Sudan army launches all-out attack in Battle of Khartoum

Amin Qudsi

Sudan’s army is conducting air strikes in support of its biggest offensive in months against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the capital Khartoum in a bid to retake ground seized by the paramilitary group when the conflict erupted in April 2023.

Fighting is waging near the strategic Al-Istritagia headquarters in western Khartoum, which the RSF had seized in June, in the early hours of Thursday morning, Middle East Eye reports.

Advancing soldiers captured the three main bridges that connect the capital with the city of Omdurman, and its forces are advancing towards the presidential palace amid heavy fighting.

The Sudan Tribune reported sporadic battles from central Khartoum and Khartoum North, as well as from the Al-Muhandisin area in Omdurman, which is under army control.

Artillery units targeted RSF positions with heavy shelling, with the RSF retaliating with shells which landed north of Omdurman.

The latest offensive in seeking to build on a February drive that recaptured parts of Omdurman that had been in RSF hands since last April.

Al Jazeera reports military sources said the assault had been “in the works for months”.

General Yasser al-Atta, a senior general and second-in-command to Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, had previously warned of a multi-pronged assault to “wipe out” the RSF.

The war has displaced 10 million people, a fifth of Sudan’s population, and caused tens of thousands of civilian casualties, according to the UN.

The World Food Programme says the conflict has also triggered a spiralling humanitarian crisis, with 13 areas of the country at risk of famine, and more than 25 million people facing acute hunger.