An AfriMEOSINT control map of Tigray posted on October 13, 2026, marks Zalambessa on the Eritrean border. ENDF areas are shown in light blue and TDF/TPLF areas in yellow, with disputed zones hatched (Image: @AfriMEOSINT on X)
Ethiopian federal forces have reached Zalambessa, a town of about 15,000 people on the Eritrean border, by Tuesday, six sources told Reuters.
The sources were four people in touch with residents, a diplomat and a conflict expert in contact with the warring parties, Arab News and Natna News reported, citing the Reuters story published on October 13. Reuters said the town had until now been held by forces of the TPLF-led alliance. Witnesses and a conflict monitor had said Eritrean troops crossed into Zalambessa last week. Reuters said it was not clear on Tuesday whether Eritrean troops or Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) allied fighters were still in the town. A spokesperson for what Reuters described as a pro-government militia did not confirm that the army had taken full control. Spokespeople for Ethiopia’s military and for the office of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed did not immediately comment.
Kulu Media, citing an Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) update dated October 12, said the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and the allied Tigray Peace Force had taken Fatsi and Zalambessa. ACLED said Eritrean forces along the Zalambessa to Fatsi corridor withdrew back into Eritrea on October 12, and that TPLF-aligned fighters moved toward Debre Damo, southwest of Zalambessa, and toward Irob to the east. Those ACLED details have not been independently verified.
On X, Rich Tedd of AfriMEOSINT posted a control map on October 13 and wrote that the ENDF and the Tigray Peace Force “now control most of eastern and central Tigray.” He said visual evidence confirmed their capture of Axum, Adwa and Rama the day before, “while today they advanced further, taking the border town of Zalambessa.” AfriMEOSINT’s bio describes Tedd as an author of open-source intelligence and analysis who covers geopolitics and conflict mainly in East Africa.
The Ethiopian Conflict Map account @Ethiomapping posted a different reading of the border. “The EDF has entrenched itself in Badme as well as North of Rama and zalanbessa; there will be no push by ENDF without war,” the account wrote on October 13. Its bio says it tracks the Ethiopian conflict in real time.
Martin Plaut, a fellow of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies who writes on South Africa and the Horn of Africa, asked on X on Wednesday whether Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed will send troops into Eritrea. In a linked essay on martinplaut.com he said Tigray Defense Forces units had withdrawn to the mountains and could still fight a guerrilla campaign. In another post he shared figures from The Africa Report saying Eritrea fields about 350,000 troops, has seven working aircraft and a defense budget of about $219 million.
AFP reports carried by Al Arabiya and Ahram Online on Wednesday said a militia member claimed Eritrean soldiers had withdrawn from Zalambessa, and that a resident said Ethiopian forces were about five kilometers south of the town while Eritrean forces were on its northern outskirts. Residents feared the town could become a battlefield, those reports said. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel told AFP that rumors of Ethiopian troops crossing the border were “absolutely false.”
Ethiopia has written to UN Security Council members saying Eritrean troops advanced up to 60 kilometers inside Ethiopia. Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh has asked the Council to act against Ethiopia under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Council members were due to hold closed consultations on Tuesday, Reuters reported; no outcome has been made public.
The U.S. Embassy said on October 12 that multiple sources reported the ENDF and Tigray Peace Force had taken Abi Adi.
Zalambessa sits on the Ethiopian side of the frontier that was a flashpoint in the 1998 to 2000 Ethiopia-Eritrea war. Reaching it puts federal forces face to face with Eritrean territory at a moment when both governments have traded accusations of aggression.
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