Northern Ethiopia War

Fighting resumed in northern Ethiopia in September 2026, nearly four years after the Pretoria peace deal. On September 20, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), Fano and other armed groups announced an alliance aimed at overthrowing the federal government. Federal drone strikes hit Alamata on September 22, reportedly killing 14 civilians at a school. On September 23, the alliance attacked on the Kobo and Afar fronts and seized the airports at Mekelle, Shire and Aksum; flights were suspended and telecommunications were cut.

Federal forces (ENDF) struck back, retaking Erebti, Soqota and Alamata on September 27–28; at least 52 civilians were reportedly killed in Alamata. On October 1, drones struck near the Defense Ministry in Addis Ababa, and Eritrea severed diplomatic ties with Ethiopia. The TPLF withdrew from Mekelle on October 4 and federal forces took the city. Air strikes killed at least 17 people in Adwa and Sheraro on October 5, Reuters reported, citing an aid bulletin. Between October 7 and 12, