Sudanese army retakes Khartoum airport

KHARTOUM

A Sudanese woman walks past graves of people killed during clashes lining the streets of Khartoum's twin-city Omdurman on March 20, 2025.

The Sudanese army on Wednesday recaptured Khartoum airport from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, "fully securing it," a military source told AFP.

Just south of central Khartoum, troops also "surrounded the strategic Jebel Awliya area," the last large RSF stronghold in the Khartoum area, from the north, south and east, he added, requesting anonymity because he is not authorized to brief the media.

The military, at war with the RSF since April 2023, launched this week a campaign to push the paramilitary forces out of central Khartoum, after recapturing the presidential palace in a key victory on March 21.

RSF fighters had been stationed inside the airport, just east of central Khartoum's government and business district, since the war began.

The army on Wednesday also secured both sides of Manshiya bridge which crosses the Blue Nile in Khartoum, leaving the Jebel Awliya bridge just south of the capital as the only crossing out of the area still under RSF control.

Across the city, eyewitnesses and activists reported this week that RSF fighters were retreating southwards from neighborhoods they previously controlled, ostensibly towards Jebel Awliya.

The Jebel Awliya bridge, which crosses the White Nile, is the only remaining crossing to the country's west for the RSF's Khartoum fighters, linking to their strongholds in the western Darfur region.