After the SAF had driven the RSF out of Khartoum in May 2025893 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,894 being the region a strategic crossroads for both conflict parties895 linking Darfur and central Sudan.896 As of February 2026, the NRC described South Kordofan as the ‘epicentre of the war in Sudan’ featuring the country’s ‘most dangerous and neglected frontline’.897
In May 2025, clashes were reported in the Al-Qouz locality on the northwestern edge of the state,898 with the RSF advancing into the ‘Taiba Triangle’,899 a strategic crossroads linking all three Kordofan states.900 In December 2025, RSF together with SPLM-N-Al-Hilu troops cut the road between Dilling and the state capital Kadugli, imposing sieges on both SAF-controlled towns901 and intensifying artillery and drones strikes on both.902 In late January 2026, the SAF, in a counter-offensive from the east, managed to break the siege of Dilling and advance further south towards Kadugli.903 The SAF and allied forces reached Kadugli at the beginning of February 2026, breaking a siege that had lasted for over two years,904 similarly to Dilling.905 However, fighting in the area continued,906 as the RSF cut off the main supply lines for relief operations into Dilling at the beginning of March 2026.907
Conflict dynamics involved clashes between the SAF and the RSF.908 In the wake of the formation of an alliance between the RSF and SPLM-N-Al-Hilu,909 the SAF further engaged in fighting against SPLM-N-Al-Hilu troops along the road between Dilling and Kadugli910 and in areas under SPLM-N-Al-Hilu control.911 They further launched airstrikes on the SPLM-N-controlled Nuba mountains.912 According to ACLED, between December 2025 and January 2026 air and drone strikes in South Kordofan quadrupled.913 The SAF resumed airstrikes in April 2026 after halting air operations for several months due to the loss of several fighter planes.914 Drone strikes were reported throughout the reference period, targeting contested areas and hitting civilian targets and infrastructure.915
Furthermore, there were reports of tribal clashes within the area controlled by the SPLM-N-Al-Hilu in May and June 2026,916 even leading to a rival group from the Otoro tribe seizing parts of SPLM-N-Al-Hilu stronghold Kaoda at the end of June 2026.917 Renewed clashes in Kaoda between SPLM-N-Al-Hilu and members of the Otoro tribe were reported in August 2026.918
- 893
BBC News, Sudan rebels entirely pushed out of Khartoum state, army says, 20 May 2025, url
- 894
Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 23, 9 January 2026, url, p. 2; Reuters, Paramilitary force pushes east in new escalation of Sudan's war, 14 November 2025, url
- 895
New York Times (The), ‘Bad Things Happen in Darkness’: Sudan’s Civil War Shifts West, 6 August 2025, url
- 896
Reuters, Paramilitary force pushes east in new escalation of Sudan's war, 14 November 2025, url
- 897
NRC, Sudan: Countdown to catastrophe in Kordofan, as world once again looks away, 2 February 2026, url
- 898
IOM, DTM Sudan Flash Alert: Conflict in Al Quoz (Dibebat town), South Kordofan, 2 June 2025, url
- 899
Ayin Network, Analysis: Sudan’s Kordofan War, the fiercest front lines, 28 November 2025, url; Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 21, 1 July 2025, url, p. 3; Sudan Tribune, RSF drone strikes kill at least 10 civilians in Sudan’s Kordofan – sources, 28 May 2025, url
- 900
Sudan Tribune, RSF drone strikes kill at least 10 civilians in Sudan’s Kordofan – sources, 28 May 2025, url
- 901
CTP, Red Sea Showdown Brewing in Northern Somalia, New Fronts in Sudan: Africa File, January 29, 2026, 29 January 2026, url
- 902
