Sudan's army and its allied Joint Force fighters say they have taken control of al-Khuwai, one of the main towns in West Kordofan, in an offensive that analysts say is shifting the balance of the country's civil war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Source: Al Jazeera, Nov 14, 2026

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) took the town on Friday, according to local media cited by Al Jazeera. The Joint Force of Armed Struggle Movements, which fights alongside the army, said its fighters also captured Suraif Ankush, Umm Labana and al-Dawdiya and several surrounding areas, Sudan Now reported.

Source: Sudan Now, Nov 14, 2026

Joint Force spokesperson Major Mutawakkil Abuja said the fighting killed the commander of an RSF force in the area and several RSF fighters. That casualty claim, and the claim of control itself, could not be independently verified, and the RSF had issued no immediate response, Sudan Now said.

Source: Sudan Now, Nov 14, 2026

A contested claim on a fluid front

Reporting from inside Sudan a day earlier had left the town's status uncertain. A military source told Ultra Sudan on Friday that army troops had taken Sareef Ankoush, close to al-Khuwei, while the Sudanese outlet Baj News reported the capture of the wider locality — accounts that did not fully agree on whether the town itself had fallen, The Sudan Times reported. Al-Khuwei had been under RSF control since May, when fighting forced thousands of residents to flee towards El Obeid.

Source: The Sudan Times, Nov 13, 2026

The siege on al-Obeid is broken, Al Jazeera reports

The wider offensive, under way for several weeks and pushed forward this month from positions including Iyal Bakhit, has broken the RSF siege on al-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, and the areas around it, Al Jazeera reported. It has also opened new routes for the army across central and southwest Sudan, towards Babnusa in South Kordofan and the approaches to North Darfur, including the road linking al-Nuhud — a town near gold-mining areas that the RSF still holds — with al-Khuwai.

Source: Al Jazeera, Nov 14, 2026

Independent Sudanese analyst Mohamed Ali told Al Jazeera the RSF's shift from attack to defence would change a force built on rapid tribal mobilisation, and that because Kordofan is not the RSF's social stronghold, the paramilitary could withdraw and reposition in Darfur — which would make Darfur the new epicentre of the conflict sooner than expected. The United Nations has identified Kordofan as the epicentre of Sudan's conflict and says the fighting there is worsening an already dire humanitarian situation.

Source: Al Jazeera, Nov 14, 2026

The war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, began in April 2023. Al Jazeera puts the toll at about 150,000 people killed and more than 14 million of Sudan's 53 million people displaced. The RSF still controls all five states of Darfur, including el-Fasher, which it seized in October 2025 after a long siege.