Eritrea invaded Ethiopia, conflict getting worse

Fighting in northern Ethiopia has intensified after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front joined a seven-group Alliance for Survival in September 2026 and seized regional airports, prompting accusations that Eritrea has financed and deployed forces alongside Amhara’s Fano militia and the Oromo Liberation Army. Ethiopia says Eritrean mechanized units penetrated as far as sixty kilometers inside its borders and has conducted drone strikes against Eritrean troops; Eritrea calls Ethiopia the aggressor. Federal forces recaptured Mekelle in early October but government services remain suspended, civilian curfews persist, and clashes between ENDF and Fano fighters have killed civilians in Amhara. The humanitarian toll is deepening: more than twenty thousand Ethiopians fled into Djibouti since late September, many continuing toward Yemen, while long-term displacement and casualties strain regional capacities.

The current escalation builds on the 2020-22 Tigray war, when TPLF forces battled the federal government, Eritrea intervened militarily, and alleged atrocities and ethnic-cleansing claims attracted global concern. A Pretoria cessation agreement on November 2, 2022, aimed to disarm Tigrayan forces and restore federal control but omitted Eritrea, leaving a major backer unbound and Western Tigray contested. The earlier conflict produced massive displacement - 5.1 million internally displaced in 2021 alone - and by the time of the Pretoria deal an estimated 600,000 people had died. Efforts to integrate regional forces into national security structures since 2023 have sparked renewed resistance and shifting alliances that continue to fuel instability.