Escaping El Fasher: A survivor’s tale

28 October 2025

Hayat Yaqoub Hussein, a survivor of the El Fasher battles, tells Ayin about the first moments of the attack by the Rapid Support Forces on El Fasher after arriving with dozens of displaced people in the Tawila area.

It was another morning in restive El Fasher where Hayat was preparing tea for her family when the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) raided their neighbourhood. Hayat and her family were accustomed to the siege on the capital city of El Fasher that lasted over 16 months, where shelling around their home took place on a daily basis. But Hayat and her family were not prepared for the RSF raid. “When I tried to leave the trench to see what was happening, I saw a number of Rapid Support Forces. They broke through the house’s courtyard and entered in combat vehicles mounted with 23-calibre machine guns. At that point, I told my children, ‘Get up and let’s get out of here. These people don’t belong to the army,'” Hayat says.

“My 17-year-old son was killed after being hit by a mortar shell. I left his body, as well as my injured husband, of whom I now know nothing.”

From that point, Hayat and her children started the arduous journey to Tawila, where dead bodies from past attacks, along with the present, littered the streets. Hear Hayat’s exclusive story here.