Sudan Nashra: Military strengthens hold on Bahri, closes in on Presidential Palace | Military captures Um Rawaba, secures route to Obeid, Darfur

The final stage of the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) defeat in the Sudanese capital Khartoum is rapidly drawing near, potentially forcing their retreat to Kordofan and Darfur, or even beyond the borders for the foreign mercenaries fighting on their side. With continued territorial gains across the capital’s three cities after significant breakthroughs last week, the military has made a multi-pronged push toward the Presidential Palace, with forces now a few hundred meters from their target. However, the presence of RSF snipers atop tall buildings has made progress more challenging for the military.

In Bahri, the military cleared nearly all RSF presence from the city, from the northernmost Jaili area to the Mek Nimr Bridge in the south. Small pockets remain in the eastern part of the city, where intense military operations began this morning to reclaim them.

Meanwhile, military forces stationed at the Jaili area and the Hatab base, as well as in other locations, are preparing for a major offensive in the East Nile locality, the easternmost part of Greater Bahri. The locality remains the RSF's final large stronghold in the region, bordering Gezira State.

The military's position in Khartoum has improved significantly with the arrival of reinforcements at the General Command headquarters on Friday, allowing for a more expansive military push. Forces in the Shagara military area in southern Khartoum gained new ground, capturing more southern neighborhoods. This advancing momentum is steadily transforming central Khartoum into a military disaster for the RSF, which now faces the prospect of a major collapse. Forces from the Mogran area in the west could move toward the city’s center at any moment, in coordination with units advancing from the General Command HQ.

In Omdurman, the military is steadily expanding into the southwest, having secured new areas on Monday and Tuesday. Airstrikes also targeted the Mothalath area in the city’s far south, which serves as a key entry and exit point for the RSF into Khartoum via the Jabal Awliya dam bridge.

Khartoum's war is now closely linked to military operations in the eastern and western parts of Gezira State. The military and allied Sudan Shield Forces are preparing to launch major offensives on the RSF in the towns of Refaa and Hilaliya, near Khartoum, a Sudan Shield Forces source told Mada Masr. Reinforcements were also sent to a village near Abu Quta, close to Khartoum, where the RSF has redeployed.

While the military continues to advance in Khartoum, the RSF suffered a major blow after one of its senior commanders was killed in East Nile on Tuesday. 

In the far west, however, the RSF is ramping up its attacks in its most violent bid to win Fasher and dominate the entire Darfur region.

The RSF renewed heavy ground offensives on Fasher this week, continuing to shell civilian areas with artillery and strategic drones launched from Nyala Airport in South Darfur, which has become a vital supply line for their forces. The battle for Fasher is a decisive one: either the RSF succeeds in carving out the region as its sphere of influence, or the military will manage to reunite it with the rest of the country.

However, the military made a significant advance on Thursday, capturing Um Rawaba in North Kordofan, moving closer to reach the state capital Obeid and breaking its siege. This would pave the way for the military to launch operations from Obeid toward Darfur, lift the siege on Fasher, and push further into West Kordofan and East Darfur.

In North Darfur's desert, violent clashes continue between the armed movements’ joint force and the RSF. According to a military source, the joint force repelled two RSF attacks on Saturday and Sunday, which were aimed at breaking the siege the military is imposing on RSF forces in Malit.

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Military secures control of Bahri, prepares to cross Mek Nimr Bridge into Presidential Palace

The military took control of nearly all Bahri in operations on Tuesday and Wednesday, securing the northern side of the Mek Nimr Bridge, which leads directly into central Khartoum. The bridge lies just a few hundred meters from the Presidential Palace. Only two areas remain outside the military’s control — Kafouri and Kober, where the military launched operations on Thursday. Securing these strategic areas would grant the military full control over western Bahri where the RSF has positioned artillery and rocket launchers.