FEWS NET, Sudan - Food Security Outlook January – May 2026, 5 February 2026, url, p. 2; CTP, Red Sea Showdown Brewing in Northern Somalia, New Fronts in Sudan: Africa File, January 29, 2026, 29 January 2026, url; Sudan Tribune, SPLM-N, RSF pound South Kordofan cities with artillery, drones, 14 December 2025, url
- 903
FEWS NET, Sudan - Food Security Outlook January – May 2026, 5 February 2026, url, p. 2
- 904
Sudan Tribune, Army reaches Kadugli, ending two-year siege, 3 February 2026, url, Reuters, Sudanese army says it has broken siege of famine-stricken Kadugli, last updated 4 February 2026, url
- 905
Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 24, 16 February 2026
url, p. 4
- 906
Mashaweer News, Kadugli Residents Struggle Under the Weight of Hunger and Disease, 22 July 2026, url; Darfur 24, Fierce Clashes Erupt in Dilling as SPLM-N Claims Control of Key Routes, 8 May 2026, url; Sudan Tribune, Sudanese army repels joint RSF-rebel attack on South Kordofan’s Dilling, 1 March 2026, url
- 907
Sudan War Monitor, RSF Cuts South Kordofan Relief Routes After Heavy Fighting, 4 March 2026, url
- 908
Dabanga, Fierce clashes in South Kordofan as ‘RSF seizes key town’, 3 March 2026, url; Sudan Tribune, Sudan army says repels RSF attack in South Kordofan, 14 January 2026, url; Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 23, 9 January 2026, url, p. 2; Dabanga, Ongoing clashes cause mass displacement in South Kordofan, 25 May 2025, url
- 909
DW, Nuba Mountains, a fragile refuge on Sudan's front line, 17 April 2026, url
- 910
Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 18, 7 March 2025, url, p. 5
- 911
Darfur 24, معارك عنيفة بين الجيش السوداني والحركة الشعبية في جنوب كردفان [Violent battles between Sudanese army and SPLM-N in South Kordofan], 27 November 2025, url
- 912
Neiman, S., Drones Are Reshaping Sudan’s Civil War, New Lines Magazine, 13 May 2026, url; DW, Nuba Mountains, a fragile refuge on Sudan's front line, 17 April 2026, url
- 913
ACLED, Blue Nile: From peripheral front to central battleground in the Sudan conflict, 26 January 2026, url
- 914
Sudan Tribune, Sudan army resumes heavy air strikes in South Kordofan, 22 April 2026, url
- 915
UN News, Armed drones leading cause of civilian death in Sudan war: UN rights chief, 11 May 2026, url; UN News, Airstrike on funeral underscores rising civilian toll in Sudan, 30 March 2026, url; Al Jazeera, Dozens killed in RSF drone attack in war-torn Sudan’s South Kordofan, 29 January 2026, url; Sudan War Monitor, Christmas Celebration Bombed in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, 3 January 2026, url; UN News, UN warns Sudan war entering deadlier phase as fighting spreads in Kordofan, 22 December 2025, url; UN News, Sudan: UN chief condemns deadly strikes on children’s nursery, hospital , 8 December 2025, url; Sudan Tribune, Seven killed in RSF drone strike on South Kordofan shelter, doctors say, 1 November 2025, url
- 916
Sudan Tribune, Rival faction seizes control of SPLM-N stronghold Kauda in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, 22 June 2026, url; Sudan Doctors Network, [Facebook], posted on: 13 May 2026, url
- 917
Sudan Tribune, Rival faction seizes control of SPLM-N stronghold Kauda in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, 22 June 2026, url
- 918
Radio Tamazuj, Nuba Mountains: Otoro accuses SPLM-N of violating cessation of hostilities, 24 August 2026, url; Mada Masr, Sudan Nashra: Military builds on North Kordofan gains, prepares push into West Kordofan, repels RSF attempt to recapture West Darfur position along Chadian border | SPLM-N clashes with Otoro tribe inside Kauda | Third nationwide blackout in a week as financing impasse stalls electricity sector recovery | Stalled grid repairs put planting season at risk | Ethiopia fighting threatens Sudan’s largest rain-fed farming state, 6 August 2026, url