Sudan Nashra: War spills over into historic Sennar | Armored Corps advances toward RSF-held Khartoum Sports City | Gaili’s fuel depots taken out of service

As the Sudanese war stretches into its 15th month, significant parts of the strategic Sennar State — which borders the Gezira, Blue Nile, and White Nile states and sits close to South Sudan — have become new battlegrounds for the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

On Monday, the RSF attacked the state’s strategic Jebel Moya area. The military initially held the advancing troops off, but the RSF took over nearly the entire area the following day. By evening, battles had moved to the gates of Sennar city, one of the country's most historical cities. However, the military and its allied armed movements managed to expel the RSF and regain control. This was followed by the military’s deployment of significant reinforcements from the White Nile and Blue Nile states, along with a visit from the armed forces’ Deputy Commander-in-Chief Shams Eddin Kabbashi to the city on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, is witnessing RSF-led tactical warfare to curb the military’s advance and plans for a major offensive. Military sources told Mada Masr that the armed forces intend to launch a large-scale attack after reconnecting its bases in Khartoum. 

The RSF’s attacks have been concentrated in the Shagara military area in southern Khartoum, which houses the Armored Corps and the ammunition camp, coinciding with the arrival of significant reinforcements for the Sudanese military.

A military source who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity attributed the recent developments in Khartoum to the RSF’s transformation into smaller gangs after withdrawing significant numbers of their forces to Fasher, North Darfur State’s capital, which their forces are besieging. 

In Bahri, one of the three cities that make up the capital, the Weapons Corps has deployed across various parts of the city to cut off the supply lines of the RSF fighters entrenched in the Gaili Oil Refinery, a military source told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity. An engineering source at the refinery said that the military managed to take the main fuel depots out of service.

To the west, battles persist in Fasher amid a new wave of residents fleeing to the Northern State. The RSF’s tactics involve shelling civilian and service facilities, as well as densely populated areas. In the desert war, RSF-affiliated factions from the Revolutionary Awakening Council that have broken away from its military-backing leader Musa Hilal are clashing with factions affiliated with the Sudan Liberation Movement forces led by Minna Arko Minnawi within Libyan territory for the second consecutive week as military-allied forces seek to cut off RSF supply lines.

In Shendi in northern Khartoum,  a drone targeted a delegation from the Rizeigat tribe visiting the city as part of efforts toward social reconciliation and to dispel the widely held view that the group supports the RSF. 

The delegation began its tour in the new administrative capital of Port Sudan, with stops in Shendi, Atbara in the River Nile State and Dabba in the Northern State.

Politically, the Civil Front for Democracy has submitted several points in a letter to the African Union regarding the upcoming summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to facilitate a comprehensive dialogue among Sudanese factions. 

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Military advances toward Khartoum Sports City 

In Khartoum, daily battles continue on various fronts, with the RSF determined to capture the military’s main camps in an attempt to halt the armed forces’ advance and expansion in Khartoum.

Over the week, the RSF's attacks were concentrated on the Armored Corps in southern Khartoum, which has received military reinforcements, including strategic battalions and forces from the military wing of the General Intelligence Services. The surrounding areas have turned into a battlefield. 

A field source within the Armored Corps told Mada Masr that the RSF's attacks targeted the northern and northeastern areas around the camp. The source added that the battles have moved from around the Armored Corps to neighborhoods about three km away, toward Sports City and eastern Khartoum. This shift aims to deter the military and its supporting battalions from advancing and expanding in southern Khartoum, according to the source. 

Additionally, the RSF is seeking to distract the military from pushing southward and attacking forces stationed in southern Khartoum, which secure the road linking western states with Gezira and Khartoum.

Since the war broke out on April 15, 2023, the RSF has controlled Khartoum Sports City on the Khartoum-Wad Madani road, using it as a military camp.

A senior source in the Armored Corps told Mada Masr that the military aims to connect its main camps in Khartoum to enable its forces to expand on the city’s outskirts and secure the state. The source added that the military has not set a specific timeline for completing these stages, as the outcomes of each level of combat is contingent on the course of confrontations.

