Sudan Nashra: RSF develops airbase at Nyala Airport with UAE backing | Military lifts sieges on Obeid, Dalang in Kordofan | More Khartoum bridges fall under military control

The military is tightening its siege on Rapid Support Forces positions across the capital’s three cities, securing more Nile bridges, and confining RSF fighters in and around the presidential palace in central Khartoum within a two-square-kilometer perimeter. 

In North Kordofan, after breaking the siege on the capital of Obeid earlier this week, military forces pushed southward, driving out the recently allied Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction, led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, and RSF units from strategic locations in the state.

Meanwhile, in South Kordofan, the military lifted a double blockade imposed by SPLM-N (al-Hilu) and the RSF on Dalang, reopening a key road spanning 116 kilometers between the city and the state capital of Kadugli.

Meanwhile, in western Sudan’s Darfur region, RSF shelling of Fasher and its outskirts continues, with around 28 people killed this week, according to a medical source who spoke to Mada Masr. The RSF also carried out a large-scale repositioning of its forces within the city, according to several military sources. One of the sources said the military launched airstrikes on the RSF’s new positions.

In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur and the RSF’s largest stronghold in the region, the RSF has been developing a military airbase and strategic cargo facilities at the Nyala International Airport since January, a senior military officer told Mada Masr.

According to the officer, engineering firms supervised by the RSF’s engineering unit — with logistical support from the United Arab Emirates — have rehabilitated the airport’s runway and built platforms for advanced jamming systems.

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Military secures eastern end of Soba Bridge, nears control over all Nile crossings in Khartoum

The military and its allied forces captured the eastern entrance to Soba Bridge, which links Khartoum and Bahri, on Monday, after three days of clashes. 

With this advance, the military now controls eight of the capital’s ten Nile bridges, leaving only Manshiya and Jabal Awliya, to the east and west, under RSF control. However, the military is now within a few kilometers of these last remaining crossings, advancing from the East Nile locality in Bahri city and from northern White Nile State, adjacent to Khartoum.

The military fully controls the Fatihab, White Nile and Halfaya bridges, which connect Khartoum city to Omdurman and Bahri. Meanwhile, Shambat Bridge, linking Omdurman and Bahri, has been out of service since being partially destroyed in November 2023. The Armed Forces and Blue Nile bridges, which connect Bahri to Khartoum, are also under military control. 

As of Monday, the military holds partial control over the Soba and Mek Nimr bridges, which link the East Nile locality to Bahri and Khartoum. 

Elite forces from the General Intelligence Service, Sudan Shield Forces and military battalions secured the eastern entrance to the Soba Bridge on Monday, a field source told Mada Masr. The battle unfolded over three days, with the RSF initially repelling the military’s advance on the first day by deploying reinforcements, the source said. 

However, by the second day, its primary defensive lines had collapsed despite limited movement by the military. By the third day, RSF fighters were forced to retreat westward into southern Khartoum after a six-hour battle, according to the source.

The military destroyed several RSF combat vehicles and captured an advanced jamming system during the battles. Several RSF fighters, including mercenaries from South Sudan, were either killed or captured, the source said. 

The military has since pushed northward to the Marabia al-Sharif area in East Nile, while RSF troops have regrouped in the villages of Karyab, Hay al-Mustafa and Um Dom in the same area, according to the source. As the RSF moved into these villages, its fighters carried out forced displacements and widespread looting of civilian property. 

A senior military officer told Mada Masr that military units stationed in the Giyad area of Gezira State, near southern Khartoum, have completed preparations to advance toward Bagir, the RSF’s last defense line before southern Khartoum. From there, the military aims to push into West Soba.

In Bahri’s East Nile, a second military source told Mada Masr, the military has advanced along Kals Street and One Street, adjacent to the Hajj Youssef district to the east. Clashes broke out in the Sagei area on Wednesday, with both sides deploying heavy weaponry, as the military moved to encircle RSF positions at the Manshiya Bridge.

Capturing the bridge would effectively secure a victory for the military in East Nile, cementing control over the entire eastern bank of the Blue Nile, the source said. This would allow the military to shift focus to fighting inside Khartoum city and other parts of Omdurman.

