Composite story
Tigray forces and Ethiopia's federal army resume fighting, each side blaming the other
Mekelle, Tigray, EthiopiaPublished 25 Sep 2026
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Fighting between Tigrayan forces and Ethiopia's federal army has spread through Tigray, Afar and Amhara. The TPLF says it is answering a federal attack. Addis Ababa says the TPLF launched the offensive.
Tigrayan forces and the Ethiopian army fought this week in Tigray and in neighbouring Afar and Amhara, and several outlets reported that Tigrayan forces seized airports in the region. TPLF vice-president Amanuel Assefa said it is a full-blown war. Tigray's administration said its forces were on the defensive after a federal attack. Ethiopia's army said it repelled TPLF attacks and inflicted heavy casualties. The TPLF and six other armed groups have formed an alliance to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Ethiopian Airlines suspended flights. A humanitarian source described fighting around Abala and artillery toward Yallo. The 2022 Pretoria deal had paused a war that killed an estimated 600,000 people.
Disputed opinions
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Ethiopia's army says it has repelled TPLF attacks in first comment on fresh Tigray fighting
Published 24 Sep 2026 accessed 25 Sep 2026
Facts
The army said its soldiers seized weapons.
Tensions between the federal government and Tigrayan leaders have sharply escalated over the last few days.
The TPLF has not commented on the army's claims, and the BBC has not independently verified them.
The BBC said reports that TPLF forces launched attacks in Afar and Amhara were unconfirmed.
Over recent months both sides have accused each other of violating the peace agreement.
The fighting drove the region to the precipice of famine.
A Mekelle resident told the BBC there had been no clashes in the city, unlike in the previous war, with most fighting elsewhere.
Fitsum said that for seven or eight months the government has been denying budgets to civil servants.
Fitsum said the biggest problem was economic, with people not having enough cash.
Fitsum said people are distressed because life has been so difficult.
Fitsum said people had relied on mobile banking and would be in grave danger if communications were cut, because there is almost no cash.
Fitsum said people were limiting their movements and the city was quiet, as if a curfew had been placed.
Opinion
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Ethiopian army says 272 Tigrayan fighters killed in Amhara
Published 24 Sep 2026 accessed 25 Sep 2026
Facts
The alliance presented its response as part of the broader struggle that brought the coalition together.
Fano, a local armed group that has often targeted the Lalibela area, is now operating alongside the TPLF.
Ethiopia's domestic conflicts are getting harder to separate from Horn of Africa rivalries, including the rift with Eritrea and Sudan's civil war.
Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has visited Asmara twice since July for talks with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.
Opinion
Al Jazeera called the alliance a striking realignment of armed groups with histories of conflict among themselves.
Rebel offensive against Ethiopian army stokes fears of return to civil war
Published 24 Sep 2026 accessed 25 Sep 2026
Facts
A foreign security source in Ethiopia told AFP the group took control of Abala, on the Tigray-Afar border, on Wednesday.
A resident told Reuters that people in Tigray feared siege conditions like those in the previous war.
A resident of Adigrat, near the Eritrean border, described panic-buying and shops emptying.
The Adigrat resident said food shortages are worsening and market shelves are empty.
The resident said essential medicines remain scarce and extremely expensive.
The foreign security source said there was fighting around Weldiya in Amhara, one of the few routes to the capital.
A TPLF source said they had seized several other towns in Afar.
Abiy Ahmed's spokesperson Billene Seyoum said alliance members had been collaborating with financial backing from Eritrea.
In the last civil war, Eritrea and Fano fought with the government against the Tigrayans.
Fano is now part of the new alliance.
Clashes resumed late last year.
African Union chair Mahmoud Ali Youssouf urged utmost restraint and a return to direct talks.
An EU spokesperson called for immediate de-escalation and a recommitment to the Pretoria agreement.
In the 2020-22 war, Tigray was largely cut off, with food, cash and medicines severely restricted, pushing hundreds of thousands of people into famine-like conditions.
Opinion
The Adigrat resident said daily survival has become a constant calculation.
The Guardian called the renewed fighting the most serious challenge yet to the 2022 Pretoria agreement.
The Guardian said the fighting raises fears of a broader regional conflict, with Sudan already at war and tensions along the Red Sea.
Heavy fighting, internet disruption as Ethiopia conflict rages
Published 25 Sep 2026 accessed 25 Sep 2026
Facts
No unique facts.
Opinion
No opinion marked.
New fighting in Ethiopia's Tigray region raises fears of a return to civil war
Published 24 Sep 2026 accessed 25 Sep 2026
Facts
Fighting in and around Tigray is testing the fragile 2022 peace deal.
Kjetil Tronvoll told DW he thinks the war has already begun.
The last war drew in neighboring regions and foreign troops from Eritrea.
The war displaced millions and left hundreds of thousands dead.
DW could not independently verify reports that Tigray forces took control of airports in the region.
Gerrit Kurtz told DW this is a step towards a war.
Tigray's regional government said its forces had been ordered to defend the population.
The federal government has portrayed the developments as a broader coordinated threat by armed groups opposed to the prime minister.
Tigray's government said it had previously held back from answering what it called repeated provocations, in an effort to de-escalate.
DW said those allegations could not be independently verified.
The return of hundreds of thousands of displaced people remains unresolved.
Western Tigray remains particularly contentious.
The TPLF has traditionally defended a strong federal structure and substantial regional autonomy.
Abiy Ahmed's government has pursued a more centralized political model.
Gerrit Kurtz said both the Ethiopian armed forces and the Tigray security forces are in active hostilities right now.
Some of those organizations were bitter enemies during the Tigray war.
The Ethiopian government has accused Eritrea of supporting the alliance.
Gerrit Kurtz said the alliance has been developing for some time and that some of its leaders have apparently already met.
Gerrit Kurtz said there have been reports of contacts between the armed groups and Eritrea.
Armed groups are operating in Tigray, Amhara and Oromia.
Kurtz said the new alliance itself appears to be a domestic grouping.
Tigray has yet to recover from the 2020-2022 war.
Infrastructure has been severely damaged and the economic recovery remains fragile.
Opinion
Kjetil Tronvoll said the war has already begun.
Peace researcher Kjetil Tronvoll called the latest developments a decisive escalation.
Tigray's regional government accused Abiy Ahmed's government of launching a genocidal invasion.
Gerrit Kurtz called the escalation a step towards a war.
Security analyst Gerrit Kurtz called the developments a serious escalation.
Their choice to cooperate is a significant political development, but not necessarily a durable alliance.
Gerrit Kurtz said both forces should stop the fighting.
Gerrit Kurtz called the alliance a very important development.
Gerrit Kurtz said Washington has not shown sufficient engagement.
DW argued that any sustainable settlement has to address the political questions the 2022 agreement left unresolved.
Gerrit Kurtz said preventing a wider war will require a coalition of efforts.
Gerrit Kurtz said the UN General Assembly in New York could be a chance for leaders to engage the Ethiopian government directly.
Fighting rages in Ethiopia as civil war resumes
Published 25 Sep 2026 accessed 25 Sep 2026
Facts
No unique facts.
Opinion
No opinion marked.