SAF Extends Nyala Aerial Campaign to Fourth Consecutive Day — RSF Soldiers Clash at Central Bank Amid Burhan's Derecognition Order

Sudan's Armed Forces conducted drone strikes on RSF positions in Nyala, South Darfur, for a fourth consecutive day on May 18, 2026, targeting weapons depots in the Al-Masane district and eastern neighborhoods harboring RSF command infrastructure. The sustained aerial pressure on Nyala — the RSF's primary operational base since its expulsion from Khartoum in March 2025 — is driven by persistent intelligence that RSF commander-in-chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) remains in the city. SAF's 4-day Nyala campaign (May 15–18) forms part of the broader Darfur aerial offensive that has struck all RSF-held Darfur state capitals in rapid succession during May 2026: Nyala (May 10–11 and May 15–18), Al-Daein (May 12), El Geneina (May 13), and Al Zorg (May 14). Simultaneously, an internal crisis is compounding the military pressure on RSF: soldiers attempting to access government payroll accounts at the Nyala Central Bank encountered SAF-aligned security forces following al-Burhan's executive order derecognizing the RSF as a state institution. RSF fighters who relied on government salaries — thousands of former NISS personnel and armed forces members incorporated into the RSF — face financial cutoff. Reports indicate confrontations at financial institutions in RSF-held South Darfur as soldiers attempt to withdraw government-provided pay. Three senior RSF commanders have defected to SAF since March 2026, and ACLED monitoring indicates the payroll crisis is becoming a structural pressure multiplier alongside SAF's military advances. SAF's 4th Infantry Division maintained pressure on the Blue Nile front following the May 16 recapture of Khor Hassan, while Kordofan forces continued pressing toward remaining RSF-held positions. The convergence of aerial pressure on Nyala, the payroll crisis, and Hemedti's increasingly precarious political position — his formal removal as Transitional Sovereignty Council deputy is anticipated — represents the most compound pressure on RSF since the loss of Khartoum in March 2025.