The military is advancing toward the Manshiya Bridge from four fronts: from East Soba and Marabia al-Sharif in the north, from Naseem neighborhood in the west and south, from Hajj Youssef and Hilla Koko in the east, and from central Khartoum toward the bridge’s western entrance.

Military battalions stationed at the General Command headquarters in central Khartoum moved eastward on Wednesday toward the Berri neighborhood, aiming to secure the Manshiya Bridge, a third military source told Mada Masr. The source added that on Wednesday, military forces seized strategic locations in Berri, which also has the southern entrance of the Armed Forces Bridge. With these positions secured, the military can now use the Armed Forces Bridge to advance on Manshiya Bridge. 

Mesbah Abu Zeid, commander of the military-allied Baraa bin Malik Brigade, wrote on his Facebook page that troops in Hilla Koko were only two kilometers away from securing Manshiya Bridge.

The military advanced into Hilla Koko on Wednesday and Thursday, securing large parts of the neighborhood. Fighting started on Wednesday evening, forcing the RSF to retreat, an intelligence source told Mada Masr. The following morning, their fighters attempted an attack to retake lost ground, but were once again pushed back by the military. The RSF withdrew some of its military equipment to Khartoum via the Manshiya Bridge, the source added, expecting a decisive battle in East Nile in the coming days that could see the military secure full control of the locality. 

Meanwhile, near the presidential palace, which the military has been working to capture in recent weeks, the RSF has been forced into a narrow defensive perimeter spanning just two square kilometers. However, the field source noted that RSF fighters are leveraging tall buildings and advanced jamming technology to maintain their position.

Clashes broke out early Thursday morning on this front, the same source said. A resident of Omdurman also told Mada Masr that they saw plumes of smoke rising from near the presidential palace and ministerial buildings along Nile Street.

In Omdurman, the military set up ambushes against RSF units in the Ombada district, specifically in Block 18. A local source told Mada Masr that several RSF fighters were killed or captured in the operations, while military-affiliated social media pages circulated videos documenting the ambushes.

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RSF repositions in Fasher, continues targeting displaced persons in Zamam camp

The RSF shelled the Zamzam displacement camp, located on the southern outskirts of Fasher, four times between Saturday and Thursday, a local source in the camp told Mada Masr. The attacks killed around 28 people, most of them children, a medical source in Fasher said.

Over the past ten months, RSF shelling has displaced more than 30,000 people from the camp. 

An RSF source, speaking to Mada Masr, accused the military-allied armed movements of using the camp as a base for launching military operations against RSF positions in southern Fasher.

In response, a senior military source in the armed movements’ joint force dismissed the claims as “baseless” and “lies,” adding that the joint force and the military operate from well-known positions. 

A source from the Zamzam Emergency Committee told Mada Masr that, between April 2024 and February 25, the RSF burned down around 24,000 homes, with the death toll reaching around 3,000 civilians. A source from the Darfur regional government told Mada Masr that the actual number is likely even higher, adding that obtaining accurate casualty figures remains difficult due to expanding RSF violations in and around the camp.

On Monday, Médecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) announced the suspension of all activities in Zamzam camp, citing the escalating attacks that have made it “impossible for [the organization] to provide medical assistance in such dangerous conditions.”

The RSF conducted a large-scale repositioning operation around Fasher on Monday and Tuesday, a military intelligence source told Mada Masr. The military then launched airstrikes on their new positions on Wednesday in the eastern mountain areas near the city. On Thursday, the military and joint force carried out a combing operation of the southeastern parts of Fasher, forcing RSF units to retreat toward the border between North and South Darfur, the source said.

On Thursday, the military’s Sixth Infantry Division in Fasher urged residents to exercise caution as the RSF deployed a fleet of drones over the city. A military intelligence source told Mada Masr that the drones were not suicide but guided, indicating a leap in the RSF’s drone capabilities.

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RSF builds military base at Nyala’s airport, targets Merowe with drones from the city

Timelapse imagery of construction around Nyala airport from December 2024 to February 2025. Courtesy: European Space Agency. (2025). Sentinel-2 MSI: MultiSpectral Instrument, Level-1C [Satellite imagery]. Copernicus Open Access Hub. 

