RSF Bombards El Fasher, Tightens Siege on Sudanese Army Base
Sudan Events – Agencies
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue to tighten their grip on the Sudanese army in El Fasher from multiple fronts. Despite the pressure, the army and allied factions have vowed not to withdraw from the city, saying they have repelled several assaults over the past two days.
The army’s 6th Infantry Division said Monday that El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan, has come under heavy artillery shelling targeting residential neighborhoods, though no casualties were reported.
In a statement on Facebook, the division added: “The situation is under control, and our forces are more cohesive than ever.”
Local sources reported renewed heavy clashes between the army and RSF forces in southern and northeastern El Fasher, with both heavy and light weapons deployed amid intense drone activity by the RSF. They told Asharq Al-Awsat that RSF units continued shelling residential areas and the Abu Shouk displacement camp with mortars.
RSF fighters posted videos on Telegram, claiming they were filmed inside army housing just a few kilometers from the 6th Division headquarters — the army’s main base in El Fasher.
The RSF also claimed it was facilitating the evacuation of “dozens of women and youth” through safe corridors to displacement sites in northern Darfur.
According to the Local Resistance Committees Coordination, a civil monitoring group documenting the conflict, the city came under heavy artillery fire, with reports of civilian injuries in western neighborhoods, as RSF drones patrolled overhead for the second consecutive day.
In recent days, the RSF has advanced into northern neighborhoods, where intense fighting has left casualties among civilians and combatants. Local sources added that RSF units expanded their incursions into eastern and southern districts, as well as parts of the Abu Shouk camp.
At the same time, sources noted that the army still controls the western sector, First Class neighborhood, and maintains a presence in residential blocks within the camp.
The Sudanese army garrison in El Fasher has withstood dozens of RSF attacks involving artillery bombardments and repeated infiltration attempts over the past months. Eyewitnesses told Asharq Al-Awsat that the army has recently launched intensive drone strikes to repel the large-scale RSF offensive on the city and its military zone.
El Fasher remains a strategic stronghold in North Darfur — the only city in the region still under army control. For more than a year, government forces have been locked in battles to prevent its fall to the RSF, which has already seized large swathes of the city and tightened its siege on the 6th Infantry Division headquarters.
