The Sudanese Armed Forces say they have withdrawn from the area as part of its ‘defensive arrangements’.

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have said their fighters have seized a strategic zone on the border with Egypt and Libya, as the regular government-aligned army, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), announced its withdrawal from the area.

The announcements on Wednesday came a day after SAF accused forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar of launching a cross-border attack alongside the RSF, the first allegation of direct Libyan involvement in the Sudanese war.

“As part of its defensive arrangements to repel aggression, our forces today evacuated the triangle area overlooking the borders between Sudan, Egypt and Libya,” army spokesperson Nabil Abdallah said in a statement.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

القيادة العامة للقوات المسلحة

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تعميم صحفي

الأربعاء ١١ يونيو ٢٠٢٥م

في إطار ترتيباتها الدفاعية لصد العدوان، أخلت قواتنا اليوم منطقة المثلث المطلة علي الحدود بين السودان ومصر وليبيا.

(نصر من الله وفتح قريب)

مكتب الناطق الرسمي باسم القوات المسلحة

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General… pic.twitter.com/3o5Z1xDfb0

— القوات المسلحة السودانية (@SudaneseAF) June 11, 2025

Since April 2023, the brutal civil war has pitted SAF chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his erstwhile ally Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the RSF, in a bitter power struggle.

In a statement on Wednesday, the RSF said its fighters had “liberated the strategic triangle area”, adding that army forces had retreated southward “after suffering heavy losses”.

SAF said on Tuesday that Haftar’s troops, in coordination with the RSF, attacked its border positions in a move it called “a blatant aggression against Sudan”.

Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also accused the United Arab Emirates of backing the assault, describing it as a “dangerous escalation” and a “flagrant violation of international law”.

It also described the latest clash as part of a broader foreign-backed conspiracy.

Haftar, who controls eastern Libya, has long maintained close ties with both the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

While Cairo has supported Sudan’s leadership under Burhan since the war began in April 2023, Khartoum has repeatedly accused the UAE of supplying the RSF with weapons, which the Emirati government has denied.

Tensions between Khartoum and Abu Dhabi escalated in May after drone strikes hit the wartime capital of Port Sudan for the first time since the outbreak of the war.

After the attacks, Sudan severed its diplomatic ties with the UAE and declared it an “aggressor state”.

Since the war began more than two years ago, multiple countries have been drawn in. It has effectively split Sudan in two, with SAF holding the centre, east and north, including the capital Khartoum, while the paramilitaries and their allies control nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south.

The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million, including four million who fled abroad, triggering what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Efforts by international mediators to halt the fighting have so far failed, with violence continuing to escalate across the western Darfur region and the Kordofan region in the country’s south.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich won’t be exploring London anytime soon. The United Kingdom sanctioned the two firebrands and imposed travel bans on them. The U.K. is not alone in acting against Ben-Gvir and Smotrich; Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway have joined in.

The foreign ministers of all five countries issued a joint statement on their decision to sanction the ministers and implement “other measures targeting” them.

“Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. Extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is appalling and dangerous,” the statement read. 

NETANYAHU ACCUSES THE UK, FRANCE AND CANADA OF ‘ENABLING HAMAS’

The foreign ministers say that their actions against Ben-Gvir and Smotrich stem from issues in the West Bank, but that their measures “cannot be seen in isolation from the catastrophe in Gaza.”

Ben-Gvir responded in a post on X, saying, “While the European colonial countries fantasize that we Jews are still their subjects, the streets of their famous cities are being taken over by radical Islam. But their campaign of appeasement for the Hamas terrorists will not save them. When they finally wake up, it will be too late!”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar slammed the move, calling it “outrageous.”

“We were informed about the U.K. decision to include two of our ministers on the British Sanctions list. It is outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to these kinds of measures,” Sa’ar said on Tuesday. “I discussed it earlier today with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and we will hold a special government meeting early next week to decide on our response to this unacceptable decision.”

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar welcomes Secretary of State Marco Rubio as he arrives in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 15, 2025. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool)

CONTROVERSIAL ISRAELI OFFICIAL SAYS HIS COUNTRY CAN LEARN FROM AMERICA’S GUN LAWS

Sa’ar also put out a statement on X criticizing the five nations, particularly the U.K.

“The British Mandate for the land of Israel ended in May 1948. It will never return,” Sa’ar wrote. “The actions and decisions against Israel also contribute to hardening Hamas’ stance in the negotiations for the hostage deal – and distance it and the ceasefire.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also condemned the actions taken against the Israeli officials.

“These sanctions do not advance U.S.-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war. We reject any notion of equivalence: Hamas is a terrorist organization that committed unspeakable atrocities, continues to hold innocent civilians hostage, and prevents the people of Gaza from living in peace. We remind our partners not to forget who the real enemy is. The United States urges the reversal of the sanctions and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel,” Rubio’s statement read.

The countries that signed the joint statement have been vocal critics of Israel during its war against Hamas.

In May, Canada, the U.K. and France said in a statement that they “strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza.” They also said that Israel allowing only “a basic quantity of food into Gaza” was “wholly inadequate.” 

“We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response,” the statement from May read.

Israeli military vehicles in Gaza, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Reuters)

In a joint statement on the Australia-New Zealand Foreign and Defense Ministerial Consultations (ANZMIN), the countries called for a ceasefire in Gaza and condemned Israel’s “treatment of U.N. agencies.” Australia and New Zealand defended the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the statement, saying that “no organization can replace or substitute” its ability to serve the Palestinian population. 

The U.S. stopped funding UNRWA under former President Joe Biden. Under President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice ruled that the agency was no longer immune to lawsuits – a decision that allowed the families of more than 100 victims of the Oct. 7 attacks to sue the agency, demanding $1 billion in damages.