The source also said that the RSF in Khartoum has now turned into mere rogue gangs, no longer conducting military offensives, instead using tactics that resemble street warfare. The main formation of RSF troops has been fragmented, the source said, attributing this transformation to the impact of the battles in Fasher, which led to a significant withdrawal of RSF fighters from Khartoum to western Sudan. 

Those remaining in Khartoum and Gezira are either forces recruited from criminals who escaped from prisons or rogue groups that previously lived off looting and banditry, according to the source. Some of these forces are also from civilian groups that have aligned with RSF leaders, such as RSF commander in Sennar Abdel Rahman al-Bishi or Abu Agla Keikal, who leads the paramilitary’s forces in Gezira.

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Military takes Gaili’s fuel depots out of service

In northern Bahri’s Weapons Corps, the armed forces continue to deploy across various fronts to cut off the RSF’s military supplies to the Gaili area where they are stationed.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese Air Force targeted some of the remaining fuel depots used by the RSF. An engineering source at the refinery told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity that the military has taken all the strategic fuel depots out of service. 

The source said that the refinery will not be able to process fuel anytime soon, meaning oil coming from South Sudan will pass through without any refining. The source added that the oil from South Sudan, which has been disrupted by military operations, will soon be transported to the Bashayer Port for export.

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Desert battles extend into Libyan territory 

In North Darfur in western Sudan, military confrontations persist beyond the surroundings of Fasher city. 

The RSF has implemented military tactics that have caused residents to flee various neighborhoods, targeting healthcare facilities, including the maternity hospital. Mortar and 165 mm rocket shelling has resulted in the death of over five residents in the Abu Shouk camp.

A medical source in Fasher told Mada Masr that RSF military operations are concentrated around medical areas and regions providing food and water to displaced persons within the city. The number of displaced individuals has exceeded 70,000, dispersed across different localities in the state, including Kutum and Tawila, according to the source. 

A source from Northern State’s Dabba told Mada Masr that there is a significant increase in the number of displaced persons arriving to the locality this week.

One of the displaced persons who fled Fasher told Mada Masr that the journey to Dabba took four days due to the RSF’s roadblock, setting up checkpoints, and threatening citizens on the basis of their ethnicity.

A source from the joint force told Mada Masr that battles have erupted within Libya, near the Sudanese border, between factions affiliated with the Revolutionary Awakening Council that dissented from Hilal, and factions from the Sudan Liberation Movement (Minnawi). The purpose of these battles, the source said, is to halt military supplies and reinforcements to the RSF.

Factions that broke with Hilal support the RSF, while Hilal himself has declared his alignment with the Sudanese military and state. Military-aligned forces affiliated with Minnawi, along with Hilal’s troops, are attempting to completely sever supply routes to the RSF. This has led to the battles spilling over into Libyan territory.

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Intense battle in Sennar

This week, clashes between the military and the RSF moved to the outskirts of Sennar city in southeastern Sudan, causing panic among residents. Some fled south to the state’s capital, Singa.

Three field sources told Mada Masr that on Tuesday evening, after seizing the strategic area of Jebel Moya to the west, RSF fighters infiltrated the outskirts of the city, specifically the area near the Arab bridge. Intense street battles ensued employing both heavy and light weapons. The military and the General Intelligence Service's Operations Authority Forces repelled the attack and established advanced defenses around Sennar.

The outbreak of the battles at Sennar's outskirts and the dropping of some shells in its neighborhoods caused panic among residents. Fearing violations by the RSF, some began to flee. Eventually, the scene returned to normal, with streets once again filled with citizens celebrating alongside soldiers the military’s defense against the attack. 

Sennar Governor Tawfiq Mohamed Ali Abdallah said in a statement on Wednesday that the city was attacked by seven RSF combat vehicles in an attempt to relieve pressure exerted on the paramilitary force by the armed forces, mobilized forces, Operations Authority Forces, popular defense, and the state’s residents. Abdallah stated that the RSF attempted to create a state of instability in the city by launching three shells toward it, but the military intercepted them and pursued the attackers.

