Fierce battles for control in North and South Kordofan

The states of South and North Kordofan have witnessed fierce battles and accelerated military developments during the past four days, characterized by the exchange of control over the sites at breakneck speed, amid uncertainty surrounding their results, and a difference in the analyses of military experts between those who believe that it is an attempt to drain the Rapid Support Forces without achieving actual control on the ground, and other analyses that are being carried out as a serious attempt to lift the siege on Dilling and Kadugli, after the SPLM’s announcement that its control of the two cities is imminent, and its demand that the armed forces surrender.

Through a series of operations, the SPLM and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) aim to take control of the cities of Dilling and Kadugli, as well as the control of El Obeid and the rest of North Kordofan, after consolidating its control over West Kordofan. In contrast, the attacks by the armed forces and the joint forces aim to distract and deplete the operational effort of the RSF.

Counterattacks

Major Mutawakkil Ali, the official spokesman of the Joint Force of the Armed Struggle Movements, announced in a statement yesterday that they had taken control of Kazgil, El Riyash, Hammadi, Habila and Debeibat.

However, on Thursday morning, soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces broadcast video recordings from several locations inside the city of Habila, including the area of El Hafira and in front of the command of the 53rd Infantry Brigade, in which they confirmed their continued control over the city.

Military sources said that the force that attacked Habila belongs to the Dalami area and thus aims to open the road between the two areas. While there were conflicting reports about the arrival of a group of forces from Dalami to Dilling, the sources confirmed that the process of opening the road was not completed.

The Rapid Support Forces also broadcast videos that showed flames and smoke plumes rising, which they said were caused by the battles that took place on Wednesday between them and an army force. It explained that a military force coming from the Kartala region launched an attack on its positions in Habila, but it managed to repel the attack, inflicting heavy losses on the attacking force in terms of lives and equipment, and chasing it as far as the Kartala area.

At the time of writing, the Sudanese Armed Forces have not issued any official statement clarifying its position on these developments or commenting on the news circulating about the progress of the battles in Kweik and Habila.

These battles come after the Popular Movement, led by El Helou, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of three locations, where the movement announced that after the liberation of garrisons (intersection, “Balf” station, Hajar Daliba), the liberation of Kadugli and Dilling became “a matter of time”.

Exchange of control

During the past hours, the western axis of the city of El Obeid in North Kordofan state witnessed an exchange of control between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Joint Forces on the one hand, and the Rapid Support Forces on the other hand, amid conflicting news about who controls the situation on the ground decisively.

On Wednesday evening, the joint force announced its control of the areas of El Riyash and Kazqil, west of the city of El Obeid, after the publication of video clips that it said documented the presence of its forces inside those areas.

On the other hand, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broadcast other videos in which they confirmed that they had regained control of the two areas, after battles between them and the armed forces and the joint forces in the same axis.

This morning, the joint force published videos in which it confirmed that it had retaken the Kazgil area, while military sources revealed that battles between the armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces continued in Hammadi and Debeibat in South Kordofan, at a time when the armed forces’ marches targeted locations in South Kordofan.

At the time of this report, neither side has issued an official statement supporting or definitively clarifying the claims of mutual control, leaving the field open to multiple possibilities in light of the continued military tension in the region.

This development comes at a time when North Kordofan state is witnessing a continuous military escalation, amid fears of its repercussions on the security and humanitarian conditions in the vicinity of the city of El Obeid and neighbouring areas.

Control

Meanwhile, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Popular Movement, led by El Helou, announced their control of El Kweik, about 18 kilometres north of the city of Kadugli, where fierce battles took place between the two sides, at a time when there were conflicting reports about the control of the town of Habila, east of the city of Dilling.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said in a statement that an army force stationed in the Kweik area, with the support of a force from the 14th Infantry Division in Kadugli, launched an attack on its positions in the area of the intersection, but the SPLM and Rapid Support Forces repelled the attack and chased the attacking force to the Kweik area.

It added that the battles ended with the control of the SPLM and Rapid Support Forces in the area after the dispersal of the attacking force, pointing out that a number of officers and soldiers were killed, most notably the commander of the intelligence division of the 14th Division, Colonel Moussa Ismail, and the deputy of Prince Kafi Pilot Mohamed Teh, commander of the reconnaissance force of the Kafi militia, in addition to the occurrence of a large number of prisoners and missing persons, and the destruction of a number of military vehicles.

While leaders in the Rapid Support Forces announced the death of Rapid Support Forces adviser Hamid Ali Abu Bakr, they did not reveal additional details.

Displacement

On the humanitarian front, sources told Radio Dabanga that the displacement of the residents of the city of Kadugli continues to move towards the areas under the control of the SPLM in the west of the city, amid a state of relative calm inside Kadugli itself.

The sources explained that the displacement movement is taking place through the western gates towards the areas of El Baram under the control of the SPLM, and from there to the “Ida” camps designated for Sudanese refugees in the State of South Sudan.

On the other hand, the movement of displacement through the northern gates of the city has stopped as a result of the ongoing military clashes in the areas of El Taqtar and El Kweik for three days. The sources indicated that a number of families remain inside the city of Kadugli facing very difficult humanitarian conditions, in light of their financial inability to displace to safer areas.