El Fasher / Abu Shouk Camp / Zamzam Camp — The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced their incursion into El Zayadiya neighbourhood in El Fasher, claiming control of El Najah School just two kilometres from the Sixth Infantry Division. The paramilitary also declared on Sunday that it had seized the headquarters of the Central Reserve Forces (known as Abu Tira) in the city’s southwest.
In a video released on its official Telegram account, RSF commanders and soldiers boasted that their positions on the southwestern axis were closing in on the division headquarters in the Awlad El Rif neighbourhood, as well as the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) residential compound, while units on the eastern axis pushed closer to the Grand Market.
Residents told Radio Dabanga that artillery fire and drone attacks continued throughout Sunday, with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Joint Force repelling an RSF advance from the southern direction of the city. That evening, RSF units also pressed deeper into Abu Shouk displacement camp north of El Fasher.
Radio Dabanga could not independently verify the RSF’s battlefield claims. However, the paramilitary has escalated its assault on the North Darfur capital over the past week. El Fasher has been under siege for more than 18 months.
Last week, the SAF claimed to have also repelled RSF advancements in the region. In a video posted on August 13, Abu Tira forces were seen celebrating after reportedly repelling RSF forces.
The RSF has launched more than 220 attacks on El Fasher in the past year alone. While the SAF, Joint Force, and local Popular Resistance say they have repelled repeated offensives, the RSF captured Zamzam camp south of the city in April. Military leaders continue to insist that El Fasher remains under control.
Hospital attack
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) yesterday, the Sudan Doctors Network accused the RSF of bombing El Fasher’s Southern Hospital on Sunday evening, destroying the accident and emergency building.
The network said the strike formed part of a “repeated series of organised attacks” against health facilities and medical staff, describing the targeting of hospitals as “full-fledged war crimes” and a “flagrant violation” of international humanitarian law.
They warned that thousands face death from a complete lack of essential and life-saving medicines. Doctors reported soaring case numbers, rising injuries, and an inability to respond to patients’ needs.
The network issued an urgent appeal for chronic disease treatments, antibiotics, and emergency medicines, warning of an “imminent humanitarian disaster” unless safe humanitarian corridors are opened and international aid agencies intervene.
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The RSF continues to deny responsibility for attacks on health facilities and civilians.
Appeals for action
Sudan’s recently appointed Prime Minister Kamil El Tayeb Idris called on the United Nations and its members to act immediately to lift the siege of El Fasher and open humanitarian corridors.
“El Fasher lives under siege. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped. Families are starving, and children are dying before our eyes because of deliberate obstruction,” Idris said, adding that the crisis is “a moral test for the United Nations” as rights are violated “with every passing hour”.
El Fasher’s Resistance Committees criticised what it described as the “silence and disregard” of revolutionary forces and political entities towards the city’s suffering.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed alarm over a fresh RSF attack on Abu Shouk camp in El Fasher.
Local sources reported that more than 30 civilians were killed and over 100 injured in Sunday’s strike, the second deadly attack on the camp in a week. A previous assault left 40 people dead.
