Details on the latest fighting in Bahri
The Sudan Armed Forces (RSF) attacked across Halfaya Bridge on Friday, marking an escalation of the fighting in Khartoum Bahri, one of the three major cities of Sudan’s capital region. SAF failed to capture the bridge, which is controlled on the west bank by SAF and on the east bank by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The last serious attempt by SAF to capture Halfaya Bridge was in July nearly a year ago. The bridge is only remaining bridge between Omdurman and Bahri, following the destruction of the Shambat Bridge last November, an act of presumed sabotage.
SAF special forces reached about halfway across the bridge, as seen in videos circulated Friday by pro-SAF sources, but we haven’t seen any evidence that they actually made it onto the Bahri side. Instead, it seems that they were pinned down on the bridge and eventually withdrew. The RSF press office said they “repelled an enemy attempt to infiltrate the city of Bahri.”
The exchange of fire during the operation was apparently intense, judging by satellite images of fires in the farmland and groves along the river and in the adjacent neighborhoods. This image comes from the Sentinel-2 satellite on May 31, using a SWIR (short-wave infrared) filter to make it easier to see fires.
These fires likely were caused by rocket artillery, drones, aircraft, or other weapons—not by the presence of SAF ground troops in these areas. Additionally, the RSF downed an Mi-24 helicopter, which burned up in the farmland next to the Nile. The pilot named Captain Nazar Othman Abdel Jalil was reported not to have survived, according to a social media post by one of his relatives.
SAF’s media office issued a rare press statement about the operation, saying,
“The Armed Forces carried out a successful special operation at dawn today that led to the destruction of a large number of equipment belonging to the enemy and resulted in the death of a number of commanders and elements of the terrorist Dagalo militia. The Forces were also able to reach deep into enemy lines in Bahri and Halfaya. Your forces sustained seven martyrs and 27 injured.”
SAF also published several videos about the operation, including this one:
Meanwhile, on May 29, SAF announced that it captured the West Al-Harrat Police Station in Omdurman. This is an area that was on the frontline between the two sides for a long time, on the edge of RSF-controlled territory. So its capture doesn’t represent a significant territorial gain for SAF, but does show incremental progress.
SAF also claimed the capture of Ombada Block 20, located south of this police station, on the same day. After suffering a defeat in Omdurman in March, RSF have slowed but not halted SAF’s advance in the city and its neighboring suburb Ombada.
At this point, we assess that the attack across the bridge on Friday likely was merely diversionary or a reconnaissance, rather than a serious attempt to establish a bridgehead on the east bank. A more serious attempt to create a bridgehead would likely involve speedboats and possibly also a coordinated attack from River Nile State along the Khartoum-Shendi Road or across the desert northeast of the city.
A recent SAF attempt to establish an outpost northeast of Bahri, 25 km east of the Jaili Refinery, ended badly last month when RSF overran the outpost, killed and captured dozens of soldiers, and pursued the survivors north into River Nile State. That outpost can be seen in this video and additional details about that fighting are available in our coverage May 19.
Operations in Dardoog
Meanwhile, SAF troops appeared in a video Friday in the Dardoog neighborhood in northern Bahri, bragging that the RSF had fled from the area (15.702305, 32.639334). Dardoog has previously been under RSF control.
This was filmed about 4 km from the Kadroo Military Area (SAF) and 9 km south of Hattab Camp, two SAF outposts in Bahri that are besieged. The soldiers identify themselves as part of the “Hattab Army.” Although SAF have launched attacks previously from their Hattab base toward the south, their presence in Dardoog is new.
This location is right on the edge of Dardoog, near some farmland that is a no-man’s land, which SAF could move through to reach this place.
Such forays demonstrate that the RSF have failed to maintain a tight siege of the Kadroo and Hattab camps. Although the RSF still have a large number of men in Bahri, their forces are divided across many fronts.
Lamamra consults with the warring parties
The UN Secretary-General's Envoy to Sudan Ramtane Lamamra met with the leader of Sudan’s military government, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in Port Sudan on May 29, urging him to make more efforts to reach a peaceful solution.
In statements to Sudanese state media, the former Algerian foreign minister said the meeting was the culmination of a number of meetings and contacts with Sudanese officials, describing it as fruitful and reviewing a number of existing issues, including the situation in El Fasher, humanitarian access, and the negotiation process.
Regarding the negotiating process, the UN envoy said that he took the opportunity to talk about the ongoing consultations in order to resume the negotiation tracks, saying, “We, as the United Nations, encourage the negotiations and hope that the negotiations will bring together the conditions for success by taking into account the positions of the parties concerned, as well as encouraging those who have a positive role in this regard to contribute.”
Lamamra afterwards travelled to Nairobi, Kenya, where he met with a delegation of the RSF yesterday, June 1, together with Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan.
According to a statement by the RSF, the meeting was attended by RSF representatives Maulana Muhammad Mukhtar Al-Nour, Ezzedine Al-Safi, and Nizar Sayed Ahmed, and the discussions focused on facilitating humanitarian aid deliveries. The RSF delegation also informed the UN envoy about “systematic aerial bombings by Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) warplanes targeting innocent civilians, hospitals, water sources, and public facilities,” as well as “ethnic- and triba-based rights abuses.”
Both parties agreed to continue contacts with each other. The RSF statement did not mention the possibility of a negotiated solution to the conflict. Recent attempts by diplomats to revive the Jeddah negotiations were spurned by the warring parties.
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News in Brief
11 civilians were killed and at least 23 others wounded on Friday and Saturday in El Fasher as a result of artillery shelling and stray bullets during renewed between the warring parties, local media reported.
A resistance committee in Al Jazira State has accused the Rapid Support Forces of carrying out extrajudicial killings against civilians in Al-Hoosh village.
Security personnel arrested a female activist in Gedaref State, reportedly because she planned to travel to the Taqaddum conference in Addis Ababa.
ICYMI: Map of the Areas of Control in Sudan as of 1 June 2024