The Rapid Support Forces said on Thursday that its fighters had seized Jabra al-Sheikh and Umm Girfa in Sudan’s North Kordofan state following heavy fighting with the Sudanese army and allied forces.
RSF-aligned media reported that the two areas fell after clashes with the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Joint Force of former rebel movements allied with the army. The battlefield claims could not be independently verified.
The reported advance would mark a significant counterattack by the RSF after the army announced late last month that it had captured Jabra al-Sheikh, Umm Girfa and other positions along the strategic Export Road linking North Kordofan with Omdurman and Khartoum.
Jabra al-Sheikh has repeatedly changed hands during the war and occupies an important position on routes running between North Kordofan and the capital region.
The latest fighting comes amid a renewed RSF offensive across Kordofan after several weeks of army gains. Reuters reported this week that both sides had been concentrating forces in the region, while the RSF stepped up drone and ground attacks following recent territorial setbacks.
RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has vowed to intensify military operations in Kordofan following the army’s recent advances.
Control of the wider Jabra al-Sheikh corridor is strategically important because it sits close to the Export Road, which the army has sought to secure as a direct supply route between El Obeid and the Khartoum region.
Army-aligned media on Thursday disputed the RSF account, reporting that government forces had repelled an attack on Jabra al-Sheikh. There was no independently verified assessment of control over the town at the time of publication.
The competing claims underline the increasingly fluid battlefield in North Kordofan, where control of towns and supply routes has shifted repeatedly as both sides pour reinforcements into what has become one of the principal fronts of Sudan’s war.
