Killing of Rapid Support Forces leaders.. What is behind the Sudanese army’s surprise operations?

The Rapid Support Forces in Sudan have been subjected to severe blows in recent weeks, targeting a number of its field commanders who have been at the forefront of the fighting since the beginning of the April 2023 battles against the Sudanese army.

The army recently managed to neutralize more than 6 Rapid Support Forces leaders, most notably: Mahdi Rahma, known as “Jalha”, Major General Abdullah Hussein, Brigadier General Al-Tahir Jah Allah, field commander Salim Al-Rashidi, and field commander Abdul Rahman Qarn Shatta.

They were preceded by a number of field commanders who were killed, including: Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Rahman Al-Bishi, the most influential commander within the Rapid Support Forces, Ali Yaqoub, who was assigned the task of controlling Al-Fasher, as well as Major General Issa Al-Daif.

First grade

At the beginning of the war in mid-April 2023, the Rapid Support Forces almost lost their first-line field commanders, with about ten of them killed. On the third day of the war, the Sudanese army managed to kill Major General Mudawi Hussein Dhi al-Nur, who was considered the most prominent aide of the Rapid Support Forces Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti.”

According to a field source who spoke to Al Jazeera Net, the Sudanese army was able to neutralize Dhi Al-Nour, in the Jabrah area south of Khartoum. He previously worked as the director of the Rapid Support Forces’ intelligence and commander of the eastern sector of the country. He is one of the founders of these forces and was part of its first nucleus.

The matter did not stop with Major General Dhi Al-Nour, but the army was also able - in the first days - to neutralize Lieutenant Colonel Musa Qareh, the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, in the Shambat suburb, according to a source in the army.

Qareh is one of the most stalwart elements of the Rapid Support Forces that Hemeti relied on in his battle with the army. He leads an elite force of the support forces, and the army was able to catch him early and neutralize a number of other elements supporting him.

Later, the army was able to kill Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Rahman Al-Bishi in an air strike that targeted him while he was in the town of Taiba Al-Lahouin in Sennar State, southeast of the country.

Colonel Al-Bishi played a major role in the Rapid Support Forces' control of Al-Jazeera State, and was able to control the headquarters of the army's "17th Infantry Division" in the city of Singa in the center of the country. Al-Bishi extended his forces to the outskirts of the city of Damazin in the south of the country, and was closely linked to the commander of the Rapid Support Forces.

To the west, the army and the allied joint force were able to neutralize the most prominent field commander, Major General Ali Yaqoub Jibril, commander of the Rapid Support Forces in Central Darfur.

Earlier, Major General Jibril had managed to take control of the headquarters of the army's "21st Infantry Division" in the city of Zalingei in central Darfur, and then he was assigned the task of bringing down the "6th Infantry Division" in the city of El Fasher, before a sniper from the same division managed to kill him in the same city.

Defeats and espionage

The targeting of Rapid Support Forces leaders has escalated significantly, especially recently, as these forces lost a number of their field leaders in Al-Jazeera and Khartoum states.

Over the past two weeks, the Rapid Support Forces have announced the killing of a number of field commanders, including Mahdi Rahma “Jalha,” who led forces operating as mercenaries in Libya before returning to Sudan and allying himself with the Rapid Support Forces through a force called the “Rapid Intervention” under Hemeti’s command.

The "Jalha" was followed by the killing of Brigadier General Tahir Jah Allah, the second commander of the Rapid Support Forces in Al-Jazeera State (central), and three other commanders. On Sunday, Major General Abdullah Hussein, a field commander of the Rapid Support Forces in Al-Jazeera, was killed. He managed to take control of the headquarters of the Central Reserve Forces supporting the army south of Khartoum and launch violent attacks on the armored corps in August 2023.

Following the rapid killing of these leaders, widespread accusations spread indicating that the killings may have been carried out by hands within the Rapid Support Forces, which Colonel Khaled Mikael, the army’s field commander, described in statements to Al Jazeera Net as “militias that lack discipline and order, and have no goal or purpose. Therefore, they lack the spirit of soldiering and appreciation for leaders.”

Michael suggested that the Rapid Support Forces leaders were assassinated by their soldiers due to what he called the lack of a doctrine that provides protection for the leadership, and that “the soldiers in the Rapid Support Forces do not know the leaders’ instructions.”

Soon after, political analyst and strategic expert Osama Eidrous told Al Jazeera Net that “the successive defeats suffered by the Rapid Support Forces prompted its leadership to get rid of some field commanders by assassination after they were directly accused of being responsible for the defeat and of collaborating with the army.”

Aidarous points to another reason for assassinating the Rapid Support Forces leaders, which is to seize the spoils of looting and plunder that the leaders obtained, especially the huge quantities of gold bullion and foreign currency.

On the other hand, political analyst and journalist Ghali Shaqifat told Al Jazeera Net that the recently killed support leaders were not assassinated, but rather were killed by the army in several ways. He added that these leaders were killed by the army in field battles and were not liquidated by the Rapid Support Forces.

Shaqifat pointed out that the Rapid Support Forces had previously managed to kill a number of army leaders, "which is normal in light of the ongoing fierce battles."

"joint work"

There are those who interpret the killing of a number of Rapid Support Forces leaders in recent days as a joint action between the army and elements within the Rapid Support Forces.

A senior army officer told Al Jazeera Net, requesting that his name be withheld, that the killing of a number of Rapid Support Forces leaders in recent days “resulted from precise intelligence work by the army, which provided information about the movements of field commanders before they were targeted by the army’s modern drones.”

He added that the Rapid Support Forces are suffering from internal disputes that have reached the top of their hierarchy, as there are disputes between Hemeti and his brother "Al-Qoni" on the one hand, and his half-brother Abdel Rahim Dagalo on the other hand.

The army field commander believes that the Rapid Support Forces’ differences at the commander level contributed to the recent killing of a number of field commanders by providing the army with information to get rid of some of Hemeti’s loyalists who reject Abdel Rahim Dagalo’s directives.

Field gains

On the other hand, analysts believe that the killing of a number of Rapid Support Forces field leaders is in the interest of the Sudanese army, especially since those targeted were influential and powerful within the Rapid Support Forces.

Colonel Michael told Al Jazeera Net that killing the Rapid Support Forces leaders is in the army’s interest on the ground, and that “the many assassinations among the Rapid Support Forces mercenaries will benefit the army on the ground.”

However, analyst Shaqifat, who is close to the Rapid Support Forces, has another opinion, telling Al Jazeera Net that the killing of Rapid Support Forces leaders does not have any impact on the ground, and that the latter has dozens of leaders and is able to compensate for the absence or killing of any field leader.

While strategic expert Aidarous says that the recent assassinations of a number of Rapid Support Forces leaders will leave these forces with three options: escape, surrender, or death.

Source: Al Jazeera