A field source told Mada Masr that military forces advanced westward from the Safiya and Mazad neighborhoods, pushing into the last RSF-held sections in Shambat and the Mirghani residential areas. Meanwhile, forces stationed north of Baraha Hospital moved south toward the Bahri Moassasa area and central parts of the city on Tuesday.

The military has now secured several locations in Shambat, the source said, including the Police Towers, the central market, and the Zarga military industrial complex. It has also taken control of the RSF’s medical unit in the area, along with Zaiem al-Azhari University, Khartoum State’s Education Ministry building, and the paratrooper camp — one of the RSF’s key strongholds in the capital.

By Wednesday, military forces extended their control over the Dayoum, Mirghani, Danagla, Hilla Hamad and Khogali neighborhoods and the Waburat area. They also reach the central station via Maouna Street, securing Mek Nimr Bridge and the Qatari Diar buildings, according to the field source.

With these gains, the military now holds nearly all of Bahri, the source said, except for pockets in Kober and Kafouri in the east. The source also noted that large numbers of RSF fighters retreated from Old Bahri’s neighborhoods, fleeing south by boat toward Tuti Island, while others withdrew on foot via Mek Nimr Bridge toward the Presidential Palace in Khartoum before the military seized control of the northern end of the bridge on Wednesday evening.

The capture of the Qatari Diar buildings and Mek Nimr Bridge from Bahri’s side effectively neutralizes Nile Street on the southern bank of the Blue Nile in Khartoum city, clearing a path for the military to advance toward the Presidential Palace and key sovereign ministries, which have been under RSF control since the war broke out in mid-April 2023.

Another field source told Mada Masr that the military seized combat vehicles, weapons, and ammunition from the RSF’s medical unit in Bahri, as well as military equipment from the paratrooper camp and other buildings that had been used as operational centers.

The source also said that Baraha Hospital had been completely burned down, with medical equipment destroyed, before the RSF abandoned the site. Acts of arson and vandalism also targeted Bahri Grand Mosque and several other buildings and institutions across the city.

Meanwhile, in the East Nile locality in eastern Bahri, the military deployed additional reinforcements to towns and villages on the locality’s outskirts via the Butana area. A local source told Mada Masr that troops reached Ad Babakr and other areas in the far southeastern outskirts.

The military aims to secure all entry and exit points in East Nile before launching a broader maneuver, a senior military officer told Mada Masr. The planned operation seeks to both clear the city and advance toward Manshiya and Soba bridges from the eastern side, cutting off RSF supply and transport routes.

Units stationed at the Jaili Oil Refinery and Hatab camp, north and east of Bahri, will merge with troops at Aylafoun camp in the far south, according to the senior officer, alongside recently deployed reinforcements. Heavy clashes are expected in the area in the coming days, he said.

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Military advances toward Presidential Palace from General Command

A military source told Mada Masr that the military has begun a cautious westward advance from its headquarters at the General Command in central Khartoum toward the Presidential Palace, Khartoum Hospital, and the Arab Market.

On Monday, the source added, the military recaptured the Security Police headquarters near the French Cultural Center in the Khartoum East neighborhood, as well as several tall buildings along Mek Nimr Street. Forces then advanced along Jamaa Street with the aim of securing the southern end of the Mek Nimr Bridge in order to push toward the Presidential Palace.

Simultaneously, forces are pushing toward the palace from the Mogran area west of Khartoum, which has seen intense fighting last week. Another front, moving northward from the Armored Corps in the south, remains farther from its objective compared to the other axes, which are now only a few kilometers away.

In southern Khartoum, military forces stationed at the Shagara military base continue to expand southward into the Gabra residential blocks. On Sunday, they reached Wafi mall and the under-construction Ibrahim Shams Eddin Hospital, while also driving the RSF out of the Doha neighborhood entirely, according to a mobilized local fighting alongside the military who spoke to Mada Masr. However, the source said that RSF forces remain present in the southern blocks of Gabra.

