The paramilitary RSF has been massing troops around El-Obeid for months in an attempt to encircle the city. The forces are now said to have been pushed west, away from the 400-kilometre highway that connects El-Obeid to the capital.
The highway remains closed to civilians.
The war between the army and the RSF - former allies before a power struggle broke out between them - began in April 2023.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war, with some estimates putting the toll at hundreds of thousands.
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