Sudan Nashra: Military intensifies offensive to reclaim Wad Madani | RSF drones strike Merowe, Northern State, cut power supply | US imposes sanctions on Hemedti, 7 RSF-affiliated companies in UAE

Positioned just a few kilometers from Wad Madani on the east, west, and south, the Sudanese Armed Forces stand on the brink of what could become their most decisive operation to reclaim the capital of Gezira State. For over a year, the city has been under the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) control, but a fundamental shift in the balance of military power in recent months suggests its recapture is imminent.

The events of December 18, 2023, remain etched in the memories of millions across Gezira, when the RSF entered Wad Madani unopposed following the military’s mysterious withdrawal. The night before, the military had celebrated with thousands of residents after repelling RSF attacks. But by morning, RSF four-wheel-drive vehicles roamed the streets, signaling the city’s descent into devastation in the months that followed.

Today, military forces stationed east of Wad Madani can see the city’s radio tower from their positions. The impending battle for Wad Madani could prove pivotal in reshaping the course of the war. The RSF faces two options: stand their ground or retreat northward to Khartoum and parts of White Nile State. However, a retreat would expose them to advancing military forces from the east and south, likely leading to intensified clashes in Khartoum.

The conflict has pushed Gezira into a dire humanitarian crisis. The secretary-general of an NGO monitoring conditions in the state told Mada Masr that over five million people have been displaced, while those who remain grapple with severe shortages of essential goods and medicine.

In Darfur, the conflict continues to devastate Fasher, the historic capital of the region battered by relentless RSF artillery and modern drone strikes that indiscriminately target hospitals, homes, markets, and military facilities.

In a recent wave of strikes this week, dozens were killed or injured. The city’s maternity hospital, which had been repurposed as a general hospital after the closure of main medical centers, remains the only civilian hospital in Fasher.

In North Darfur, the military-allied joint force is mobilizing for new offensives on RSF positions in the state’s desert, aiming to open new supply lines to Fasher and expand operations to the Sudan-Libya border. Military leaders, joined by Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minnawi, are coordinating the operations from the Northern State capital, Dongola.

Meanwhile, the RSF deployed drones to Northern State, targeting the military’s 19th Division in Merowe. Ground defenses responded but failed to intercept all the drones, some of which struck the power transmission station, causing extensive damage. This attack plunged Merowe and the nearby town of Dabba into complete darkness.

Meanwhile, clashes continue to rage in Omdurman and Bahri, Khartoum State. In Omdurman, the military has made significant territorial gains, reclaiming areas in Ombada to the west and Fatihab to the south. However, a video circulating on social media showed soldiers executing a civilian in Ombada after accusing him of collaborating with the RSF. The military’s spokesperson, Nabil Abdallah, responded with a statement confirming the arrest of the soldiers involved and their referral to a military court.

In Bahri, the RSF managed to stall the military’s advance using heavy weaponry, including Kornet missiles and landmines, leaving the frontline largely unchanged.

In the far south, RSF forces retreating from Sennar State into White Nile brought turmoil to local communities. In the village of Um al-Qura of the Gabalein locality, over 30 farmers were killed when they clashed with RSF forces who looted their crops, according to local and field sources who spoke to Mada Masr.

On the political front, Washington dealt a major blow to the RSF by imposing sanctions on its commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti,” along with seven UAE-based companies linked to the paramilitary group. The US determined that the RSF has committed genocide in Sudan — a designation that not only threatens the group’s financial and military operations but also significantly restricts Hemedti’s movements.

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Military intensifies offensive to reclaim Wad Madani

The military is making steady progress in Gezira State, advancing from the east, west, and south toward its capital, Wad Madani, and securing significant territorial gains in the process.

A military source told Mada Masr that the latest advance began on Monday evening, leading to the capture of the strategic Hajj Abdallah village along the southern axis after two days of intense fighting.

With control over Hajj Abdallah, the military has secured the southern region of Gezira bordering Sennar State. Meanwhile, military operations are ongoing in the Faw axis to the east.

On the eastern front, the military faced increased difficulty as the RSF amassed their offensive units in the region, according to a field source speaking to Mada Masr. These operations, which coincided with battles on other fronts in Gezira, were launched at dawn on Wednesday. Military forces, backed by allied armed movements, Sudan Shield Forces, and local mobilized forces, advanced toward Wad Madani along two main routes: one from the Khayary area and another from Faw.

In the Khayary axis, the military managed to capture the villages of Rama and Tabubab on the first day of operations while simultaneously advancing into the RSF’s stronghold in Shabarga along the Faw axis.

