Top RSF commander Ali Yagoub killed in El Fasher
SAF and allies deliver setback to paramilitary group
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) announced on Friday that its forces, alongside the Joint Force of Armed Struggle Movements (JSAMF), killed Ali Yagoub, a senior commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), during a failed attempt by the RSF to capture El Fasher, North Darfur's capital.
Videos circulating online showed SAF fighters and their allies apparently mocking Yagoub's body. One video depicted him with a serious wound on his left chest. The army claimed hundreds of RSF soldiers were killed in the clash.
SAF spokesperson said in a statement:
“Flaunting the most recent call and resolution of the United Nations Security Council to stop the attack and end the siege of El-Fasher, the Dagalo terrorist militia this morning renewed its attack on the city. By the grace of Allah and His blessing, the armed forces and the joint forces aborted the attack and inflicted huge losses on this leading to the death and injury of hundreds, including their leader Ali Yagoub who was killed in the failed attack. Our forces also destroyed and captured dozens of combat vehicles from the rebels who fled from the battlefield.”
The army's statement did not specify the exact location within El Fasher where Yagoub was killed. JSAMF spokesperson Ahmed Hussein, quoted by Sudan Tribune, said JSAMF and allied forces killed Yagoub after he led an assault from the city's south.
“The joint forces, including the army and popular resistance, killed RSF mobile commander Ali Yagoub in a battle on El Fasher's southern axis.”
A source from the Joint Force, speaking on condition of anonymity said they lured the attacking RSF troops led by Yagoub into El Fasher from the south before launching an ambush. The source said the RSF believed the Joint Force had abandoned the southern area before falling into the attack.
“They came from the south of El Fasher at 8:13AM and at that time, we had vacated our locations, specifically the roots leading to the center of the city, and they thought we had fled and then they came. At 8:30, we closed their way from the back and started the fighting. We have captured a lot of equipment including satellite phones of Yagoub himself.”
Yagoub is one of the top RSF officers killed in the war so far. He previously commanded RSF operations Central Darfur, overseeing the assault on the city of Zalingei, before relocating to North Darfur. The Darfur region consists of five states. The RSF control four of them: South Darfur, West Darfur, Central Darfur, and East Darfur. Parts of North Darfur, particularly its capital El Fasher, remain under the SAF.
Yagoub’s ethnicity is Arab, but details regarding his specific subtribe and date of birth are unclear. Unverified accounts suggest he was born in Chad and fled to Sudan as a refugee due to famine in the mid-1980s. He reportedly first settled in the Hala Bidda area of rural Zalingei, working as a shepherd for Shartai Muhammad Thawar.
Last month, the United States sanctioned Yagoub along with Osman Mohamed (also known as ‘Osman Operations’), “for their role leading RSF operations in Darfur. The RSF's military operation to encircle and besiege El Fasher, North Darfur, has endangered the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians.”
Yagoub's death comes as fighting intensifies between the SAF and the joint force against the RSF in several North Darfur locations. Yesterday, the RSF clashed with the joint force at a Wadi Ambar base belonging to the Darfuri movements. This attack, according to the joint force, was repulsed and resulted in dozens of RSF fatalities.
Sudan War Monitor could not independently verify another claims of fighting in Wadi Hawar, another region of North Darfur.
The fighting in El Fasher erupted a day after the United Nations Security Council demanded an end to the siege of the city by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and an immediate cessation of hostilities in the area. El Fasher, home to more than a million people, is located in Sudan's North Darfur region.
On Thursday, the 15-member council adopted a resolution drafted by Britain, calling for the withdrawal of all fighters threatening the safety and security of civilians in El Fasher, the last major city in western Darfur not under RSF control.
Britain's U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward, speaking during the council meeting, said: “An attack on the city would be catastrophic. This council has sent a strong signal to the parties to the conflict today. This brutal and unjust conflict needs to end.”