Friday, at the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al Fitr, gunfire reverberated through residential areas of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, after the army deployed on foot for the first time in its nearly week-long battle with a paramilitary force.
Witnesses reported that soldiers and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) members exchanged gunfire in the north, west, and center of the city, including during the Eid call to prayer.
Hundreds have been slain as a result of the ongoing fighting. Foreign nations, including the United States, have been unable to evacuate their citizens from Sudan without a ceasefire.
So far, international efforts have failed to broker a provisional cease-fire during the three-day holiday and permit civilians to reach safety.
Instead, the army appeared to have entered a new phase of combat on the ground, engaging the RSF in residential neighborhoods after relying primarily on air strikes across the capital, with more intense clashes in central Khartoum.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Egyptian army, stated on Thursday that he saw "no other option but a military solution" to the power conflict with the paramilitary force that erupted into violence over the weekend.
The conflict between two formerly allied leaders of the governing military junta, army chief Burhan and RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, has the potential to draw in Sudan's neighbors and could impact regional competition between Russia and the United States.
Heavy weaponry could be heard throughout Khartoum and its Nile sibling cities, one of the largest urban areas in Africa. On one street, Army personnel brandishing semi-automatic weapons were met with cheers, according to footage released by the military on Friday.
Reuters confirmed that the video was shot in the northern portion of the city but could not immediately confirm when it was shot.
According to the World Health Organization, at least 413 people have been slain, and thousands have been injured in the conflict. This has plunged Sudan into a humanitarian crisis, with hospitals under attack and up to 20,000 people fleeing to neighboring Chad.
Thousands of additional Sudanese evacuated Khartoum on Friday, heading south to Al Gezira or north to River Nile, with some hoping to reach Egypt.
Even before the conflict, approximately a quarter of Sudan's population faced severe starvation, with children disproportionately affected. Three World Food Programme employees were murdered in Sudan on Saturday, causing the organization to suspend one of its largest operations.
Disagreement over a plan to establish a new civilian government, backed by the international community, sparked the violence four years after the overthrow of autocrat Omar al-Bashir and two years after the military coup.
Both parties accuse each other of obstructing the transition.
Darfur Casualties
Despite a flurry of phone calls to Burhan from the U.S., Qatari, and Saudi foreign ministers, the Turkish president, and other world leaders on Thursday, the violence on Friday undermined U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' efforts to achieve a cease-fire.
According to the RSF, the military has launched new attacks.
"As citizens prepare to celebrate the first day of Eid al-Fitr, Khartoum's residential neighborhoods are awakening to the sound of bombings by aircraft and heavy artillery," RSF reported early Friday.
Beyond the capital, the two parties are engaged in combat in the western region of Darfur. A partial peace agreement was signed in 2020 in a protracted conflict that led to Bashir being charged with international war crimes.
In El Fasher, North Darfur, a maternity hospital repurposed to treat war casualties was overburdened and ran out of supplies, according to Cyrus Paye, coordinator for the assistance organization MSF, which supports the facility. The city's other hospitals were closed.
The majority of the 279 wounded patients admitted to the hospital since Saturday, the majority of whom were children, were struck by stray bullets, and 44 have died, he said.
Thursday, another group of physicians reported at least 26 deaths and 33 injuries in El-Obeid City, west of Khartoum. Witnesses described violent confrontations and widespread plunder.
Following a virtual meeting with the leaders of the African Union, the Arab League, and other organizations, Guterres told reporters that trapped civilians should be permitted to seek medical treatment, food, and other provisions.
Burhan told Al Jazeera that he would support a cease-fire if it permitted the free movement of citizens, which he claimed the RSF had prevented.
