{"id":754891,"date":"2026-09-23T09:40:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T13:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/754891"},"modified":"2026-09-28T12:03:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T16:03:27","slug":"tigray-says-defensive-war-as-mekelle-airport-falls-and-fighting-spreads-into-amhara-with-fano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/754891","title":{"rendered":"Tigray says defensive war as Mekelle airport falls and fighting spreads into Amhara with Fano"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Panorama<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, September 23, the Tigray regional government said its forces had entered a \u201cdefensive war\u201d against federal troops. The statement came hours after Tigrayan fighters seized Mekelle\u2019s Alula Aba Nega Airport from federal police overnight. Reuters said spokespeople for Abiy Ahmed, the federal government and the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front (TPLF) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Residents of Mekelle told the BBC that local forces took over the city\u2019s airport early Wednesday. An airport employee told Euronews that a supervisor called the staff driver on the way to work. The supervisor said Tigray forces had taken over the airport and that there were no flights, so the staff should go home.<\/p>\n

Ethiopian Airlines suspended flights to Mekelle, Shire, and Axum \u201cdue to the current situation,\u201d Euronews reported. Al Jazeera and the BBC also reported the suspension. Euronews reported that a small number of federal police guard the airport, and their situation after the takeover was unknown.<\/p>\n

Getachew Reda is an adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and a former TPLF official. He wrote on X that the TPLF had seized federally controlled airports in Tigray. He added that it had launched an \u201call out offensive\u201d against government positions in Afar and Amhara. He called the move heartbreaking after efforts by many actors, including the international community, to avoid another round of war in Tigray.<\/p>\n

Tigray authorities told a different story. They accused Addis Ababa of an \u201copen invasion\u201d and of heavy bombing with aircraft, drones, and artillery on Tuesday. They said the Tigray army had been told to counter what they called a genocidal invasion. Each of these accounts comes from a party to the conflict.<\/p>\n

Reuters reported that four sources confirmed fighting in Tigray, Afar, and Amhara. The sources were a senior Ethiopian government official, a diplomatic source, a humanitarian source, and a source with links to the TPLF and an allied militia. They said Tigrayan forces were fighting alongside a local armed group in Afar and alongside Fano forces in Amhara.<\/p>\n

Euronews, citing NGO, humanitarian, and foreign security sources, reported clashes since the previous night in Abala and Erebti in Afar. One NGO source said, \u201cWe are expecting it to expand. We just sent a truck with food to help the people displaced.\u201d A former senior TPLF official told Euronews that Tigrayan forces controlled Berhale, Erebti, Abala, Megale, Dalul, and Konoba in Afar. He said federal forces were \u201cfast-retreating,\u201d but these claims have not been independently verified.<\/p>\n

Civilian harm in southern Tigray was reported before the airport seizure. Alamata\u2019s mayor, Mogos Shiferaw, told the BBC that more than five drones and one fighter jet carried out more than 21 strikes starting around 03:30 on Tuesday. The strikes killed at least 14 people and injured 22, according to the Tigrayan authorities. The mayor said all of the dead and injured were civilians.<\/p>\n

He also accused federal forces of targeting two secondary schools on suspicion that Tigrayan forces were using them. He said the schools had served as federal military bases during the earlier civil war and were empty because the school year had not yet begun. The BBC said it had not independently verified the claims, and the government had not commented on the alleged strikes.<\/p>\n

The U.S. State Department\u2019s Bureau of African Affairs separately condemned a Monday drone strike. It said the strike targeted a convoy of Catholic vehicles carrying food aid, and it called for an investigation and urged dialogue.<\/p>\n

The fighting in Tigray comes alongside an existing war in Amhara. The Amhara Association of America (AAA) published its September 14 to 20 update on September 21. It said battles and rights violations were recorded in more than 21 woreda and city administrations across 11 Amhara zones.<\/p>\n

Those zones were North Wollo, South Wollo, North Shewa, East Gojjam, West Gojjam, North Gojjam, Awi, South Gonder, Central Gonder, West Gonder, and Welkait-Tegede-Setit Humera. AAA recorded civilian casualties in five districts across five zones and abductions in Enemay Woreda of East Gojjam. It also reported drone activity in Meket, Dera, and Alefa. AAA is a U.S.-based advocacy group that documents harm to Amhara people.<\/p>\n

Zegabi\u2019s earlier September report on Amhara drew on AAA\u2019s September 7 to 13 update. It described fighting across eight Amhara zones, with civilian harm and drone strikes. Fano fought on the federal side against the TPLF in 2020 to 2022, and it rose up against the federal government in 2023.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, September 20, seven armed groups announced the Ethiopian Peoples\u2019 Forces Alliance for Survival. They said they aimed to remove Abiy Ahmed\u2019s government and set up a transitional authority. Reuters reported that the group includes the TPLF and the Amhara Fano National Movement, which fought on opposite sides in the Tigray war. It also includes groups from Oromia, Afar, Somali, and Benishangul-Gumuz regions.<\/p>\n

Abiy Ahmed\u2019s spokesperson, Billene Seyoum, told Reuters that alliance members had been working together for some time with money from Eritrea, according to Al Jazeera. Eritrea has repeatedly denied similar accusations.<\/p>\n

Alan Boswell, Horn of Africa director at the International Crisis Group, said the allegations of Eritrean backing for the TPLF could trigger a regional conflict, according to Al Jazeera. He noted that relations between Ethiopia and the Sudanese army have also been getting worse. \u201cSo this is all becoming one big regional mess, and it could get very, very ugly if we don\u2019t see de-escalation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The African Union has estimated that some 600,000 people died in the 2020 to 2022 Tigray war. About one million people are still displaced from that conflict, according to Al Jazeera and Euronews. Euronews also reported that many parts of the Pretoria peace deal were never carried out.<\/p>\n

In May, the TPLF restored its pre-war administration and disbanded an interim body appointed by Abiy Ahmed, according to the BBC. In July, Abiy Ahmed told parliament that the TPLF was preparing for renewed conflict. Euronews reported that rights groups have accused the TPLF of forced recruitment this year, and that the federal government has launched drone strikes in Tigray.<\/p>\n

By September 23, Tigray\u2019s regional government said it was in a defensive war with the federal government, and Abiy Ahmed\u2019s adviser said the TPLF had launched an all-out offensive into Afar and Amhara. Ethiopian Airlines stopped flights on three northern routes. Reuters sources said Tigrayan forces were fighting beside a local armed group in Afar and beside Fano in Amhara.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n