The Sudanese army said Thursday that its air defenses shot down all drones launched by the Rapid Support Forces/RSF which targeted the headquarters of the 19th Infantry Division, as well as the Meroe Airport and the Meroe Dam in northern Sudan.
At the same time, the RSF—the paramilitary force commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti—claimed it had seized every strategic site in the city of Babanusa, a key hub in the West Kordofan region, south of the country, saying its fighters had encircled the city from three directions.
The army’s 19th Division said it remained fully prepared to repel any new attacks on the northern state.
On Oct. 22, the RSF had threatened to attack any airport or aircraft that launches strikes toward Darfur and Kordofan, labelling them “legitimate targets.”
Large parts of Sudan continue to witness escalating battles between the army and the RSF. Fighting has expanded from Darfur—where Hemedti’s forces tightened their control last month—into neighboring Kordofan.
For the fourth consecutive day, the RSF carried out heavy shelling toward army command positions in a city that has become nearly cut off, after multiple airborne attempts by the army to resupply its forces failed.
The RSF also announced it had downed an Akinci drone belonging to the Sudanese military while it was flying over the city.
On Tuesday, the RSF offered safe passage for army fighters to withdraw from the city, which, according to a local emergency committee, has turned into a “ghost town” after all its estimated 170,000 civilian residents fled.
Babanusa’s significance lies in its status as a central link between most cities in the Kordofan region, which is home to more than 8 million people and is considered Sudan’s main hub for livestock and petroleum resources.
Meanwhile, US presidential senior advisor for Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, said Wednesday that the United States had put forward a “strong text” for a humanitarian truce in Sudan, urging both warring parties to adopt it immediately.
“The United States urges the parties to the conflict in Sudan to immediately agree to and implement the proposed humanitarian truce,” Boulos said, warning that civilian suffering had reached catastrophic levels, with millions lacking food, water, and medical care.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also called for halting weapons supplies to the RSF, explicitly holding the force responsible for the violence sweeping Sudan.
Rubio said Wednesday that the RSF was involved in systematic atrocities against civilians—including the rape of women—and rejected claims that these abuses were the work of rogue fighters.
After capturing the whole of Darfur, including El-Fasher in October, the RSF is now pushing to expand its territorial control in Kordofan, where it now holds more than 60% of the region.
On Nov. 5, Sudan’s Security and Defense Council declared general mobilization of the armed forces, calling on citizens to support the army in its fight against the RSF.
The council accused the RSF—described in its statement as “the terrorist Dagalo militia”—of committing “grave and unprecedented violations”, and criticized the international community for its failure to enforce the arms embargo on Darfur. It urged continued mobilization against the RSF and “its mercenaries.”
Regional and international actors, as well as UN agencies and local reports, have accused the RSF of committing mass atrocities and ethnic killings in El-Fasher after more than 18 months of siege before it fell to the militia forces.
