Sudan army, ex-rebel command in El-Fasher ‘wiped out’ in city’s fall

EL-FASHER – The entire senior command of the Sudanese army and its allied ex-rebel forces defending El-Fasher was killed after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) overran the 6th Infantry Division headquarters and the entire city, military and local sources confirmed on Monday.

The fall of the city on Sunday, which was the last major Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) stronghold in the vast Darfur region, marks not only a military collapse for the army in Darfur but also the complete annihilation of its leadership structure.

Multiple military sources told Sudans Post that the RSF stormed the division headquarters from three directions — east, north, and the southern edge of the city — in what several observers described as the most coordinated assault since the war began in April 2023.

By Monday morning, the RSF had declared full control of the entire city, seizing tanks, armored vehicles, and weapons depots.

A command annihilated

Multiple Sudanese military sources confirmed to Sudans Post the death of the army’s top commander in the city, Maj. Gen. Mohamed Ahmed Khedr, commander of the Sudanese army’s 6th Infantry Division.

While several RSF sources had told Sudans Post earlier on Sunday that Khedr had been captured alive, a senior army source later confirmed he was killed on Sunday night while leading the final defense of the city’s western sector.

“He was killed on Sunday night and the whole of the leadership is whipped out,” the source said.

Despite this, National Congress Party source who claimed to have been in contact with General Mohamed claimed that he is alive and only moved to a “secure location” without disclosing if this location is inside El-Fasher.

The entire senior leadership of the Joint Forces of Armed Struggle Movements (JSAFM) was also killed in the fighting. The JSAFM, a coalition of former Darfur rebel movements that signed the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement, had joined forces with the Sudanese army in late 2023.

Their commanders were considered central to the defense of El-Fasher, compensating for the army’s shortage of experienced fighters.

Among the dead is Lt. Gen. Juma Hagar, who served as the chief of staff of the Sudan Liberation Army–Minni Minawi faction (SLA–MM) and was the overall commander of the JSAFM.

According to sources, Hagar was ambushed and killed north of El-Fasher on Monday morning as he attempted to withdraw with a small convoy following the fall of the division headquarters.

An SLA source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said those killed alongside Hagar included Lt. Gen. Abboud Adam Khater. Khater was the operations commander of the Joint Forces and also the military chief of the Sudan Liberation Movement–Transitional Council (SLM–TC), led by Tahir al-Hajar.

Also killed was Lt. Gen. Tijani al-Dhahib, a prominent commander of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) forces. JEM is headed by Sudan’s current Finance Minister, Jibril Ibrahim. Al-Dhahib was also a member of the Joint Forces’ Command and Control Authority.

The sources confirmed that Lt. Gen. Osman Abdel Jabbar, who was formerly operations commander of the TSC before joining the Joint Forces, was also killed. The destruction of this entire joint command structure signals the effective collapse of the JSAFM as a coherent fighting force.

The fall of the city

El-Fasher, long considered the army’s final stronghold in Darfur, has been the center of fierce fighting for the last two and half years of the war. The final assault began shortly before dawn on Sunday, with RSF forces bombarding army positions using heavy artillery, drones, and mortars.

Military sources said the army had withdrawn to the west of the city on Saturday night, just before dawn on Sunday when the RSF entered the division headquarters.

Witnesses said explosions shook the city for hours as the RSF advanced deeper into the army compound. By late morning, the army’s defensive lines had collapsed.

“We heard heavy fire from all sides,” said a resident who managed to flee to the Tawila locality. “When the RSF entered the city center, people started running in every direction. There were bodies on the streets — soldiers, officers, civilians. It was chaos.”

In a televised address on Monday, army chief, Abdelfattah al-Burhan said the military and allied forces withdrew from the North Darfur State capital to spare the city from further destruction. He did not disclose where those forces have withdrew to. El Fasher was under siege and all the towns and ways out of it are controlled by the RSF.

He said that after a request from the army command in the city, he approved the withdrawal to “spare the remaining citizens and the rest of the city from destruction” following what he called the “systematic destruction and killing of civilians.”

“We can turn the tables every time, and we can return every land desecrated by these traitors to the nation’s fold,” Burhan added.

The fall of El-Fasher brings all five of Darfur’s major state capitals — Nyala, Geneina, Zalingei, El-Daein, and now El-Fasher — under RSF control for the first time since the war began. The 6th Infantry Division had been the Sudanese army’s last organized formation in Darfur, making its capture both militarily and symbolically decisive.