Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces said Saturday they have seized three towns south of the strategic city of al-Obeid as their campaign against General al-Burhan’s army (SAF) pushes deeper into Kordofan.
In a statement carried by RSF media, the Sudanese group claimed control of Hamadi, Kazqil and Umm Sumaymah in North Kordofan and said its fighters are “advancing toward El-Obeid to consolidate recent battlefield gains.”
The RSF also reported earlier operations in West and South Kordofan.
The latest clashes killed Brig. Gen. Ihab Mohamed Youssef al-Tayeb, commander of the SAF’s Kordofan Mobile Forces, according to SAF-linked social-media accounts. Al-Tayeb, a veteran of the SAF’s 40th intake, previously oversaw information-systems and signal operations at SAF headquarters, the posts said. The SAF has not issued a formal statement on his death.
Al-Obeid sits on the main highway connecting Khartoum to Darfur and is one of SAF’s largest remaining garrisons outside the capital region.
RSF advances toward the city would threaten a critical supply line and widen a war that has raged since April 2023, displacing millions and crippling Sudan’s economy.