On Thursday, the military raided and captured Shabarga village and began transferring military vehicles, equipment, and forces there. This marked a turnaround from November, when an RSF counterattack forced a military retreat from the village’s outskirts. Shabarga is a key RSF defensive position in the state and a launching point for their forces. The area is heavily fortified, with taller buildings offering defensive advantages over surrounding villages.

RSF forces regrouped in the Magharba village, preparing for renewed clashes, according to the source. 

Shabarga’s capture would have a significant impact on the course of the battle in Gezira, the source explained, as it would enable the military’s artillery to target Wad Madani directly, given its proximity.

Another military unit moved along the same axis on Thursday, the source said, recapturing the village of Sharif Yagoub, which hosted a considerable number of RSF soldiers and vehicles. Regaining control of this village was crucial to preventing the encirclement of military forces engaged in the battles near Um al-Qura, the source said.

The battles in Um al-Qura along the eastern axis were the most intense of all the battlefronts in Gezira, the military source said, adding that military forces advanced toward the area via the Faw axis. Fierce clashes broke out on Wednesday, with the Sudan Shield Forces making initial advances into the town. However, the RSF soon encircled them, forcing them to withdraw to the town’s outskirts.

Later the same day, the military deployed reinforcements to Um al-Qura, launching a renewed assault on Thursday morning. The ensuing battle lasted several hours and saw the use of heavy artillery, accompanied by extensive air support.

By Friday morning, the Sudan Shield Forces, under the command of Abu Agla Keikal, announced the recapture of Um al-Qura and shared video footage documenting their entry into the town, showcasing the military equipment abandoned by the RSF after their defeat.

A source in the Sudan Shield Forces told Mada Masr that the confrontation lasted 48 hours, during which they forced the RSF to flee. The source also said that many RSF fighters were killed, including their operations commander, several officers, and mobilized fighters from the surrounding villages.

Many RSF combat vehicles were destroyed during the fighting, the source added, while others were seized, along with ammunition and weapons.

The RSF is regrouping in Wad al-Abyad, Wad al-Mahidi, and villages east of Wad Madani, the Sudan Shield Forces source said, and is expected to renew its offensive.

The military source said that the eastern front’s decisive battle will unfold at the Wad al-Mahidi Bridge — a key position for controlling the villages to the east of Wad Madani. The source expects the RSF to fiercely defend this area, though they are unlikely to hold their ground if forces from Shabarga and Um al-Qura converge.

In the western axis, another military source told Mada Masr that forces advancing from Managil captured the villages of Talha, Mahla and, Warrag over Wednesday and Thursday, before converging with the southern front troops at the strategic Bridge 57.

Clashes are intensifying on the outskirts of the Bika area, which serves as the western entry point to Wad Madani, the source said. These advancing forces are the closest to the city, the source added, and if they manage to push forward and cut off the western main road in Gezira, they will effectively trap the RSF forces in a tight siege. 

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RSF escalates attacks on northcentral, southern Gezira

The first week of the new year saw a surge in RSF attacks on northcentral and southern Gezira, Al-Mabarr Mahmoud, secretary-general of the Gezira Conference, a civil organization, told Mada Masr.

The state is already grappling with a dire humanitarian crisis, with over five million residents displaced, Mahmoud said.

“Our estimates indicate that the current population in the state is no more than two million, primarily in the localities of Managil and 24 Qurashi,” he added.

He highlighted that RSF violations were most severe in the Abu Quta villages in the northcentral Hasahisa locality and southern Gezira, which escalated during the first days of this year.

Over 40 villages in southern Gezira were attacked and evacuated during the first week of January, he said. In Abu Quta villages to the north, the RSF killed 30 people, injured over 40 others, and abducted several residents, according to Mahmoud.

He also pointed to severe shortages of essential goods in RSF-controlled areas, with exorbitant prices and some items entirely unavailable. Many goods, he said, are sold directly by RSF personnel, looted from other areas.

Describing the collapse of healthcare services, Mahmoud said that 32 hospitals, over 160 health centers, and 16 dialysis units have been rendered inoperative. Medical equipment and pharmacies have been looted, and medicines are now sold on the streets without any regard for health standards, he added.

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Artillery shelling devastates Fasher

The RSF escalated its assault on Fasher on Tuesday, targeting the city’s southern and central neighborhoods with eight drones. The military’s ground-based air defenses countered the attack, a military source in the city’s Sixth Infantry Division told Mada Masr.

Meanwhile, the RSF continued shelling displacement camps near Fasher, launching rockets and Katyusha missiles. The attacks killed around 18 people in the Abu Shouk and Neifasha camps on Wednesday, according to a medical source who spoke to Mada Masr.

Since the outbreak of the war, over 10,000 people have been killed or injured in Fasher, with women comprising the majority of victims, according to North Darfur State Health Ministry General Director Ibrahim Khater, speaking to Mada Masr. Entire families were killed in some cases, he noted.

