Heavy fighting erupted in El-Fasher, a Sudanese city besieged by paramilitaries, on Saturday, witnesses told AFP. U.S. researchers have reported unprecedented and escalating combat in the North Darfur state capital.
El-Fasher is one of the five state capitals in Sudan’s western Darfur region and is the only one not controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF has been clashing with the regular army since April 2023.
The United Nations has described the war in Sudan as creating the world’s largest displacement crisis, with millions displaced and famine reported at a camp near El-Fasher.
Darfur has witnessed some of the worst atrocities of the conflict, and the RSF has besieged El-Fasher since May. “Neighbourhoods are completely deserted and all you can hear are explosions and missiles,” Ibrahim Ishaq, 52, told AFP. Ishaq, who fled westward from the city on Friday, added, “The central market area has become unliveable because of the intensity of the explosions.”
Witnesses reported army bombardments south and east of the city on Saturday and noted hearing air-defense batteries firing.
A report from the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab on Friday confirmed “unprecedented large-scale combat operations” in El-Fasher over the previous 10 days, with a significant escalation in the past 36 hours involving both the army and the paramilitaries. The report described a “major multidirectional RSF attack from the northern, eastern, and southern directions” on Thursday.
Darfur Governor Mini Minawi stated on social media platform X that the army had repelled “a large attack” by the RSF, but the paramilitaries claimed to have seized military sites in El-Fasher.
Yale researchers, using satellite imagery and other data, found evidence of munition impacts likely related to high-tempo aerial bombardment by the regular army. They also reported structural damage resulting from “RSF bombardment” and combat activities by both sides.
Regardless of the battle’s final outcome, current fighting “is likely to effectively reduce what is left of El-Fasher to rubble,” according to a study by Yale.
On Saturday, U.S. special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, expressed deep concern on X, formerly Twitter, about the renewed attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). “We are extremely concerned about the RSF’s renewed attacks,” Perriello said, urging the group to “stop its assault.”
The number of casualties remains unclear. Perriello noted that Sudan’s ongoing war has already claimed tens of thousands of lives, with some estimates reaching as high as 150,000.
Meanwhile, in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum—around 800 kilometers (500 miles) from El-Fasher—witnesses reported heavy explosions and airstrikes in the city’s southern area on Saturday.
Earlier this month, independent UN experts called for the urgent deployment of an “impartial force” to protect civilians in Sudan. However, Sudan’s foreign ministry, which remains loyal to the army, rejected the proposal.
