RSF intensify blow to army in Kordofan by downing drone and killing three senior commanders
Image: IOL
Across various parts of the Kordofan region, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have dealt a series of crushing blows to the Sudanese army and its allies, including the joint armed movements and Islamist militias. Most recently, the RSF succeeded in downing an army drone in Al-Khawi locality in West Kordofan state.
Sudanese media, citing informed military sources, reported that the RSF's air defense detected, tracked, and successfully shot down the reconnaissance drone operating over the area.
Social media accounts affiliated with the RSF circulated footage showing the wreckage of the downed drone, following two other devastating strikes against the army. The first strike, a drone airstrike, killed several officers from the armed movements and the army, including Brigadier General Abbas Mohamed Turoni, the spokesperson for the so-called Sudan Liberation Forces Alliance – Abdullah Yahya faction, and Brigadier General Mohab Ahmed Mahmoud, head of moral guidance for the Fifth Division in El-Obeid and supervisor of the popular resistance in North Kordofan.
This is not the first time the RSF has claimed to have shot down Sudanese army drones; such incidents have become increasingly frequent amid the escalating clashes in Darfur and Kordofan.
In a painful blow to the armed movements allied with army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Jibril Ibrahim, head of the Justice and Equality Movement and Minister of Finance in the government of Kamel Idris, acknowledged the death of his movement's top military commander, Taher Arja, during the battles in Umm Sumaymah, Kordofan, according to the 'Ain Al-Haqiqa' website.
The RSF launched an assault on Umm Sumaymah early on Sunday, inflicting heavy losses on the army and its allied armed factions.
For some time now, the RSF has been attempting to seize control of El-Obeid city and push further toward the capital, Khartoum, with the battles against the army increasingly concentrated in Kordofan over recent months.
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In an implicit admission of repeated army setbacks, the Sudan Tribune reported yesterday that Abdel Khaleq Abdel Latif, the governor of North Kordofan and a known army loyalist, issued a decision banning the transport of goods and fuel outside El-Obeid. This move comes as RSF forces tighten their siege on the city, now surrounded from three directions.
This decision reflects concerns that supplies intended for the army and its joint forces allies could fall into RSF hands as they close in on El-Obeid and other towns in the state.
The RSF continues to launch drone strikes on El-Obeid intermittently, alongside ongoing attacks on army and joint forces positions.
Army forces in El-Obeid remain trapped under a tight siege imposed by the RSF since the outbreak of conflict on April 15, 2023.
On Sunday, the RSF declared its successes in the strategically important area of Umm Sumaymah west of El-Obeid, claiming a decisive defeat inflicted on al-Burhan's forces, with losses exceeding 470 killed, alongside the capture of large quantities of weapons and military equipment, while dozens of enemy combatants fled.
* Bayethe Msimang is an independent writer, commentator and analyst.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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