Sudan’s army clashes with RSF for control of El Fasher airport
August 22, 2025 (EL FASHER) – Ground fighting for control of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, intensified on Friday as clashes spread to the perimeter of the city’s international airport, with Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) making competing claims of control.
The escalation came after the RSF launched a multi-pronged attack on positions held by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and allied Joint Force fighters near the army’s 6th Infantry Division headquarters.
Local sources told Sudan Tribune that the day’s fighting began with heavy RSF artillery shelling on various parts of the city, including the army base. The sources said RSF fighters then attacked the army and Joint Force defensive lines from the southwest and north, leading to fierce battles around the airport, south of the city.
In a statement on its Facebook page, the army said its forces had “crushed the militia owned by the Daglo family” and repelled the attack, inflicting “heavy losses in lives and equipment.”
Media platforms affiliated with the RSF claimed its forces had captured the airport, forcing the army and its allies to retreat.
However, the Joint Force denied the claim, calling it a rumour in a statement and insisting it maintained “complete control” over the strategic facility. “All attempts to penetrate and destabilize the airport’s security have failed,” it added.
The airport is a critical asset, located less than a kilometre from the main army command centre in the city. Its capture would mark a major strategic gain for the RSF in its campaign to take control of El Fasher, the last army stronghold in the vast Darfur region.
The renewed violence deepens a severe humanitarian crisis in the historic city, where nearly a million residents and displaced people are trapped by a long-running RSF siege that has cut off food and medical supplies. International calls for a humanitarian truce have so far failed to halt the fighting.
U.N. decries civilian killings
The United Nations condemned the latest violence, with a human rights official calling recent attacks on civilians “unacceptable.”
Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Friday that attacks by the RSF on the city and the nearby Abu Shouk displaced persons camp had killed at least 89 civilians in the 10 days leading up to August. 20.
“We fear the actual number of civilian casualties is likely much higher,” Laurence said at a briefing in Geneva.
“We are particularly horrified that among the latest wave of civilian killings, it appears that 16 of them were summary executions. Most of the victims were killed in the Abu Shouk camp and belong to the African Zaghawa tribe,” he said.
Laurence added that the pattern of targeted violence was deepening concerns about ethnically motivated killings. “This pattern of attacks on civilians and deliberate killings, which constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law, deepens our concerns about ethnically motivated violence,” he stated.