The Ethiopian army had advanced by Tuesday to Zalambessa, a town on the Ethiopian side of the border with Eritrea, according to six sources. The move comes after fighting resumed in Ethiopia and tensions escalated between Addis Ababa and Asmara, amid fears that the clashes could spread more widely. Zalambessa has a population of about 15,000 and lies near the northernmost point of Ethiopia.
Local and diplomatic sources report Ethiopian advance
Four of the six sources based their accounts on contact with local residents, while one was a diplomat and another was a conflict expert in direct contact with the parties to the conflict. A spokesperson for one of the pro-government militias has not confirmed that the Ethiopian army took control of the town.
The information also did not establish whether Eritrean forces or rebel fighters, whose presence in Zalambessa had been reported, were still inside the town. Sources drawing on testimony from residents and organisations monitoring the conflict had said that Eritrean forces entered the town last week to support the rebels.
Asmara denies crossing into Ethiopian territory
In contrast, Eritrean authorities denied that their forces had crossed into Ethiopian territory. Asmara called on the United Nations to take deterrent measures against Addis Ababa and said Ethiopia's accusation that it had launched an invasion amounted to a 'declaration of war', signalling a deepening dispute between the two countries alongside the military developments near their border.
Clashes resumed in Ethiopia last month after a rebel alliance led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front launched an attack that reignited the war which killed hundreds of thousands of people between 2020 and 2022. The Ethiopian government responded with a counter-offensive during which it retook several towns and pushed the rebels northwards.
Fears of an expansion of the violence are growing this time as hostility between Ethiopia and Eritrea returns, while conflicts intensify in other areas and tensions continue across the Red Sea. This raises the possibility that the ongoing fighting could turn into a wider confrontation extending beyond the Tigray region.
