After the SAF had driven the RSF out of Khartoum in March 2025834 and the RSF had taken control of El Fasher in Darfur in October of that same year, the focus of the fighting shifted to Kordofan,835 the region being a strategic crossroads for both conflict parties836 linking Darfur and central Sudan.837 From June 2025 onwards, the RSF moved to encircle the state capital El Obeid,838 mobilising troops in the vicinity in October 2025 indicating preparations for a siege. The RSF had previously imposed a siege on the city between May 2023 and February 2025.839
Clashes between the two warring parties were reported around El Obeid, for example to the west in Umm Sumaima in July840 and August 2025,841 to the south around Kazgil between September 2025842 and November 2025,843 and to the north around the town Bara, which changed control several times844 until the SAF recaptured the locality at the end of July 2026.845 The RSF employed drones to strike areas under SAF control, repeatedly targeting El Obeid,846 killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure.847 Meanwhile, there were reports of SAF airstrikes on RSF positions in the state848, some of which reportedly caused civilian fatalities.849 As of July 2026, the region around El Obeid remained fiercely contested and was characterised by shifting frontlines, while RSF tactics mirrored their previous methods employed in El Fasher in North Darfur, including siege warfare and pressure on the local civilian population through constant bombardment and destruction of civilian infrastructure.850 At the end of July 2026, in a major offensive, the SAF and allied groups such as the SSF managed to recapture towns and villages along the highway connecting El Obeid and Khartoum, managing to retake Jabra El Sheikh, Umm Girfa, and Bara.851 The offensive reopened the SAF supply corridor linking El Obeid and Omdurman.852
- 834
New York Times (The), ‘Bad Things Happen in Darkness’: Sudan’s Civil War Shifts West, 6 August 2025, url
- 835
Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 23, 9 January 2026, url; Reuters, Paramilitary force pushes east in new escalation of Sudan's war, 14 November 2025, url
- 836
New York Times (The), ‘Bad Things Happen in Darkness’: Sudan’s Civil War Shifts West, 6 August 2025, url
- 837
Reuters, Paramilitary force pushes east in new escalation of Sudan's war, 14 November 2025, url
- 838
Ayin Network, “They came on motorbikes and started killing”: RSF siege grips North Kordofan, 22 June 2025, url
- 839
ACAPS, Sudan: Risk Analysis [2026], 13 May 2026, url, p. 5
- 840
Dabanga, RSF and SAF both claim control of key North Kordofan town amid widespread displacement, 31 July 2025, url
- 841
ORSAM Center for Middle Eastern Studies, The Course of the War in Sudan – August 2025 [Infrographic], 11 September 2025, url
- 842
Sudan Tribune, Senior RSF commander killed in North Kordofan clashes, 8 September 2025, url
- 843
Al Jazeera, Sudan’s army captures two areas in North Kordofan as RSF burns more bodies, 15 November 2025, url
- 844
UN News, Sudan: Kordofan cannot become ‘another El Fasher,’ Türk warns, 4 December 2025, url; Sudan War Monitor, RSF captures army base in North Darfur capital, 26 October 2025, url
- 845
ACLED, Does the capture of Bara signal a turning point for the SAF?, 27 July 2026, url
- 846
Dabanga, Drone attacks deepen humanitarian crisis in El Obeid, Joint Forces claims gains in North Darfur, 28 June 2026, url; BBC News, Deadly Sudan drone strike targets funeral procession, 11 June 2026, url; Radio Tamazuj, North Kordofan: At least 20 killed in suspected drone strike on prison, 10 May 2025, url
- 847
International Rescue Committee, Sudan: An imminent RSF offensive is pushing North Kordofan toward humanitarian catastrophe, warns IRC, 29 June 2026, url
- 848
Darfur 24, SAF Launches Airstrikes on Kazgil, North Kordofan, 9 July 2025, url
- 849
OHCHR, Sudan: UN Human Rights Chief deplores killing of dozens of civilians in Kordofan, 17 July 2025, url; Dabanga, Seven civilians die as SAF and RSF clash in North Kordofan, 3 March 2025, url
- 850
GCR2P, Atrocity Alert No. 490: Sudan, Lebanon and Venezuela, 8 July 2026, url
- 851
Sudan War Monitor, Videos | Sudanese Army Restores Khartoum–El Obeid Road Link, 27 July 2026, url
- 852
Mada Masr, Sudan Nashra: Military’s largest offensive since Khartoum brings major RSF logistics corridor in North Kordofan under its control | Military, RSF prepare detainee records in response to UN exchange initiative | IGAD reopens Khartoum office | Kiir invites Burhan to Juba summit over outstanding disputes, 1 August 2026, url