Sudan’s army launches major offensive to retake Khartoum

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Sudan’s army has launched a major offensive in the capital, Khartoum, to regain ground held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), military sources have told Al Jazeera.

The army carried out air strikes on Thursday against RSF positions in the capital and north of Khartoum in its biggest such assault in months.

Reporting from Khartoum, Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan said the army has taken control of three main bridges, including two that connect the city of Omdurman with the capital.

“We know the army was able to take over the eastern part of Nile Bridge, that’s the bridge that connects the city of Omdurman to the city of Khartoum, and they’ve been advancing towards Nile Street, towards the presidential palace where there has also been heavy fighting reported,” said Morgan.

Though the army retook some ground in Omdurman early this year, it depends mostly on artillery and air strikes and has been unable to dislodge more effective RSF ground forces embedded in Khartoum.

Military sources said the assault was “in the works for months”, said Morgan, against the din of artillery and fighter jets overhead.

The bloody civil war that erupted in April 2023 has caused a serious humanitarian crisis, however diplomatic efforts by the United States and other countries have faltered, with the army refusing to attend talks last month in Switzerland.

“You can hear the heavy artillery now still ongoing, so it looks like the army is still fighting the RSF in several positions,” she added.

The army was trying to “drain the capacities and the capabilities” of the RSF, so their presence in the capital could be “minimised”.

More to come …