Al-Yurae- Fighting escalated on Monday between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in the vicinity of the strategic armored corps in the Al-Shajara area, south of the capital Khartoum, while the army announced the killing of the commander of the Nyala garrison in South Darfur at the hands of treachery and betrayal, as the statment put it.
Osman al-Gendy, correspondent for Cairo News from Omdurman, revealed the latest developments in the Sudanese scene on the ground, stressing that the armored corps area is a “strategic area” for Khartoum state and is located in the south of the state.
Othman al-Gendy said during an on-air correspondent to (Al-Qahira) News channel that the armored area is an important weapon area in battles, which is why the Rapid Support Forces aim to control it, without considering the losses incurred by the militia.
He added that there is heavy shelling by the Sudanese National Army to repel the Rapid Support Militia towards the north, pointing out that the armored weapon area has been subjected to more than 27 attacks since the beginning of the war in Sudan, but there is a desperate defense to protect this strategic weapon by the National Army forces.
Eyewitnesses told London’s (Al-Quds Al-Arabi) newspaper that the clashes continued for the second day in a row, in which both sides used heavy and light weapons with intensive raids by warplanes and flights of reconnaissance aircraft.
They reported that the attacking support forces advanced in the eastern and southeastern axis and were able to infiltrate parts of the camp amid the intensification of battles in those areas, and the army was able to repel the attack and re-establish its control over the camp. But according to military experts, the region will witness a long hit-and-run operation.
It is noteworthy that the Rapid Support published video clips documenting the moments of its infiltration into the military tree area, while pro-army activists circulated other videos showing the armed forces’ control of the camp, in addition to clips containing pictures of the dead of other forces, and the seizure of vehicles, weapons and ammunition belonging to them.
The Al-Shajara military area, which includes the armored corps and the ammunition complex, is one of the most important strategic sites for the army, which has been defending it over the past periods and confronting numerous attempts to storm it.
The area extends for more than 20 km, and the armored camp includes 5 tank battalions, in addition to an infantry brigade, a number of technical weapons, maintenance workshops and a military training center, while the ammunition complex, located on the eastern side, includes ammunition and projectile factories, storage warehouses, as well as a number of infantry battalions and technicians.
On Sunday, battles took place in the vicinity of the armored camp, the most violent of its kind since the outbreak of war in Sudan in mid-April. The army said in a statement on Monday that its forces “managed to destroy a number of attempts by the rebel militia against the armored corps and the ammunition complex.
Huge losses
The statement added that the Rapid Support Forces were inflicted huge losses, including hundreds of dead and wounded, and the destruction of vehicles and the receipt of others.
He pointed to the recruitment of a large number of minors and young people into the ranks of the Rapid Support, which is in addition to its violations of international and humanitarian law, noting that Hemedti’s forces have a track record of war crimes.
The army accused the Rapid Support of firing shells towards the Salama area, south of Khartoum, killing 7 people, in addition to a number of wounded. The battles caused a number of civilian deaths as a result of indiscriminate shelling in the neighborhoods of Al-Azuzab and Al-Dabasin. According to the statements of the resistance committees, the number of victims among citizens reached (12) dead, in addition to a number of wounded and the displacement of more residents after being forced to evacuate their homes by the Rapid Support.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry issued a statement regarding the battles in the Al-Shajara area, saying: “The suicide attempt by the rebel militia to attack the armored corps in Khartoum, in which it employed large numbers of children and minors as fighters, revealed that the militia does not give any weight to humanitarian and moral considerations and the standards of international humanitarian law or common sense of humanity.”
“The RSF uses unarmed civilians as human shields and targets unarmed citizens, led by women and children,” she added, calling on the international community to classify the RSF as a “terrorist group.”
The statement revealed “reports and reports of the rapid support abduction of large numbers of women and girls, using them in forced labour, rape, sexual violence and detention in order to obtain large sums of money from their relatives as ransoms.”
Clashes also took place in the Darushab area north of Bahri, according to military sources who spoke to the London based Al-Quds Al-Arabi Newspaper about the army ambushing a number of RSF employees there.
The sources pointed to the occurrence of fierce battles in the old Omdurman area with the army advancing again to cut off the supply to Hemedti’s forces through the Shambat bridge linking the cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North.
Meanwhile, other areas witnessed intensive warplanes raids targeting support gatherings in Khartoum, focusing on their locations in the areas of Sports City and the campgrounds in the southeast of the capital.
The drones also targeted Hemedti’s forces in the Jili area in the far north of Khartoum, leaving a number of people dead among their ranks
