Ethiopia's Tigray rebels abandon regional capital of Mekelle as pro-government forces advance

Rebel fighters from the Tigray People's Liberation Front have begun retreating from Mekelle, the regional capital of northern Ethiopia, as national troops and allied militias close in on the city, according to local reports.

Residents and a local journalist reported on Saturday that insurgent commanders and personnel were evacuating the urban center. National forces had not entered the inner city at that time, but local administrative centers and security stations were left unattended, stoking fears among residents over potential looting and a breakdown of public order.

The retreat follows swift counter-offensives by the Ethiopian military and supportive militias after combat flared on September 23. Initial incursions by the TPLF into neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions had raised concerns over a potential return to the destructive civil conflict that gripped northern Ethiopia from 2020 to 2022.

Government forces managed to reverse early rebel momentum earlier in the week. Research from the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute indicated that federal operations pressed into Tigray along three distinct axes. A humanitarian official confirmed that rebel forces had been driven out of the Afar region, while an aligned Tigrayan militia announced on Friday that it had captured the Alula Aba Nega Airport, situated about 10 kilometres from Mekelle.

The renewed combat has sharply heightened geopolitical tensions in the wider Horn of Africa. Ethiopia has accused neighboring Eritrea and Egypt of providing backing to the Tigrayan rebel faction. TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael said in a recorded address that the conflict holds broader regional dimensions tied to dominance along the Red Sea.

Diplomatic relations have unraveled rapidly amid the fighting. Ethiopia ordered the expulsion of 10 Eritrean diplomats and shuttered its embassy in Asmara, prompting Eritrea to declare that it was severing all diplomatic ties. Ethiopia also expelled an Egyptian diplomat without providing reasons, which led authorities in Cairo to carry out a retaliatory expulsion. As federal forces maintain their march toward Mekelle, regional observers continue to watch the volatile situation with growing concern.