Sudan’s El Fasher Sees Fiercest Fighting Since Start of City Siege

Thick smoke rises over El Fasher in Darfur following earlier clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) (DPA).
Thick smoke rises over El Fasher in Darfur following earlier clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) (DPA).
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Sudan’s El Fasher Sees Fiercest Fighting Since Start of City Siege

Thick smoke rises over El Fasher in Darfur following earlier clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) (DPA).
Thick smoke rises over El Fasher in Darfur following earlier clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) (DPA).

Fighting in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s Darfur region, has turned into fierce street battles after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) entered the city following months of siege.
Conflicting reports emerged about the situation, but videos showed the RSF advancing into residential areas near the army’s headquarters.
Witnesses told Asharq Al-Awsat that hundreds of RSF fighters attacked the city from three directions early on Saturday, describing the clashes as the most violent since the start of the siege.
They said bodies of fighters from both sides were scattered on the streets.
The RSF has been pushing to capture El Fasher, the army’s last stronghold in Darfur, after taking control of the region’s other four states.
The army, with support from armed groups and civilians, claimed to have repelled the attack, killing hundreds of RSF fighters and capturing military equipment.
Darfur Governor Minni Arcua Minnawi, who is fighting alongside the army, said El Fasher is defending itself against the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti.”
Heavy clashes were reported in El Fasher’s northern, eastern, and southern areas, according to the city’s Resistance Committees on Facebook. The group later claimed the attackers had been pushed out and the fighting had ended.
Pro-RSF social media accounts shared videos showing their fighters advancing and capturing army positions, with footage of destroyed military vehicles.
The army’s 6th Infantry Division said its forces were making steady progress and had inflicted significant losses on the RSF, capturing many of their combat vehicles.
The United Nations has warned that hundreds of thousands of lives in El Fasher are at risk due to the ongoing fighting.
Sudan has been in conflict since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Hemedti.



Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.