Khater emphasized that the most significant threat in Fasher is the continued intensive shelling targeting health facilities, civilian gathering sites, shelters, and markets using advanced weaponry, including heavy artillery and suicide and strategic drones.

All major hospitals in the city have been put out of service, Khater added, except for the Saudi Hospital, the city’s maternity hospital, which now provides comprehensive healthcare services, and the Medical Corps Hospital, which is dedicated to serving the Armed Forces.

While the military continues to airdrop medications, Khater said that these supplies are insufficient to meet the city’s needs.

Seven primary healthcare centers in Fasher remain operational, Khater added, alongside four additional centers and a field hospital in the Zamzam displacement camp outside Fasher.

“We refuse to address the RSF directly,” Khater said, holding the paramilitary group responsible for blocking the entry of medicine and food into the city. “The world speaks of famine in the Zamzam camp, but so far, we have not seen any shipments or support from the organizations talking about it,” he added.

Khater had appealed to international agencies, the United Nations, and human rights organizations for assistance, but they did not respond despite the daily toll in Fasher, he said. “The average daily death toll in Fasher ranges between 10 and 15 people, with 20 to 30 others injured each day.”

He also underscored the deteriorating conditions for mothers and children, who he said are the most vulnerable groups to injuries and fatalities, particularly women. Rural areas surrounding Fasher, Malit, Koma, and Tawila all rely on Fasher for healthcare services, Khater explained. RSF-imposed restrictions on civilian movement into Fasher have caused deaths among pregnant women who were unable to access medical care in their villages.

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Joint force expands operations in North Darfur desert to Sudan-Libya border 

Preparations for further battles in North Darfur’s desert are intensifying. Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minnawi, appearing for the first time in months, dressed in military uniform, visited the Northern State, which shares a border with North Darfur, on Wednesday.

A military source in the Northern State capital, Dongola, told Mada Masr that Minnawi’s visit is linked to ongoing military arrangements to deploy new forces to Fasher and the desert front.

The source noted that the military-allied armed movements’ joint force are bolstering their capabilities in the desert region, predicting an escalation in attacks on the strategic town of Malit, a critical land route to Fasher.

Describing the battles in Malit as “bone-breaking” in statements to Mada Masr, a military source in the joint force emphasized their significance in driving RSF forces out of the region, explaining that the fighting aims to secure the border connecting Northern State, North Darfur, and the Sudanese-Libyan border, where the joint force intercepted several RSF-bound convoys earlier this month.

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RSF drone attacks on Merowe disrupts power supply

The RSF launched a large-scale attack on Merowe in the Northern State on Thursday, deploying strategic drones to target the military’s 19th Infantry Division. The assault targeted the military airport, the division’s headquarters, and power transmission stations.

A military source from the 19th Division told Mada Masr that four drones struck the Dabba locality before air defense forces managed to shoot them down.

This marks the RSF’s third drone assault on Merowe, using guided and suicide drones.

Eyewitnesses in Merowe told Mada Masr that they saw over ten RSF drones flying over the city at around 2 am on Thursday. They confirmed that the drones were targeting the division’s headquarters but were intercepted by the air defenses. Three drones managed to strike the Ghazala transmission station, however, which supplies electricity to the Merowe and Dabba localities.

An engineering source at the station, speaking to Mada Masr, confirmed that three RSF drones hit the station’s first transformer, followed by two more hitting the second transformer within minutes. Both transformers caught fire and were entirely destroyed, leading to a complete shutdown of the station, according to the source.

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US imposes sanctions on Hemedti

The United States has imposed sanctions on RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on Tuesday that “members of the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan.”

The genocide designation builds on Secretary Blinken's December 2023 declaration that RSF elements and allied militias were guilty of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Additionally, Blinken had said that both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces were found responsible for war crimes, “based on the State Department’s careful analysis of the law and available facts.”

As part of the sanctions, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also targeted seven RSF-affiliated companies based in the UAE, as well as an individual involved in procuring weapons for the RSF. The sanctions were issued under Executive Order 14098 on certain persons destabilizing Sudan and undermining the goal of a democratic transition.

The State Department condemned Hemedti for deliberately ignoring commitments under international humanitarian law, the 2023 Jeddah Declaration on civilian protection in Sudan, and the 2024 Code of Conduct established by the Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan initiative.

While condemning the RSF, the statement clarified that the US does not support either side of the war. “[Today’s] actions against Hemedti and the RSF do not signify support or favor for the Sudanese Armed Forces,” Blinken stated. “Both belligerents bear responsibility for the violence and suffering in Sudan and lack the legitimacy to govern a future peaceful Sudan.”

