The military embodies Sudan through the capital, hoping to run the war

In the presidential palace, which revolves around the battle in the heart of the broken capital in Sudan, the soldiers gathered under Thuraya on Sunday afternoon, and rifles and missile launchers flowing on their shoulders, listening to their orders.

Then they left the red carpet that once welcomed the foreign population, and to the abandoned center of the city on a mission to remove the last pockets of the resistance from the semi -military fighters who were clash with them for two years.

Since the Sudan army It seized the presidential palace On Friday, in a fierce battle that left hundreds of dead, he took control of most of the Khartoum, which represents a major change in the wealth that is likely to change the course of the civil war, Sudan.

By Sunday, the army seized the central bank, the headquarters of the National Intelligence Department and the towering Corinthia Hotel along the Nile.

Journalists from the New York Times from a Western port crossed the Nile, to the center of Khartoum, or to visit the palace, since the war broke out in April 2023. What we saw there is clearer how the events of the last days have turned the direction of the war, but it has only made hope that it would end soon.

“We will not leave our country to mercenaries,” said Ibrahim, a special forces officer, referring to the RSF – the paramilitary force that the Sudan Army sponsored one day, but now its rival for higher control.

When our car raced on an abandoned street along the RSF Nile even a few days ago, the size of the damage was in one of the largest city in Africa clearly clear.

The trees that lined the road were stripped by the explosions. A mosque was overcoming the shooting. The tall ministries and office blocs, which were built with funds from the wide reserves of oil and gold in Sudan.

The military headquarters were divided, as a group of senior generals were during the first 18 months of the war, to tear it by bombs.

The University of Khartoum, which was once axis of political debate, was looted.

And a region by tens of thousands of Sudanese youth in a popular uprising in 2019 The authoritarian leader overthrew the countryPresident Omar Hassan Al -Bashaer, deserted. All that remains of those desired times were a handful of faded murals with bullets.

Instead, some of these protesters who support democracy have picked up weapons to fight in the war; They were assembled in the ruins of the presidential palace on Sunday.

The Chinese Presidential Palace, just a few years ago, was reduced by the country’s military leaders, to a peel. Dust, debris covered ministerial wings and state rooms. The bishop has collapsed. The gap holes looked over the Nile.

On the ground of an old palace in the neighborhood, he stayed a century ago by the British colonists, the soldiers ridiculed under the charred arches of a bombing building.

The war began as a conflict between competing generals, but soon the entire country closed, bringing the suffering on an epic scale. The United Nations said that the conflict forced 12 million people from their homes, killed tens of thousands, and began the worst famine in the world for decades.

Foreign powers such as the United Arab Emirates and Russia nourish the battle by providing weapons on either side, and many are concerned that it will escalate in a regional conflict through drawing in fragile neighboring countries such as South Sudan or Chad.

American efforts to mediate peace in Sudan failed last year. It is not clear whether President Trump will get any attention, although supporters say that the widespread mineral resources in the country can draw his attention.

Blood -stained ruins on the palace steps witnessed the virginity of the battle on Friday. When the army closed, RSF leader, Lieutenant Gen. Muhammad HamdanHe released a video message asking his forces to stand on their land. When the final attack began, at least 500 paramilitary fighters were still at home, many officers said.

But when they tried to escape, they faced a deadly ambush. video It was filmed half a mile from the palaceAnd checking the Times, showed dozens of bodies scattered along the street, along with burning or shot vehicles.

“This is the season for mice hunting,” the officer who took the video, dates back to Saturday.

The soldiers said that the RSF fighters stationed on Tuti Island, when the Blue Nile rivers met and the White Nile River, tried to escape on boats. It was not clear how much he fled.

Without providing details, a Sudanese military spokesman said that “hundreds” of semi -military fighters were killed. The soldiers said dozens of army forces also died separately, in RSF drones and in another fighting.

Alan Boussle, director of the Horne of Africa project in the International Crisis Group, said that it is a “issue of time” before the Sudan army took the entire city, forcing RSF to retreat to its stronghold in the western region of Darfur.

Mr. Buswell said: “The fall is completely from where they were in the first and a half of the war, when they detained most of the Khartoum,” said Mr. Buswell.

Few believe that war is approaching its end. RSF and the Sudanese army are supported by strong foreign powers that have been weapons in Sudan over the past two years. The deputy leader of Sudan, the owner of Ajar, recently estimated that there are now 36 million small weapons in the country, with a population of 48 million.

The international efforts of the mediator have collapsed at the end of the conflict negotiations, and the country’s military commander, General Abd al -Fattah, said that he prefers to fight, not the conversation.

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In the steps of the palace, a new group of blood was distinguished by the place where the RSF drone was killed four Sudanese government television employees, and two military officers on Friday morning. When we visited it on Sunday, another drone crashed, prompting the soldiers to run between the buildings. We urged to follow up quickly.

Colonel Algoni Ali Il, a leader who leads a group of demonstrators supporting democracy, said that the RSF drones were transported from the bases in Darfur and Chad, where they were operated by the United Arab Emirates, the main foreign sponsor in RSF. Colonel Il did not provide any evidence that supports these allegations, however I mentioned the Times Last year, the UAE was running birds from the Chinese winger of the UNG drone from an air landing in Chad, which is within the exit of Khartoum.

The Sudan Army also relied heavily on drones and other foreign aid. Last year, she acquired Iranian drones that helped her seize the ground in Khartoum. Also last year, eight Turkish Perkettar TB2 aircraft, which US officials say, have been particularly connected to African conflicts, according to the Times documents. The documents were first reported by the Washington Post.

With the city center cleansing, the battle for Khartoum now moved to the international airport, a mile and a half of the palace. Satellite photos show that their runways flow with fire and are scattered with the remnants of passenger planes that were destroyed after the outbreak of the fighting in 2023.

With the transformation of the city from RSF to military control, human rights officials are concerned that civilians accused of cooperation with the rebels may face reprisals. In January, the army was Accused RSF sympathetic suspects after regaining the city of Wadi Madani. The volunteers in the response rooms of emergency situations, which run hundreds of soup kitchens throughout Khartoum, said they are afraid that they will be targeted as well.

If the army succeeds in Khartoum, it is possible that the concentration of the war will turn to Darfur, where RSF fighters place a blockade punishable on the city affected by the famine. StageThe only city in Darfur does not control. On Friday, they seized the town of Malha, about 130 miles north of El Fasher. The city’s residents said that the occupied fighters were preventing them from leaving, amid reports of arrests and murder.

Abdalrahman altayeb It contributed to the reports from Khartoum, and Ronin Bergman From Tel Aviv.