![Entrance sign of the SAF’s 22nd Infantry Division headquarters in Babanusa before its capture by the RSF. [Photo courtesy]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/5577.png?ssl=1)
The fall of Babanusa delivers one of the most severe battlefield defeats for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) this year, underscoring the RSF’s relentless momentum just weeks after it captured the North Darfur capital of El Fasher.
The victory gives the RSF near-total control over West Kordofan, a strategically vital region bordering the oil-producing areas of South Sudan.
Fighting to seize the base intensified following the El Fasher takeover, as the RSF deployed freed-up fighters and resources to the Kordofan front. Paramilitary forces mounted repeated daily assaults, culminating in two major attacks on Sunday and two more on Monday before breaching the defenses in the afternoon.
Sources confirmed that following the collapse of the defensive perimeter, remaining SAF units abandoned the headquarters and withdrew from the area. Their exact direction of retreat is unconfirmed, but the nearest SAF control territory is Heglig near South Sudan’s Unity State.
The division defending Babanusa had been severely depleted, suffering chronic logistical shortages and personnel losses, including several defeats elsewhere in the state.
Videos reviewed by Sudans Post were geolocated to the base, showing RSF units inside the captured facility.
Babanusa, the largest town in the state outside the capital El Fula, is a critical military and transport hub. The town has been effectively depopulated since the war began, with local sources reporting that thousands of residents who fled since the start of the war.
The collapse of the base follows the recent political confrontation between the SAF and international mediators. The takeover comes days after army chief General Abdelfattah al-Burhan publicly rejected a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal, accusing the U.S. diplomatic envoy Musad Boulis of lacking neutrality and dictating terms on behalf of the RSF’s foreign backers such as the UAE.
Following Burhan’s rejection, the RSF announced a unilateral ceasefire but has continued major offensive operations. The RSF issued two statements on the latest Babanusa fighting, one in English and the other in Arabic.
In an English-language statement, the RSF said its positions had come under a “treacherous attack by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)” and that it had acted in “legitimate self-defense” to repel the aggression, without mentioning as to if it captured the army division.
“Earlier this Monday morning, our forces were subjected to a treacherous attack by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) that operates under the so-called terrorist Islamic Movement and its affiliated militias in the city of Babanusa, West Kordofan State. Our forces had no option but to exercise their legitimate right to self-defense and to repel the aggression,” the statement said.
However, a separate Arabic-language statement issued by the RSF explicitly declared the “liberation” of both the 22nd Division and the city of Babanusa in its entirety, claiming the action was a response to repeated army violations of the humanitarian truce.
“Despite this escalation and the repeated assaults on Babanusa, the response was an overwhelming victory, as the Tasis Forces successfully repelled the attack in full and foiled it before carrying out a precise military operation that led to the liberation of the 22nd Division and the city of Babanusa in its entirety, and to the neutralization of military threats that had targeted civilians in several areas,” the RSF statement said.
