Sudan’s army says it captured RSF stronghold in North Kordofan
Sudan’s Armed Forces say they have recaptured the town of al-Mazroub in North Kordofan after heavy fighting with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), dealing casualties and destroying combat vehicles, the military reported on Friday. Army officials described the town as a major RSF stronghold that links North and West Kordofan and said its seizure advances efforts to sever RSF supply lines.
Why It Matters
Control of al-Mazroub could alter logistics and front lines in a region that has become one of the war's main battlegrounds, potentially constraining RSF movements between Darfur and army-held central Sudan. The outcome affects the broader balance between the army and RSF amid a multi-year conflict that has concentrated many attacks in Kordofan.
Key Facts
- Location captured: al-Mazroub, North Kordofan
- Who reported capture: Sudanese Armed Forces (military statement)
- Timing of announcement: announced on Friday (per source)
- Casualties and losses reported: military said RSF suffered casualties and lost heavy combat vehicles
- Army spokeswoman/source: Army Special Forces spokesman Mohammed Deidan; a Sudanese army source speaking to Al Jazeera
Sudan’s army announced on Friday that it has taken control of al-Mazroub in North Kordofan following intense fighting with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The military said the clashes inflicted casualties on RSF fighters and resulted in the destruction of heavy combat vehicles. Officials urged civilians in the newly controlled areas to resume normal life.
Army sources and spokesmen described al-Mazroub as the RSF’s largest stronghold in North Kordofan and said the town sits on a corridor linking North and West Kordofan. Mohammed Deidan, a spokesman for Army Special Forces, told the Anadolu news agency that capturing the town advances the army’s objective of disrupting RSF supply lines.
Kordofan has seen a sharp escalation in fighting since late 2025 and is now one of the main theaters of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF, which began in April 2023. The vast Kordofan region — comprising North, West and South Kordofan — lies where territory held by the two sides meets, between the army-controlled central region and RSF-controlled Darfur. Since the start of the war, roughly one in five recorded attacks in Sudan has occurred in Kordofan.
The wider conflict has also drawn in allied groups: last month the Sudan Doctors Network accused the RSF-aligned Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) of an artillery strike on Dilling in South Kordofan. The SPLM-N, a breakaway faction of South Sudan’s governing party, has aligned with the RSF and is part of the RSF-led parallel government in Sudan.
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