Sudan Army Battles RSF’s Eastward Offensive in West Kordofan

Updated by Faith Barbara N Ruhinda at 1454 EAT on Monday 17 November 2025

The Sudanese army is clinging to its last stronghold in West Kordofan as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue their push to seize control of the province east of Darfur.

The army said on Sunday it had repelled an assault on its headquarters in the town of Babnusa, which has come under repeated RSF attacks in recent weeks.

The paramilitary force has been pushing steadily eastward in recent weeks after consolidating its grip on Darfur. Its campaign has continued to draw reports of mass atrocities and a worsening humanitarian crisis across the region.

On Saturday, RSF fighters released several videos from inside Babnusa, with fighters claiming they were advancing on multiple fronts and would soon “liberate” the area.

Satellite imagery analysed by Al Jazeera shows the scale of the assault. A comparison of images taken between September 9 and November 13 indicates that the RSF offensive severely damaged several army installations in Babnusa, with thick smoke rising from inside the military headquarters.

The images also show evidence of drone strikes and extensive destruction to facilities surrounding the headquarters, where repeated shelling has demolished infrastructure and restricted the army’s mobility in the area.

However, more recent footage circulating online — verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking unit — appears to show soldiers from the Sudanese army’s 22nd Division in Babnusa celebrating the capture of armoured vehicles abandoned by retreating RSF fighters.

The outcome of the current fighting in Kordofan will shape the trajectory of military operations in the coming weeks, according to Colonel Hatem Karim al-Falahi, a military analyst who spoke to Al Jazeera.

He said the army’s ability to defend strategic cities such as Babnusa will have major implications for Sudan’s military and regional balance, prompting commanders to bolster defensive lines and increase airdrops and other forms of air support.

‘Unimaginable suffering’

As the battles intensify, the humanitarian situation in RSF-controlled areas to the west remains catastrophic.

Since the fall of El Fasher — the government’s last stronghold in Darfur — after an 18-month siege, warnings of hunger, mass displacement and atrocities against civilians have grown increasingly urgent.

The Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement on Sunday that it had confirmed 32 cases of rape among girls arriving from El Fasher in just the past week. The victims, who reached the nearby town of Tawila, reported being assaulted either inside the city or while fleeing, allegedly by RSF fighters.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Tawila, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher described “unimaginable suffering”.

“Darfur has become the world’s capital of human suffering,” he said, warning that international funding and support remain far short of what is needed to respond to the crisis.

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