Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters pushed on Monday and early Tuesday into Abu Shouk camp for displaced people, the SAF’s garrison area and the main market in El Fasher before advancing toward the SAF’s 6th Infantry Division headquarters, witnesses and local sources said.
Heavy battles erupted on Tuesday morning in the city’s southwest and northeast, with intense artillery exchanges between the SAF and allied groups on one side and the RSF on the other, Darfur24’s correspondent reported.
RSF soldiers posted videos—verified by Darfur24—claiming they had reached the SAF garrison opposite the 6th Infantry Division from the south. The joint force of signatory armed movements said in a brief statement it had repelled the RSF assault on the city and inflicted losses.
A resident who asked not to be named said RSF units had fully entered Abu Shouk camp, set up fixed positions and deployed artillery throughout the camp’s blocks, prompting displaced families to flee toward northwestern neighborhoods of the city and to the town of Tawila in dire humanitarian conditions. The RSF also pushed into the Naivasha market, the witness added.
Verified videos showed Aboud Adam Khater, operations chief for the joint force, engaged in Tuesday’s fighting, while RSF deputy commander Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo appeared in footage from Monday inside El Fasher overseeing operations.
The RSF has maintained a tight siege on El Fasher since April 2024, seeking to seize what remains the SAF’s last major base in Darfur, after RSF advances in 2023 overran divisions in Nyala, Zalingei, El Geneina and El Daein. Claims from both sides could not be independently verified.
