Sudan’s army has made gains in the war against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary in recent weeks as it tries to gain the upper hand in the three-and-a-half-year war that has ravaged one of the poorest countries in the world. The Sudanese armed forces (SAF) on Friday said its soldiers captured the town of al-Mazroub after fierce fighting. The town is one of the RSF’s most important positions in North Kordofan, and its capture extends a series of military successes in a region that has become a central battleground in the civil war.
The SAF has pushed the RSF out of much of the state, increasing pressure on the paramilitary group’s positions and supply routes. But the wider war remains far from settled, with the RSF still controlling almost all of Darfur and parts of Kordofan. Sudan’s civil war erupted in April 2023 in the capital, Khartoum, after months of tensions between the SAF and the RSF.
The conflict has since expanded to 13 of Sudan’s 18 states and has displaced 14 million people, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. So what are the latest gains made by the Sudanese army? And is it gaining the upper hand?
The capture of al-Mazroub on Friday is the latest advance for the army in North Kordofan. Deidan described the capture as an important step in the army’s efforts to cut the RSF’s supply lines, saying the town serves as a link between army-controlled North Kordofan and West Kordofan, which is an RSF stronghold. He called the advance a major turning point in the fighting in the Kordofan region.
Fighting across Kordofan has intensified since late 2025 after the RSF captured el-Fasher, the army’s last major stronghold in Darfur. Meanwhile, on Saturday, the Sudanese army announced it had delivered a “knockout blow” to the RSF and its ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), in Blue Nile state, claiming to have inflicted heavy losses on fighters and equipment. SPLM-N controls parts of South Kordofan.
In a statement, the army’s Fourth Infantry Division said its troops, backed by supporting forces, targeted the two groups in the Minza and Bashkarkad areas. The operation inflicted “heavy losses in lives and equipment”, disrupted their movements and thwarted attempts to advance towards army positions, the statement said. There was no immediate comment from the RSF.
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