to decide the battle, the official remarked: “We have not relied on air strikes alone, because we know that war is a system of simultaneous actions and a joint effort by the ground, air, and other forces to achieve the military objective,” acknowledging that it was not possible to resort solely to air strikes to resolve any military operation.

Moreover, the spokesman said the RSF were not controlling the ground, but rather specific areas and certain roads, by using human shields and occupying civilian homes.

He explained that the RSF “cannot directly confront the army’s brigades, just as they know very well that the army cannot storm their positions with tanks as they are in people’s homes and in hospitals... which put the people’s lives at risk.”

“From this point of view, you cannot say that the army is not protecting the civilians. On the contrary, the military is protecting the whole country and all the people by ending the rebellion in a systematic military manner, while respecting military ethics. As for the Rapid Support Forces, they are resorting to systematic looting, theft, rape and destruction of buildings and infrastructure,” Abdallah stated.

He added that the army was doing everything in its power to end the rebellion, but did not set a timeframe for ending the war, which he said was aimed at destroying the country.

“Since the start of the war, the Rapid Support Forces raided all service stations, in a desperate attempt to seize the whole country, but the army responded to that with courage and thwarted the RSF’s objectives...” the spokesman remarked.

He stressed that the army was working to end the rebellion in the shortest time possible to put an end to other party’s objective of destroying the country and plunge it into civil war.

The army will not fall for this conspiracy, he vowed.



Hezbollah: Any Truce Must Swiftly End Fighting, Preserve Lebanese Sovereignty

A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
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Hezbollah: Any Truce Must Swiftly End Fighting, Preserve Lebanese Sovereignty

A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

A Hezbollah official said on Wednesday that any US-brokered ceasefire deal between the group and Israel must end fighting swiftly and must preserve Lebanon's sovereignty, an apparent reference to Israel's stance that it will keep striking the Iran-backed group even with a truce in place.

Speaking to Hezbollah media, Mahmoud Qmati said that he was neither overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic about the prospects of a truce.

The US proposal could see Israeli ground forces leave Lebanon and Hezbollah militants withdraw away from the Israeli border. More Lebanese army troops and UN peacekeepers would be sent to a buffer zone in southern Lebanon as part of the deal.

But CNN has reported that an Israeli source familiar with the talks cast doubt on the likelihood of an imminent deal, noting that Hezbollah’s refusal to accept Israel’s demand for the right to strike the group in the event of a ceasefire violation could jeopardize the process. Without this clause, the source said, it was uncertain whether Israel’s prime minister could get cabinet approval for the agreement.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 in what it said was solidarity with the Palestinians. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes, and all-out war erupted in September.

Israeli bombardment has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded almost 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. It also displaced nearly 1.2 million, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population. On the Israeli side, 87 soldiers and 50 civilians have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles, and tens of thousands of Israelis have been evacuated from homes near the border.