The Battle of “Umm Ba’ar”…

Mohammed Saleh Al-Bishr Triko

Whenever the Army staff commanders plan a battle based on the competence and capabilities of those adorned with medals and war certificates, the plan fails miserably at the first clash with the Rapid Support Forces due to the latter’s use of rapid warfare techniques that heavily rely on their courage in confrontation and mastery of the use of their weapons.
This mentality is fairly known in Bedouin wars. Unlike the Army combat techniques, which focuses on defense and positioning at a certain point.

I inquired the retired Army officers i spoke to about the reasoning behind the Rapid Support Forces’ victories over the Army, and the majority of them gave an answer along the lines of: The army uses the defense and attack plans they learned in the Military Academy in the twentieth century. These plans are suitable for confronting a force that uses similar tactics, but the Rapid Support Forces use techniques that are predominated by exploiting the element of surprise, which is a missed aspect in the Army’s plans.

A few days ago, Lt. Gen. Yasser Al-Atta proudly addressed a crowd of Army supporters, speaking about intending to carry out a plan to attack the Rapid Support Forces in an unexpected place. He was referring to a force from the Minnawi Movement consisting of (300) combat vehicles equipped with the latest weapons, which were prepared in the Triangle area to strike “al Zurug Badiya” in an act of malicious targeting to attempt to turn the ongoing war into a civil one.

The Rapid Support Forces’ intelligence was carefully monitoring the force’s movements leading it to an ambush near the “Umm Ba’ar” area and attacking the force with lightning speed. The battle continued for mere minutes -no more than a quarter of an hour- ending with a terrible defeat for Minnawi’s forces. Resulting in the capture of (400) soldiers from the Minnawi Movement, while (130) vehicles with full military equipment were seized by the Rapid Support Forces, in addition to destroying (30) combat vehicles and dozens were killed during the battle.

Unfortunately for Colonel Babikir, he spoke on a live stream while the force was moving and threatened the Rapid Support Forces. After the battle, he appeared among the prisoners with a defeated demeanor, begging the soldiers to treat him well.

The battle of “Umm Ba’ar” is considered a break in the metaphorical spine of Minnawi’s forces, and it might require years to be able to prepare a similar force in terms of numbers and equipment.