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New military advances in southern, western Omdurman

Clashes continue in the cities of Omdurman and Bahri in the tri-city capital, Khartoum, marked by the intensified use of heavy weaponry and airstrikes, according to two field sources speaking to Mada Masr.

One source said that the military has once again advanced into the Ras al-Shaytan area in Omdurman’s Ombada locality, northwest of Libya Market, following minor skirmishes with RSF elements.

The move aims to encircle the Libya Market area, where RSF forces are entrenched, the source said. This site has become a key operational target since the military captured the Ombada locality administrative headquarters on December 29, expanded into Hara 6 and 7, and pushed toward the market from the west.

The source emphasized that Ras al-Shaytan is strategically significant for securing northwestern Omdurman. The area has been a site for criminal gangs and drug networks and serves as a base for mercenaries, some of whom are fighting alongside the RSF, according to the source.

On May 20, 2023, the military launched a raid on Ras al-Shaytan, conducting tactical operations before withdrawing. The RSF later announced that they had regained control of the area.

Fighting has also intensified across Ombada’s western neighborhoods. The second field source told Mada Masr that, on Tuesday, the military recaptured Ombada’s Hara 17 and 11, while fierce clashes broke out in Hara 12, 18, and 20. The military carried out targeted operations during which it seized two combat vehicles equipped with DShK machine guns, a dual-barrel cannon, and other weapons.

In southern Omdurman, the military advanced into the residential blocks of Fatihab. On Tuesday, intense battles led to the liberation of military and civilian detainees, as well as the capture of combat vehicles and weapons, according to a field source speaking to Mada Masr.

Meanwhile, in Ombada al-Rashideen, a video circulating on social media showed military soldiers executing a man in civilian clothing accused of collaborating with the RSF.

The military’s spokesperson, Nabil Abdallah, swiftly issued a statement on Thursday condemning the act as an individual violation that breaches the military’s code of conduct, reaffirming the military’s adherence to international humanitarian law and rules of engagement. Abdallah announced the arrest of the soldiers involved and emphasized that any soldier violating the law would be held accountable without leniency.

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Landmines, jamming devices stall military advance in Bahri

In Bahri, heavy fighting continues. A military source told Mada Masr that the RSF planted landmines along Mauna Street this week — one of the axes along which the military is advancing to link with forces in the Signal Corps camp — hampering the military’s progress.

Clashes centered on tactical operations led by the military’s Special Operations Forces to push RSF fighters out of their positions, the source noted. The RSF, on the other hand, deployed advanced weapons, including Kornet anti-tank missiles and jamming devices that disrupted the military’s air operations, according to the source.

While the military neutralized several RSF snipers positioned on top of the Bashir Towers, it did not advance to fully capture the site, the source said.

The military is mobilizing additional reinforcements from armed movements, the source said, suggesting a potential launch of a large-scale ground offensive to reclaim Bahri’s neighborhoods.

Since September 26, Bahri has emerged as a focal point for military confrontations, particularly following the battle at the Halfaya Bridge. The military aims to capture the city while also reaching the Signal Corps camp and breaking the RSF siege imposed on its forces there since the outbreak of the war.

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White Nile farmers clash with RSF forces retreating from Sennar, military downs RSF drones in North Kordofan

RSF forces’ withdrawal from Sennar to White Nile State following the military’s recapture of the former has heightened tensions in the southernmost parts of White Nile, near the border with South Sudan.

Field and local sources told Mada Masr that RSF fighters killed 36 people on Monday evening in Um al-Qura village, located in the Shurak area of the Jabalain locality in White Nile State.

A field source told Mada Masr that the incident took place after local residents resisted RSF attempts to loot the area.

Resident Obeid al-Imam told Mada Masr that the RSF deployed heavily in the agricultural regions east of Jabalain weeks ago. Many residents had fled their villages in the area to Jabalain town due to the RSF's presence, according to Imam.

"On Monday, locals decided to return to harvest their crops," Imam said. "They clashed with a small number of RSF fighters that tried to prevent the harvest and looted their crops. Soon after, RSF reinforcements arrived in greater numbers with heavy firepower, resulting in casualties and the theft of four-wheel-drive vehicles."

Following their withdrawal from Sennar’s capital, Singa, RSF forces have spread across significant portions of the Jabalain locality in southern White Nile State. This has led to many confrontations, both with local residents and military units.

In Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, a local source told Mada Masr that military forces shot down eight RSF drones targeting the Fifth Infantry Division command on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in West Kordofan, another source told Mada Masr that the 18th Brigade in Nuhud, supported by reserve forces, recaptured the town of Wad Banda on Thursday. The town lies along the main road connecting Nuhud and Fasher in North Darfur State.