Sudan.. The army controls important sites and advances towards the presidential palace from two axes

In this context, military expert Moatasem Abdel Qader told Al-Quds Al-Arabi that most of the battles fought by the Sudanese army in the center of the country and the capital, Khartoum, since last September were characterised by the absence of direct confrontations by the Rapid Support Forces.

He added: "The dominant feature of the support forces' method of fighting is escape and trying to evade, but when the army began to cut off the means of evasion, those forces began to avoid clashes and preferred to evacuate the sites under pressure from aircraft and artillery."

Abdul Qader said that Khartoum State is free of Rapid Support Forces, including the Republican Palace, but reaching these areas requires reconnaissance, intelligence, combing and cleansing before deploying in such locations, and this is what is happening now, he said.

On the ground, in Khartoum Bahri, the third city in the capital, a military source told Al-Quds Al-Arabi that the army imposed its control yesterday over the Zarqa Military Manufacturing Complex, the police towers, Al-Baraha Hospital in Shambat neighborhood, and the Rapid Support Forces’ medical unit, in addition to liberating Al-Zaeem Al-Azhari University and the Ministry of Education building in Khartoum State, while Hemeti’s forces retreated to the old neighborhoods in the city center, “Hilla Hamad, Khojali, and Al-Danagla.”

The source pointed out that the arrival of the advancing army from the Halfaya area to the Signal Corps via Al-Inqadh Street made the Rapid Support Forces in those areas besieged from all directions and they had no way out except to escape via the Mak Nimr Bridge to Khartoum or cross the Nile River towards Tuti Island, which in both cases is a difficult adventure, he said, due to the deployment of the army near those places and the continuous flying of warplanes and drones.

At the same time, the East Nile region in the eastern direction of the capital entered the circle of military confrontations after the army attempted to advance cautiously towards the Kafouri neighborhood and the arrival of military reinforcements from the Butana area to some of the peripheral areas in the southeastern side with the presence of other huge forces in the Hattab camp and the Jelei refinery in the far north of Khartoum.

Military expert, Moatasem Abdel Qader, says that the army's offensive plan in the capital, Khartoum, began at the end of last September by crossing the bridges from Omdurman to the cities of Khartoum and Khartoum Bahri, in addition to intensifying the military presence, both human and armament, of the forces in the areas of Kadro, Hattab and Al-Muqran.

He explained that the army focused on opening up north towards the Al-Jili and Al-Minfa area and south towards the Signal and Command Corps and succeeded in regaining control over those areas, which will make it easier for it to launch in the coming period to reinforce the Al-Muqrin, Armored Corps and East Nile axes.

According to Abdel Qader, the army also set up a pincer encirclement on the Rapid Support Forces through its forces in the Ailafon and Hattab axis and other axes, which puts it in a tight circle inside Khartoum State and a wider and tighter circle from the states of the Nile River, Al-Jazeera, the White Nile and Al-Qadarif, stressing that all of these axes are open to supply lines from the north, east and Omdurman.

He explained that the army, at this stage, is conducting combing operations in the various neighborhoods of the capital and is preparing to confront the remnants of the Rapid Support Forces in the villages of northern Al-Jazeera State, noting that the army will then move to another stage, which is eliminating pockets of Rapid Support Forces in the states of Kordofan and advancing towards the states of Darfur in the west of the country.

In a related context, local sources and a military source confirmed to Al-Quds Al-Arabi that large numbers of Rapid Support Forces elements withdrew from the eastern Nile neighborhoods and some other areas in Khartoum and crossed the Jabal Awliya Dam Bridge with their families and some of the looted goods towards Omdurman and then to Darfur.

The Rapid Support Forces' retreat to Darfur was considered an escape to its social incubators, not a deliberate tactical withdrawal in order to regain its strength. Thus, it increased its siege, especially after leaving its weapons, equipment, and ammunition in Khartoum.

He expected that the battles in Darfur would be easier than the urban warfare in Khartoum and elsewhere, which was characterised by encirclement and sniping, while the Darfur regions are exposed, which facilitates air operations in which the Sudanese army excels.

The talk about the withdrawal of significant numbers of Rapid Support Forces towards the Darfur region has increased the fears of some observers that these forces will engage in attacking the city of El Fasher, but Abdel Qader believes that the army’s victories in the center of the country and Khartoum have reduced the burden on the military aviation, which has made efforts directed towards the regions of Darfur and Kordofan.

He pointed out the heavy losses caused by the army's fighters to the Rapid Support Forces gathered the day before yesterday around the "Golo Dam", which is the source of water for El Fasher.

He added, "The collapsed morale of the Rapid Support Forces bases and the abandonment of them by the field and senior leadership will not leave them any room or desire to return to fighting, but rather they will prefer to seek refuge in their cellular incubators or neighboring countries."

Source: Al-Quds Al-Arabi