In Sudan, the army attacks paramilitary positions in Khartoum

Airstrikes and artillery fire rocked Sudan’s capital Khartoum, where the regular army is engaged in operations against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which largely control the capital, according to witnesses and a military source. The clashes began at dawn, several residents said, in what appeared to be the army’s first major offensive in months to retake parts of the capital held by the RSF.

The attacks come as Sudan’s army chief and de facto leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, called before the UN General Assembly in New York for the “rebel militia to be designated a terrorist group,” accusing the RSF of obstructing peace efforts. On the eve of the fighting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “deep concern” about the “escalation” of the conflict, which has pitted the army against the RSF of General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, Burhan’s former deputy, since April 2023.

Since the start of the war, paramilitaries have pushed the army almost out of the city. But following its last major offensive in February, the army has retaken much of Omdurman, an adjacent city that has been incorporated into the capital. Several Omdurman residents reported “intense artillery fire” that began early Thursday, including on residential buildings, as military aircraft flew overhead.