In a hardline address to civic leaders, SAF junta General Shems al-Din Kabashi pledged a sweeping offensive by General al-Burhan’s army (SAF) to take Darfur, declaring El Obeid the springboard and naming Al-Khuwayy, En-Nahud and Ad-Dubaibat as support hubs, with El Fasher the “final goal.”
Kabaashi ruled out negotiations, branding opponents “traitors,” and ordered troops to vacate 53 schools and other facilities inside El Obeid, shifting city security to police.
Kabashi’s phrasing — “we have unleashed the reins from El Obeid” — ricocheted across Sudanese social media as “unleash the rains,” a loaded turn of phrase arriving just as fresh chatter resurfaced about the Port Sudan junta’s chemical-weapons use. Washington formally determined in May that Sudan’s SAF junta controlled-authoroties used chemical weapons in 2024 and activated sanctions from late June; Khartoum denies the charge and this week touted a Health Ministry report claiming no chemical or radiological contamination in Khartoum.
With Kabashi’s threats coming on the heels of this year’s chemical threats from another general in General al-Burhan’s SAF, his “unleash the reins” line reads less like chest-thumping and more like a warning—are the Port Sudan junta preparing “rains” of chemicals, or merely a wider conventional slaughter?
Rights monitors and NGOs have urged a UN probe and cited chlorine-gas allegations; Security Council briefings have likewise noted the U.S. determination. The Port Sudan junta counters with denials and sympathetic outlets attacking media investigations—leaving facts contested and accountability stalled.
Meanwhile, El Obeid’s centrality to the junta’s western war effort—long a logistics and air-strike hub—is unchanged, even as General al-Burhan’s SAF promises to “liberate every inch.” Kabashi’s threat line lands as a signal of escalation, not compromise.