Meanwhile, in Omdurman — the largest of the capital’s three cities — a field source told Mada Masr that, on Tuesday, the military advanced to the Lasilki area, south of the city and west of Omdurman Islamic University. On Monday and Tuesday, the military conducted multiple airstrikes targeting the Mothalath area west of the Jabal Awliya dam in the far south of the city.

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Military, Sudan Shield Forces prepare for major offensive in eastern Gezira

Military operations in Gezira State in central Sudan have slowed down following the military’s recapture of the state capital Wad Madani on January 11, and the RSF’s retreat to the towns of Hasahisa, Refaa, and villages in the north.

A military source told Mada Masr that on Monday, the military dispatched reinforcements to the village of Kitr, near Abu Quta in northwest Gezira, where RSF forces have heavily redeployed to block further military advances.

According to the source, military drones targeted several RSF positions in the area, while RSF fighters escalated attacks on civilian homes in Abu Quta and nearby villages, engaging in looting and forcibly displacing residents.

Abu Quta is one of the closest towns to Jabal Awliya in southwestern Khartoum — a critical supply route for RSF reinforcements arriving from western Sudan via the Jabal Awliya dam bridge into the capital and Gezira.

In eastern Gezira, a source from the military-allied Sudan Shield Forces told Mada Masr that their troops, alongside the military, are preparing for a large-scale ground offensive in the coming days to retake the towns of Refaa and Hilaliya.

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Senior RSF commander killed in East Nile area, Khartoum

A source in the RSF told Mada Masr that senior commander Galha Rahma Mahdi was killed on Tuesday after being targeted by a missile strike from a military drone. The attack took place in the Wadi al-Akhdar area of East Nile, east of the capital, also killing his brother and several other officers, who were buried at the site of the strike, the source said.

The airstrike destroyed Galha’s vehicle along with other combat vehicles accompanying him, resulting in his immediate death, the source added.

Mada Masr reached out to Sudanese military spokesperson Nabil Abdallah for comment on Galha’s death and the future of military operations, but he declined, saying, “Armies don’t reveal their plans to the media.”

Galha led the Shujaan Kordofan movement, which announced its alignment with the RSF in September 2023 after its forces, previously fighting alongside Libyan National Army Commander Khalifa Haftar in Libya, returned to Sudan.

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RSF launches ground offensive on Fasher

Fasher came under a new wave of attacks on its eastern front on Wednesday, but the joint force and the military repelled the assault, a field source told Mada Masr.

In a statement issued the same day, the command of Fasher’s Sixth Infantry Division declared victory after intense clashes, reporting that the RSF had launched the attack with 50 combat vehicles and 500 fighters.

According to the statement, the military and the joint force, along with mobilized fighter and popular resistance forces, destroyed 37 combat vehicles and killed 270 fighters.

A source in the division’s command told Mada Masr that they also seized 10 four-wheel-drive vehicles, three armored personnel carriers, ammunition — including Howitzer and mortar shells, machine gun rounds, and infrared-homing missiles — and various light weapons. Forty-one RSF fighters were captured, and 17 drones were destroyed, the source added.

The Air Force also backed the ground forces, carrying out a series of strikes that destroyed 12 RSF combat vehicles and killed dozens of fighters, the source said.

Fasher remains the site of the war’s fiercest ground battles. The military and its allies are holding their ground against RSF offensives, as the paramilitary group seeks to capture the last remaining Darfur capital outside its control.

This week’s military operations in and around Fasher are among the most intense since the war began.

A medical source in Fasher told Mada Masr that the daily casualties in North Darfur due to RSF shelling has exceeded 52 deaths and 65 injuries in January, bringing the total to over 1,500 killed and 2,000 wounded since the start of the year.

The RSF continues to employ heavy artillery and long-range rockets, shelling Abu Shouk camp outside Fasher and the eastern and northeastern neighborhoods in the city daily. A military source estimated that more than 14 shells strike the city each day.