On Monday, the RSF launched an intense attack on the strategic area of Jebel Moya. Despite the military’s success in repelling several assaults, the RSF managed to seize the location the following day. Skirmishes persisted in nearby villages, along with artillery fire exchanges and airstrikes by the military, continuing through Thursday.

Local residents told Mada Masr that the RSF killed more than 20 individuals from the villages around Jebel Moya during the widespread looting of homes and properties. Hundreds of families fled on foot to areas away from the fire line, the sources said. Shells also fell on villages around the area and on neighborhoods in Sennar, including Hilla al-Jadida, Fanagouga, and Madinat al-Salam, but no civilian injuries were reported.

Meanwhile, Kabbashi arrived in Sennar State on Wednesday from White Nile State to oversee the latest developments in the Jebel Moya battles and review the troops' readiness plans, a military source told Mada Masr.

Jebel Moya, a mountain range surrounded by several villages, is located west of Sennar on a major road linking Sennar, White Nile, and Gezira states. Sources who spoke to Mada Masr believe that controlling this area could directly threaten the cities of Sennar and Rabak, and the Kenana military base in the White Nile State.

In another development, military sources told Mada Masr that the armed forces have once again retreated from the Sennar sugar factory and regrouped in nearby locations after recapturing it on Monday from the RSF, who had seized it in December before their takeover of Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira State.

Mada Masr's observations indicate that both sides are amassing more troops and tanks, preparing for a decisive battle before the rain season in autumn, which is expected to affect supply routes, according to local sources.

A senior Sudanese military officer told Mada Masr that Jebel Moya is a vital and strategic area, and its control opens the way to seizing several regions, which means the military will fight fiercely to retake it.

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Drone targets Rizeigat leaders in Shendi

In Shendi city in the River Nile State in the north, a suicide drone targeted a celebration on Monday evening organized to welcome a military-aligned delegation from the Rizeigat tribe, to which the RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo belongs.

Eyewitnesses said that the drone struck three meters from the delegation's location at the residence of tribal leader Mosleh Nassar, causing a large explosion that shattered the home's glass windows.

The Rizeigat coordination committee’s spokesperson, Anwar Khater, told Mada Masr that they had left the location and were 30 kilometers away when the drone exploded. He added that the RSF has been claiming control over the Rizeigat tribe, and their efforts are aimed at correcting this and other misconceptions. Khater emphasized that the purpose of such communication endeavors is to clarify these issues with “our kin in the north, east, and center of the country.”

Khater said that the committee is capable of dismantling the RSF and severing its ties with the tribe. He stressed that the Rizeigat coordination committee stands for the unity of Sudan and supports the military and the state, along with the rest of the citizens. They oppose the RSF’s agenda, Khater added, and are working to end the rebellion, aiming to reclaim areas currently under RSF control in the coming period.

A few weeks ago, during a press conference in Port Sudan, the Rizeigat coordination committee declared their full support for the military in its fight against the RSF, highlighting that the latter is misleading some tribe members and dragging them into its conflict.

The committee's delegation visited Atbara in River Nile State and Dabba in Northern State after Shendi, meeting with government officials and local figures. They also visited the Revolutionary Awakening Council forces in Dabba. Hilal, the faction’s head, is the tribal leader of Mahamid, one of the Rizeigat’s subtribes.

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Civil Front for Democracy urges African Union to disclose dialogue parties

A political source told Mada Masr that the Civil Front for Democracy has requested negotiations with the African Union regarding the anticipated civil forces summit in Addis Ababa next month.

The source added that the front received an invitation from the African Union to participate in the emergency summit scheduled from July 10 until the 15th. 

The front sent a letter to the African Union requesting an urgent meeting to define the parties and topics involved and to design the political process before the summit, the source said.

The source also stressed that the letter did not specify a timeframe for the meeting, only that it should be held as soon as possible. The front welcomed all efforts by the African Union to end the war in Sudan, the source added.