Sudan’s Burhan Declares Khartoum’s Liberation from RSF

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan at the presidential palace in Khartoum. (Sovereignty Council/X)
Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan at the presidential palace in Khartoum. (Sovereignty Council/X)
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Sudan’s Burhan Declares Khartoum’s Liberation from RSF

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan at the presidential palace in Khartoum. (Sovereignty Council/X)
Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan at the presidential palace in Khartoum. (Sovereignty Council/X)

The Sudanese army drove its rival Rapid Support Forces from most of Khartoum city, residents said on Wednesday, as army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan toured the presidential palace and airport, marking a major military gain though the wider war looks far from over.

Speaking from the palace, Burhan declared: “Khartoum has been liberated from the RSF. It is over.”

The residents said RSF troops had withdrawn and the army had deployed across the city center after two years of devastating conflict that is splitting the massive country into rival zones of control with the RSF still deeply embedded in western Sudan.

Burhan flew into Khartoum airport, located in the center of the capital, and toured the presidential palace, his ruling council said in a statement, in a demonstration of the army's control over the area.

An army statement said his flight into the airport was the first to land there since the outbreak of war in April 2023.

The army also said it had gained control of a major RSF base south of the capital that it said was the paramilitary group's last major stronghold in Khartoum state.

It released drone footage of scores of people walking across a dam that it said showed RSF forces retreating across the Nile. Reuters was not able to confirm that the footage showed RSF forces and the RSF did not immediately comment on Wednesday's military developments.

Recent army gains in central Sudan, retaking districts of the capital and other territory, come as the RSF has consolidated its control in the west, hardening battle lines and threatening to move the country towards a de facto partition.

The war, which erupted two years ago as the country was attempting a democratic transition, has caused what the UN calls the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with famine in several areas as well as outbreaks of disease.

It has driven 12.5 million people from their homes, many of them seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

ERUPTION OF WARFARE

The army and RSF had at one point been in a fragile partnership together, jointly staging a coup in 2021 that derailed the transition from the rule of Omar al-Bashir, a longtime ruler who was ousted in 2019.

They had also fought on the same side for years in the western state of Darfur under Bashir's government.

The RSF, under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, developed from Darfur's janjaweed militias and Bashir developed the group as a counterweight to the army, led by career officer Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

After they seized power together in 2021, the two sides clashed over an internationally backed plan aimed at launching a new transition with civilian parties that would require them both to cede powers.

Major points of dispute included a timetable for the RSF to integrate into the regular armed forces, the chain of command between army and RSF leaders, and the question of civilian oversight.

When fighting broke out, Sudan's army had better resources including air power. However, the RSF was more deeply embedded in neighborhoods across Khartoum and was able to hold much of the capital in an initial, devastating burst of warfare.

The RSF also made rapid advances to gain control of its main stronghold of Darfur and over El Gezira state, south of Khartoum, a big farming area.

With the army now re-establishing its position in the capital, it is making a new push to cement its control in the center of Sudan. 



Dozens of Palestinians Killed in Gaza, Including 38 People Waiting for Aid

A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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Dozens of Palestinians Killed in Gaza, Including 38 People Waiting for Aid

A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Airstrikes and shootings killed 82 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including 38 while attempting to get much-needed humanitarian aid, hospitals and the Health Ministry said Thursday.

Israel’s military did not have immediate comment on the strikes, The Associated Press reported.

Five people were killed while outside sites associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the newly created, secretive American organization backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip’s population, while 33 others were killed waiting for aid trucks in other locations across the Gaza Strip.

Dozens of people were killed in airstrikes that pounded the Strip Wednesday night and Thursday morning, including 15 people killed in strikes that hit tents in the sprawling Muwasi zone, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering, and a strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 57,000, including 223 missing people who have been declared dead. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death count but says that more than half of the dead are women and children.

The deaths come as Israel and Hamas inch closer to a possible ceasefire that would end the 21-month war.

Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. But Hamas’ response, which emphasized its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could materialize into an actual pause in fighting.

The Israeli military blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because it operates from populated areas. The military said it targeted Hamas members and rocket launchers in northern Gaza that launched rockets towards Israel on Wednesday.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.

The war has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting. More than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times. And the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, leaving hundreds of thousands of people hungry.