On February 5, 2025, the Sudanese Armed Forces said they had made significant gains in Khartoum after heavy fighting with the Rapid Support Forces. APA reported that army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said government troops had secured the Al-Rumaila area, a medical depot, an industrial zone and the state’s currency mint.
The RSF rejected that account. Its adviser, El Basha Tabig, said on social media that RSF forces had destroyed army units and allied brigades as they tried to advance near the ammunition corps in southern Khartoum. He also claimed RSF fighters had knocked out two army tanks and several combat vehicles. The competing statements matter because they show the capital battle is still being fought not only on the ground but in the public narrative about who controls which neighborhoods.
According to the report, intense clashes were ongoing in western, central and southern Khartoum, and the RSF still controlled most of those areas. That point is crucial. Even if the army has made gains, it has not yet transformed those gains into full control of the city. The source portrays a fluid front line, with both sides trying to move toward central Khartoum and open corridors that would connect different army positions.
A military source quoted by the report said SAF units were stationed around the armored corps in Al-Shajara, southwest of the city, as they attempted to push northward toward central Khartoum. The army’s goal, according to that account, was to reach Al-Ghaba Street and connect with other forces elsewhere in the capital. That kind of corridor is tactically important because it can link separated units and make further advances easier.
The report also reminds readers how long the conflict has already lasted. Sudan has been engulfed in war since mid-April 2023, and international organizations estimate the death toll at at least 29,683 with more than 15 million people displaced inside Sudan or across borders. Those numbers show why even incremental gains around Khartoum carry national significance. The capital is not just another battlefield. It is the political and logistical center of the country.
The army had already announced a first phase of its operation in Khartoum on January 25, after linking forces from Omdurman and Khartoum North with units near the Signal Corps in Bahri. That background suggests the latest announcement is part of a longer campaign to consolidate routes through the city rather than a single breakthrough. The RSF denial suggests the fight for those routes is still very much alive.
What emerges from the source is a picture of a war in motion, but not a decisive victory. The army says it has advanced; the paramilitary says it has blunted the advance; civilians are still trapped in the middle of the fighting. Until one side can turn claimed gains into durable control, Khartoum will remain a contested capital rather than a secured one.
The report leaves the capital in a familiar but unstable place: the army is advancing in some districts, the RSF says it is inflicting losses elsewhere, and civilians are still trapped between competing claims. Until those claims translate into durable control, Khartoum remains contested block by block.
