• The re-occupation of the palace is a symbol of victory for the army.
• Conflict leads to the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.
• RSF establishes government control in the West.

Sudanese troops said in a statement on Friday that the Sudanese army had complete control of the presidential palace in the heart of Khartoum, which would be a major benefit from a two-year-old conflict with an armed group threatening to divide the country’s rivals.

The Paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) said a few hours later that it stayed near the palace and launched an attack that killed dozens of Army soldiers.

Army sources said the fighter jet was about 400 meters. They said the Army troops suffered a drone attack, killing several soldiers and three journalists from state television stations.

The army has long been on the feet, but has been making profits lately and has regained territory from the RSF in the center of the country.

Meanwhile, the RSF integrated control in the West, hardened the front and moved the country to its de facto division. The RSF is working to establish parallel governments in its control areas, although not expected to receive widespread international recognition.

In April 2023, after the war broke out, the RSF and other parts of the city quickly occupied the Presidential Palace in Khartoum.

The Army shared videos of soldiers cheering on the palace grounds, with glass windows shattered and bullet holes hanging on the walls. Images show the recently built palace torn apart by explosions.

Many Sudanese welcomed the statement of military control over the palace.

“The best news I have heard since the war began is that it means the beginning of controlling the troops in other parts of Khartoum,” said Mohamed Ibrahim, a 55-year-old Khartoum resident.

“We want to be safe again, without fear or hunger,” he said.

The RSF said late Thursday it had seized a key base from North Darfur, a region in the western part of the country.

The conflict has led to what the United Nations calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, spreading famine in multiple places and among 50 million people nationwide.

Both sides were charged with war crimes, and RSF was also charged with genocide. Both sides denied the charges.

Gunshots in Khartoum

Intermittent gunfire was heard in Khartoum on Friday, and the fight was expected to be bleeding as the RSF was still occupying the RSF to the south of the palace as the army sought a turn.

“We will advance along all combat axes until victory is by cleaning every inch of our country from the filth of this militia and its collaborators,” the Army statement said.

RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, directed troops to maintain control in the palace earlier this week.

Although RSF still has a position in Khartoum, its foothold has been more vulnerable than ever since the beginning of the conflict, and the trajectory suggests that RSF will be fully pushed out, said Ahmed Soliman, senior researcher at Chatham House.

He added that the Army may continue to continue the war in the West, bringing Sudan to a “controversial, controversial reality.”

The war broke out two years ago when the country was planning a transition to democratic rule.

The Army and RSF expelled Omar al-Bashir from power in 2019 and later from civilian leadership.

But they have long been in conflict because Bashir developed the hemedti and the RSF, which originated from the Janjaweed Mileitias in Darfur, as a confrontation for the army, led by professional officer Abdel Fattah al Fattah Al-Burhan.