SAF 4th Infantry Division Recaptures Khor Hassan — Blue Nile State Advance Continues RSF-SPLM-N Rollback

Sudan's Armed Forces 4th Infantry Division recaptured the strategic town of Khor Hassan in southeastern Blue Nile State, continuing the SAF counteroffensive against RSF-SPLM-N (Rapid Support Forces allied with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North under Abdel Aziz al-Hilu) forces along the Kurmuk–Ed Damazin axis. The recapture follows a methodical SAF advance that retook Muqja Station on April 21 and Al-Kayli on May 10, incrementally reversing RSF-SPLM-N territorial gains made after their March 23, 2026 capture of Kurmuk — a strategic Blue Nile town on the Ethiopian border from which 73,000 civilians were forced to flee. Khor Hassan represents the latest position recovered on the southern approach to the Kurmuk area, reducing RSF-SPLM-N pressure on Ed Damazin (the Blue Nile State capital near the Roseires Dam) and the dam's power infrastructure that serves central and eastern Sudan. The Blue Nile front was opened in February-March 2026 when the RSF-SPLM-N coalition — which combines RSF's Darfur-based fighting force with SPLM-N's Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile rebel tradition — staged from Ethiopia's Benishangul-Gumuz region to capture Kurmuk. The alliance represents a significant expansion of the anti-SAF military coalition beyond the Darfur and Kordofan fronts where the bulk of fighting occurred in 2023-2025. Sudan's continued SAF advance along this axis carries diplomatic risk: any push toward Kurmuk risks renewed confrontation with Ethiopia, and Sudan recalled its ambassador to Addis Ababa on May 5-6 after presenting evidence that RSF drones were launched from Ethiopia's Bahir Dar Airport against Khartoum. The SAF's Blue Nile campaign is one of at least five simultaneous fronts where the armed forces are conducting counteroffensive operations as of mid-May 2026.