Sudan’s conflict intensified on Monday as army and paramilitary forces exchanged strikes across the west and south of the country, according to military sources and eyewitnesses.
In Darfur, government airstrikes targeted Zalingei, one of the region’s five state capitals under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Witnesses reported seeing smoke and flames rising from a building, which military officials later confirmed was an RSF warehouse.
Meanwhile, in South Kordofan, an RSF drone struck Dilling, a town recently relieved by the army after a paramilitary siege. The strike hit a building housing the government’s humanitarian aid agency, though no further details were immediately available. Dilling has been a key front since the outbreak of war in April 2023, and the army continues to push towards the regional capital, Kadugli, after recently opening two corridors around the town.
The humanitarian toll is severe. Roughly 147,000 people—around 80% of Kadugli’s population—have fled their homes, according to the United Nations. Following the fall of El-Fasher in Darfur last October, the RSF has shifted its focus southward to Kordofan, one of Sudan’s most fertile regions.
Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, described South Kordofan as “Sudan’s most dangerous and neglected frontline.” He warned that “entire cities are being starved, forcing families to flee with nothing. This is a man-made disaster, accelerating toward a nightmare scenario.”
The UN has repeatedly cautioned that Kordofan risks repeating the atrocities seen in El-Fasher, where RSF forces were accused of massacres, sexual violence, and abductions targeting non-Arab communities after the city fell. The ongoing strikes underscore the fragile security situation and the escalating humanitarian crisis in Sudan.