Foreign military supplies have played a pivotal role in the battle for Fasher. RSF drones, introduced into the war in April 2024 from Um Jaras in Chad, have significantly impacted the front lines. These drones have repeatedly targeted the Sixth Infantry Division camp, crippling the military’s offensive capabilities.

On the other hand, the joint force has been reinforced by military airlifts, with Antonov aircrafts supplying weapons and equipment. This aerial support has turned the outskirts of Fasher into a battleground of relentless intensity, countering the steady influx of RSF reinforcements arriving via Nyala Airport from Chad’s capital N'Djamena.

According to Minerals Minister Mohamed Bashir Abu Namo, who is also a leading figure in the Sudan Liberation Movement faction lead by Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minnawi, the RSF’s international backers have begun hiring retired eastern European pilots, paying tens of thousands of dollars per flight to transport military cargo from N'Djamena into Sudan. 

According to Abu Namo, military equipment and weapons are being transported from Hassan Djamous International Airport in N'Djamena to Nyala Airport or remote airstrips in Darfur and North Kordofan.

In recent days, he said, Ilyushin cargo planes have been making routine nighttime flights between N'Djamena and Nyala. The frequency of these flights has become so predictable that residents of N'Djamena now notify Nyala locals of the planes' departure times, with landings occurring almost an hour later. 

Abu Namo added that this high-risk operation reflects Abu Dhabi’s determination to turn the battle for Fasher into an electronic warfare campaign, using strategic drones. These drones, he said, are launched from Nyala toward Fasher, where they gather intelligence, capture coordinates, and carry out precision strikes.

Abu Namo pointed to a recent drone strike that killed 70 people last week, including an attack on a hospital.

Meanwhile, a local source in Nyala told Mada Masr that, on Saturday night, four Ilyushin planes departed from N'Djamena to Sudan and that fuel was loaded into three tankers near the aircraft after landing in Nyala Airport.

In August 2024, the joint force established a military supply line from Dabba in the Northern State, enabling them to move operations outside of Fasher. However, the city’s eastern region and the surrounding mountains remained under the RSF control, in which they positioned their artillery, which continues to shell Fasher, an intelligence source in the Sixth Infantry Division told Mada Masr.

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Joint force repels 2 RSF attacks in North Darfur desert front

Fierce battles have raged for a week across several desert areas north of Fasher, including Wadi Hawar and along the Arbaeen road.

On Saturday and Sunday, the joint force repelled two RSF attacks aimed at breaking the siege on their forces in Malit, a military source told Mada Masr, adding that RSF drone strikes posed the most significant threat to their forces.

The desert front, one of the most intense battle zones, has been a key focus for the joint force since August 2024. They have deployed reinforcements from Dabba while launching large-scale operations around Malha, which they captured in December, and imposing a siege on Malit.

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Military captures Um Rawaba, North Kordofan, moves closer to breaking Obeid siege

The military recaptured Um Rawaba in North Kordofan on Thursday following a coordinated three-pronged assault that ousted the RSF, which had held the city since the early days of the war.

A field source told Mada Masr that intense airstrikes were carried out on Wednesday evening, paving the way for the military’s forces to push into the city's outskirts. By midday Thursday, the military had secured full control of Um Rawaba.

According to the source, the military advanced from three directions — north, east and south — led by the Sayyad unit from White Nile State, alongside forces from the 16th Infantry Division.

Following a combing operation to secure the city, military units advanced toward Samih, a town near Rahad, neighboring North Kordofan capital Obeid.

The military’s objective is to reach Obeid and reopen the road connecting it to Kosti in White Nile State, breaking the RSF-imposed siege on the latter as well, the source said.

Located about 301 kilometers from Khartoum, Um Rawaba is a key agricultural hub and a major center for Sudan’s oilseed industry.

This is not the first time the military has entered the city during the war. In August 2023, a large military unit entered the city unopposed and used it to transport fuel to parts of South Kordofan State.