Eritrean Troops Reportedly Move Deeper Into Ethiopia’s Tigray Region

What changed

Residents reported Eritrean troops moving from the border town of Zalambessa through Adigrat toward central Tigray, where Ethiopian army forces and Tigrayan regional forces have been fighting for two weeks. Convoys reportedly carried roughly 20 to 60 trucks, with some vehicles said to be transporting heavy weapons.

The reported movement follows TPLF forces’ withdrawal from Mekelle, now under Ethiopian army control, and last week’s decision by Ethiopia and Eritrea to sever diplomatic relations. It would mark possible direct Eritrean involvement in a conflict that the 2022 agreement was meant to end.

Why it matters

Tigray is again becoming a battlefield with a foreign army potentially moving through it. That changes the stakes immediately: fighting between Ethiopia’s federal forces and Tigrayan forces could widen into a confrontation between two neighbouring states whose armies fought on opposite sides during the 2020–2022 war.

The reported route matters too. Troops moving south from Zalambessa through Adigrat and Edaga Hamus would be heading along the corridor toward Mekelle, the region’s main city. That places the reported deployment close to territory recently taken by Ethiopian forces and to communities already living with the memory of the previous war.

The scale and purpose of the deployment remain unclear, as does whether Eritrean troops are taking part in combat. But the combination of renewed fighting, a broken diplomatic relationship and reported military movement inside Tigray leaves little room for complacency. A conflict that began as a struggle over control of one Ethiopian region could now acquire a much wider fault line.