Ethiopia’s Tigray rebels seize airports, clash with government forces

Tigrayan forces seized airports in Mekelle, Shire, and Axum and clashed with federal troops in Ethiopia's Afar and Amhara regions, according to multiple sources cited by AFP, prompting Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights to all three cities. The fighting follows months of sporadic drone strikes and comes after the TPLF forged a new alliance with armed groups elsewhere in Ethiopia, including Fano fighters in Amhara.

The Tigray regional government said its actions responded to federal bombardments involving aircraft, drones, and artillery the day before, a claim AFP could not independently verify. TPLF Vice President Amanuel Assefa said ground forces attacked from both southern and eastern Tigray and that he sees no possibility of de-escalation, calling it “the beginning of the war.”

The 2020-2022 civil war between the TPLF and federal government killed an estimated 600,000 people, per African Union estimates, and left roughly 1 million people still displaced. The African Union called for immediate de-escalation, while the federal government, which has expanded drone production since the last war, had not yet commented.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.