Intense fighting in central El Fasher
Civilian exodus from North Darfur capital as fighting intensifies
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have advanced into central areas of El Fasher, overrunning outer defenses of the Sudan Armed Forces and approaching the Grand Market and the 6th Infantry Division Headquarters.
The fighting follows a similar pattern to RSF attacks on other army-controlled cities: weeks or months of positional fighting and shelling, followed by a final assault against the division headquarters in the central city.
Garrisons at Nyala, Zalingei, El Geneina (Ardamata), and Jebel Aulia all fell in this manner. The coming days could determine whether El Fasher will suffer the same fate, or if this is high-water mark of an ultimately doomed offensive.
El Fasher’s defenders are more numerous and better equipped than the troops that defended those cities. They rely less on fixed defenses and more on mobile fighting groups, which are capable of counterattacks.
The defenders include a Sudanese army division, allied ex-rebel movements (SLM-Minawi, JEM, and elements of SLM-TC), ‘Mustanfireen’ and Popular Defense Forces (including NCP/Islamist loyalists), and local Zaghawa militias colloquially called ‘Arad Arad’ and ‘Gishin’ (an Arabic acronym for Popular Force for Self-Defense).
This diverse coalition is held together by their mutual opposition to the RSF and little else. They have declared El Fasher to be the “graveyard of the Janjaweed” and have inflicted heavy losses on the RSF. Nevertheless, they have lost ground in the face of the RSF’s relentless five-month offensive.
Over the past week the city has seen very violent battles, according to media reports and combat videos posted on social media by combatants. In one noteworthy development, the RSF were able to overrun SAF positions on Thursday near the city’s Grand Market, just 1.5 km east of the 6th Infantry Division headquarters.
In the geolocated video below, RSF troops are seen with captured defensive earthworks across the main B-26 road. The large building in this video was identified as “Halima House,” after a prominent businesswoman during the Bashir era, who is said to have built many mansions across various cities in Darfur.
Fierce fighting continued Saturday, with the RSF claiming to have gained additional ground. Below are videos filmed by RSF combatants at captured outposts.
⚠️ Below: Graphic content warning: Dead bodies. Small arms fire.
Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, which is using satellite images and open source monitoring to track the fighting, concluded in a report Friday,
“SAF and aligned forces’ area of control has been contracting in recent weeks and is now reduced to its lowest point since intense fighting began in May 2024… RSF now appears to have fire superiority over SAF and has the 6th Infantry Division Headquarters visibly encircled from the north, east, and southeast, and SAF-aligned forces appear to be in a defensive posture on the west.”
Additionally, the research group observed an expansion of gravesites near SAF and Joint Forces military installations, which “may indicate a significant number of deaths among SAF, Joint Forces, and others.”
“The disturbed earth has grown significantly between 23 August… and 19 September 2024; likely excavation activities appear ongoing as of 20 September 2024.”
Despite the RSF advances, the Joint Force claimed to have repulsed the attack. Ahmed Hussein Mustafa, spokesperson of the Joint Force, said in a statement,
“On the morning of Saturday, 21 September, the terrorist Rapid Support Militia launched a wide attack on El Fasher from the eastern and southern axes, which is the 137th attack of its kind… we responded to the attack and succeeded in defeating this terrorist militia at 2:00 in the afternoon, and the remains of the militia were expelled away to the outside of the city. The enemy has suffered heavy losses of life and equipment, as hundreds of militia soldiers have been eliminated, and the streets of the city are filled with bodies that bear witness to their defeat.”
He further claimed that they destroyed a large number of RSF vehicles and captured ten combat vehicles loaded with various types of equipment and one armored vehicle.
Mustafa had issued a similar statement Thursday:
“We inform you that your joint forces, along with the ever-resilient people of El Fasher, displayed the utmost heroism and a model of steadfastness and confrontation in today's battle, standing firm under a barrage of enemy fire and bullets, which surpassed even the heavy rains of the tropical monsoon. Accompanied by the ululations of the women and the songs of revolutionaries, your forces endured. The clashes lasted for more than five hours, during which your forces achieved a glorious victory and forced the enemy into retreat. They destroyed several combat vehicles, seized others in full working order with all their equipment intact, and captured several enemy fighters, while the rest fled, leaving behind their dead on the battlefield.”
Joint Force sources circulated several videos of the fighting Saturday, including the one below (⚠️ Content warning: loud cannon fire). In a statement on Facebook, the Joint Force’s political leader, Minni Minawi, claimed that Abdullah Yagoub, commander of the attacking RSF Battalion 101, was killed in the fighting. He was the brother of General Ali Yagoub, another top RSF leader killed in El Fasher in June 2024.
Meanwhile, Sudanese media reported several civilian deaths due to RSF shelling over the past few days, including near the central market and in the northern and western neighborhoods of the city. Mariam Ismail, a tea seller, told Darfur 24, “Today, Hajar Gardo market witnessed the killing of at least 12 people, including two tea sellers in the vicinity of the cultural complex.”
Medical sources at the Saudi Hospital and the Medical Corps confirmed to Darfur 24 that dozens of wounded people arrived as a result of the artillery shelling by the RSF, as well as those injured by cross-fire as a result of the fighting Saturday morning.
The fighting has triggered an exodus of civilians toward famine-struck Zamzam Camp to the south, and toward a mountainous region to the west, which is controlled by a neutral armed group, the Sudan Liberation Movement (Abdelwahid faction). Mass displacement from El Fasher and nearby villages began in May, when the RSF began their siege of the city. However, many residents have chosen not to leave the city, or are unable to do so. Transportation options are limited and the journey can be dangerous.
Unknown plane lands at Nyala airport
Meanwhile, an unidentified cargo plane landed at Nyala Airport at around 3:00 am on Saturday, September 21. The landing at Nyala Airport was the first of its kind since the RSF took control of the city last year; there are no prior cases of RSF-controlled airports being used since the outbreak of the war, as far as we are aware.
Field sources from Nyala told Sudan War Monitor that the plane unloaded a shipment that was transported by two tractors, two dump trucks, and one Land Cruiser belonging to the Rapid Support Forces. The trucks left the airport at around 5:00 a.m., and headed for an unknown destination.
The aircraft stayed at the airport for about an hour before taking off. The same sources explained that the Rapid Support Forces prevented citizens from roaming in the Nyala Mountain area near the airport since Friday.
Sources from Nyala reported that a large number of Rapid Support Forces leaders are present in the city these days, including General Abdel Rahim Dagalo, the second commander of the RSF, and General Obaid Hussein, known as "Abu Shotal," in addition to Advisor Mustafa Mohamed Ibrahim and others.
These leaders are offering their condolences on the death of Major Sheikh Saeed Hussein Dhay Al-Nour, the media operations coordinator for the Rapid Support Forces, who was reportedly close to the RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and was killed a few days ago in El Fasher.
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