{"id":179463,"date":"2026-10-02T10:51:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T14:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/?p=179463"},"modified":"2026-10-02T10:54:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T14:54:30","slug":"ethiopian-government-forces-close-in-on-mekelle-as-residents-report-banks-and-shops-shut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/179463","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopian Government Forces Close In on Mekelle as Residents Report Banks and Shops Shut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethiopian government forces and allied militiamen have closed in on Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, residents and a diplomat told Reuters<\/a> on Friday, as banks and shops in the city closed and fears grew that the fighting could spill into a wider war after Ethiopia and Eritrea cut diplomatic ties.<\/p>\n

Two residents of Mekelle, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said the Ethiopian National Defence Force and allied militiamen were within striking distance of the city. One of them told Reuters the advance had reached about 30 kilometres. The pro-government Tigray Peace Forces said on Thursday that federal forces and allied militiamen had taken a town about 75 kilometres south of Mekelle, according to the same Reuters report.<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for Ethiopia\u2019s military and government did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the reported advance. The commander of the Tigray Peace Forces declared late Thursday on social media that TPLF forces had been wiped out, a claim Al Jazeera<\/a> said it could not immediately verify. Al Jazeera Arabic\u2019s Ethiopia bureau chief, Mohammed Taha Tawakel, said the federal army was clearly giving the Tigray Peace Forces full support, while the TPLF still held several towns and kept a frontier with Eritrea of more than 800 kilometres.<\/p>\n

TPLF chairperson Debretsion Gebremichael acknowledged on Thursday that federal forces had occupied some parts of the region, Reuters reported, and said his forces would counter-attack \u201cin due course.\u201d In a statement cited by Reuters he added, \u201cWe should ensure that Tigray is their graveyard, not their playground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Combat erupted last week between the federal government in Addis Ababa and a rebel alliance led by the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front, the worst escalation since the civil war of 2020 to 2022. Pro-government forces have made quick advances into Tigray, Reuters said, after the TPLF and allied fighters made some initial gains in neighbouring Amhara and Afar that pro-government forces say have been largely reversed.<\/p>\n

The advance on Mekelle comes as Abiy Ahmed\u2019s Regime and Eritrea severed diplomatic relations. The Ethiopian Government closed its embassy in Asmara and ordered 10 Eritrean diplomats to leave within 48 hours. Eritrea then cut all ties, Reuters and the BBC<\/a> reported. The authorities in Addis Ababa have accused Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of backing the opposition alliance. All three have denied the charge. The African Union Commission has urged Ethiopia, Eritrea and Egypt to exercise \u201cmaximum restraint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Analysts fear the fighting could spread beyond Ethiopia\u2019s borders, Reuters reported. Eritrea says it fears Ethiopia will try to take the port of Assab by force. Abiy Ahmed has said Ethiopia intends to secure sea access through peaceful means. Sudan, on Tigray\u2019s western side, is in a civil war now more than three years old.<\/p>\n

Suspected drone attacks on Addis Ababa earlier this week, which Reuters could not independently verify, suggested the TPLF and its allies might have longer reach than previously thought. Explosions were heard late Wednesday night in the capital. A source linked to the opposition alliance told Reuters they targeted ENDF headquarters and other sites. If confirmed, Reuters said, it would be the first known drone attack by anti-government forces on Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n

Pharmacy on Alula Street in Mekele (Mekelle), Tigray, Ethiopia, photographed on 25 January 2018; this is not a picture of the October 2, 2026 advance on Mekelle or of today’s front lines.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ethiopian government forces and allied militiamen have closed in on Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, residents and a diplomat told Reuters on Friday, as banks and shops in the city closed and fears grew that the fighting could spill into…<\/span> Read more ›<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":179462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4993],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/mekelle-upload.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179463"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179463"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179469,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179463\/revisions\/179469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}