The RSF has been developing the airbase and strategic cargo zones at the Nyala International Airport in South Darfur since January, a senior source from the military’s General Staff told Mada Masr.

Nyala, Sudan’s second-largest city, is a major financial hub tied to Darfur’s agricultural, gold and cash crop markets.

The source said that engineering firms, overseen by the RSF’s engineering unit and backed logistically by the UAE, have rehabilitated the airport’s runway and installed advanced jamming platforms.

The military has identified several newly constructed buildings and weapons storage facilities at the site, designed to protect military equipment, the source added.

In December, the military bombed three airports in South Darfur, including the Nyala International Airport, aiming to dismantle RSF-controlled infrastructure used in military operations. 

On Monday, the RSF announced that it downed a military cargo plane in Nyala, but a military source at the Wadi Sidna Airbase, north of Omdurman, told Mada Masr that the Ilyushin Il-76 military aircraft crashed due to a technical failure caused by excessive cargo weight. The source estimated that the plane was carrying over 75 tons of cargo.

Footage circulating online showed the aircraft’s wreckage scattered across the Mustaqbal neighborhood in northern Nyala. A RSF source who spoke to Mada Masr, however, claimed that the downed plane had been conducting airstrikes on the city.

According to a RSF military source, the paramilitary has the capability to neutralize all military airports and fleets.

The RSF have been launching combat drones from Nyala, targeting North Darfur’s Fasher and several other cities, including Merowe in the Northern State.

RSF drones targeted Merowe’s military airport on Tuesday, eyewitnesses told Mada Masr, while a field source in the city’s 19th Infantry Division said that the military downed around five RSF drones on the same day.

In the early hours of Friday, the RSF renewed the drone attacks on Merowe. Ground anti-aircraft fire was heard in three different areas across the Merowe locality, residents told Mada Masr. 

The RSF launched more than eight drones at the Merowe International Airport on Friday, a military source said, while the 19th Infantry Division was simultaneously targeted by five drones.

The RSF also struck the main power transmission station at the Merowe Dam with more than six combat drones at the same time, an engineer at the facility told Mada Masr.

The military source did not report any casualties or damage to property. 

Another military source at the Merowe airbase said that RSF drones, launched from Nyala, were spotted over Fasher and were reported entering the Northern State’s airspace early Friday. 

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Military lifts siege on Obeid, Dalang

The military lifted the sieges on both Obeid, North Kordofan’s capital, and Dalang, the second-largest city in South Kordofan, marking a significant shift in the conflict in the Kordofan region.

On Sunday, military forces secured Obeid, which has been under siege by the RSF for two years. Just two days later, on Tuesday, they advanced southward to break the siege on Dalang, where both the RSF and SPLM-N (al-Hilu) had cut off key supply routes. The military reopened the 116-kilometer road connecting Dalang and the state capital, Kadugli, with troops from the 54th Brigade in Dalang linking up with forces from the 14th Infantry Division advancing north from Kadugli. Meanwhile, the military-allied Sayyad unit advanced from Obeid to lift the SPLM-N (al-Hilu) siege from the northeastern front.

Dalang had faced sustained RSF attacks throughout 2024, while Obeid had remained under siege for two years. Obeid is a vital economic and military hub, home to Kordofan’s largest gum arabic and white sesame markets, an oil refinery and a major supply route for Darfur. The city also hosts the military’s Fifth Infantry Division (camel cavalry), with several of its battalions deployed in battles in Khartoum. Its airbase is expected to be instrumental in future military operations in Darfur.

The RSF attempted to seize Dalang’s 54th Brigade in January but failed to breach the city. The military was supported by the Popular Defense Forces led by Major General Kafi Tayara, a key military figure in the region. 

In December 2023, tribal leaders from across Kordofan gathered in Um Badr for a conference led by Tayara, pledging support for the military and vowing to prevent the RSF from using their territories as staging grounds for attacks.

The recent advances signal a strategic shift in military operations in Kordofan. A military source told Mada Masr that the military intends to continue linking key cities and leveraging its military and airbases in the region to tighten its siege on the RSF.