Amhara Faces Reported Northern Spillover as Getachew Reda Says Tigrayan Forces Hit Afar and Amhara
Amhara communities that have already lived through weeks of multi-zone fighting with Fano forces now face reports of a fresh northern spillover, after federal adviser Getachew Reda said Tigrayan fighters launched offensives into neighbouring Afar and Amhara early on Wednesday, September 23, 2026.
Getachew Reda, a cabinet minister and adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who previously led Tigray’s interim administration before breaking with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, said in a social-media statement quoted by the BBC and CNN that the TPLF leadership had launched an “all-out offensive” against government positions in Afar and Amhara and had taken control of federally administered airports in Tigray. He called the development “heartbreaking” after efforts, including by the international community, to avoid another round of war.
Earlier the same day, Tigray’s regional authorities said their forces had been instructed to enter a “defensive war,” according to statements carried by the same outlets and by DW. The Tigrayan side accused authorities in Addis Ababa of prior drone and artillery attacks and of an “open invasion.” Both sides blame the other for starting Wednesday’s escalation, and those opening claims remain contested.
A Reuters report carried by CNN said four sources, including a senior Ethiopian government official and a humanitarian source, described Tigrayan forces fighting alongside a local armed group in Afar and alongside Fano militia in Amhara. Fano fought with federal forces against the TPLF in 2020-2022 and later rose against Abiy Ahmed’s Regime, so any joint Amhara-Tigray battlefield work would land on a region that was already under strain.
That Amhara war map was already wide before Wednesday’s headlines. Zegabi reported this week that monitors recorded fighting across 11 Amhara zones in mid-September. For civilians in those zones, reports of northern spillover mean a second front of risk layered onto an unfinished Fano conflict with the Ethiopian federal government, even while exact front lines and responsibility for each clash stay disputed in the early wire reports.