Battle of Dilling

Battle of Dilling
Part of the Sudanese civil war
Situation as of August 2024
Date 26 June 2023 – present (2023-06-26 – present) (1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks and 5 days) Location Dalang, South Kordofan Status Ongoing SAF in control of most of the city of Dilling SAF lifts siege on 31 July 2024
Belligerents
Sudanese Armed Forces SPLM-N (Agar)	Rapid Support Forces	SPLM-N (Al-Hilu)
Commanders and leaders
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Malik Agar	Hemedti Abdelrahim Dagalo	Abdelaziz al-Hilu

The battle of Dilling, an ongoing battle for control of the city of Dalang, started on 26 June 2023 when Rapid Support Forces invaded Dalanj. The Sudanese Armed Forces has successfully defended and recaptured Dilling from the RSF. Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North attacked and sieged Dilling from the south. SAF broke through the attack in July 2024. It is an urban battle of the Sudanese civil war (2023–present).

Background

Main article: Battle of Khartoum (2023–present)

Dalang (Dilling) is a city in South Kordofan Wilayat. After the war broke out in Ramadan 2023, The RSF gained control of Abu Zabad, a city to the north of Dalang. They temporarily captured the city in the summer of 2023. SPLM-N deployed forces and began from controlled territory in cities such as Sarafayah and Kadugli.

Conditions

Sudan War Monitor reported war crimes including two hanged half-stripped bodies in Dilling amidst an RSF attack on 10 January 2024 repelled by SAF and SPLM-N, and combat in Western Dilling; and the handling of a killed SAF soldier that was shown off in a marketplace. Intense combat involved collapsing some residences with fire. A recorder said while filming the site, "Dilling is the graveyard of the Janjaweed". He also expected RSF-backed Janjaweed soldiers to experience the same fate of those two. Telecommunications were heavily restricted and dealt with outages. Airstrikes were impacting in the skies above the battle and drew attention to the part-razed and infrastructurally impaired city. Displaced refugees exited the city in the thousands and were replaced by militants. Report indicates the humanitarian problems refugees faced included lack of medical resources, roads and sheltering in overfilled cities such as El Obeid.

Fighting in Kordofan

Other areas in the Kordofan region that held intense military action included Babanusa, where fighting threatened to push more displacement. The RSF belligerated an SAF garrison in Habila. In response, South Sudan allocated some of its military to its Northern border. Fugitives fleeing elsewhere experienced shelter problems. RSF targeted oilfields near the border after holding those in Baleela.