A militia aligned with the federal government announced Saturday that its forces had taken control of the airport outside Mekelle, the Tigray regional capital, as troops loyal to Addis Ababa continued to advance through the northern territory after more than a week of sustained combat operations.
Forces aligned with the Tigray People's Liberation Front reported that Alula Aba Nega Airport had come under their control, with personnel described as pushing further into Mekelle as part of what the group characterised as a counteroffensive against government forces — a claim conveyed through a statement declaring that the airport had passed entirely into their hands. The group's statement, posted on X, said its forces were in the process of taking control of Mekelle, and that the TPLF leadership had withdrawn toward Eritrea, with the organisation describing an end to hostilities as imminent.
No independent confirmation existed that TPLF leadership had made their way toward the Eritrean border. Troops aligned with the administration had taken up positions at the airport, sources familiar with the military situation told journalists, while no word had come from Abiy Ahmed's office about the events that had taken place.
Forces aligned with the Tigray region had held Alula Aba Nega Airport from the point when fighting resumed in September. On 23 September, airports at Mekelle and Shire passed into the hands of Tigrayan fighters, with the facility at Axum also reported to have come under their hold. Flights to all three destinations were taken out of service by Ethiopian Airlines in the period that followed.
A push by government troops and their allied partners toward Mekelle set the stage for the development now being reported. Armed opposition factions in northern Ethiopia, with the TPLF among them, pushed forward on multiple fronts during coordinated assaults on government-held positions over the past week. Clashes between Ethiopia's federal military and Tigray-based armed groups have returned at a scale of violence not recorded since the war that ended in 2022.
Armed clashes have been playing out against a backdrop of a regional diplomatic situation that has grown steadily worse. Ethiopia's diplomatic post in Eritrea was closed down, with ten Eritrean officials given notice to depart, after authorities in Addis Ababa pointed to what they characterised as antagonistic behaviour on the part of the Asmara administration. In response to those allegations, Eritrea neither acknowledged nor accepted them, and subsequently moved to sever its diplomatic relationship with Ethiopia.
Diplomatic personnel were expelled in both directions between Addis Ababa and Cairo after Ethiopia pointed to outside backing for its internal opponents — a charge the Egyptian side has disputed. A call for calm from the African Union directed at Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Egypt asked that all three nations hold back from any moves or declarations liable to deepen instability across the region.
Fresh fighting has put the Pretoria agreement — a deal concluded in November 2022 that brought two years of armed hostilities between Ethiopia's federal government and the TPLF to an end — under strain.
