News24 | Ethiopia drone strikes against Eritrean troops in northern Tigray

Units of Ethiopian army patrol the streets of Mekelle city of the Tigray region, in northern Ethiopia.

Minasse Wondimu Hailu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Ethiopian drone strikes have targeted Eritrean forces who had reached a northern Tigrayan city, a conflict monitor and witnesses said on Thursday, as fears soared of a wider regional war.

Relations between the two neighbouring countries, who fought a brutal border war between 1998-2000, have sharply deteriorated recently.

Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of backing rebels in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, and the two countries severed diplomatic ties last week.

On Wednesday, sources said Eritrean troops had crossed the border and were positioned around the city of Adigrat.

READ | Ethiopia and Eritrea break diplomatic ties over conflict

Conflict monitor ACLED said that “Eritrean troops and ammunition” in the Adigrat area were hit by “multiple drone strikes” overnight.

“There were many, many drone strikes yesterday, some Eritrean lorries have been destroyed, they are no more in the streets,” one witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

Neither Asmara nor Addis Ababa have yet responded to inquiries about the situation in northern Ethiopia.

Eritrea fought alongside Ethiopia during the 2020-2022 civil war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

But the relationship soon deteriorated, particularly over landlocked Ethiopia’s persistent claims that it has a right to sea access.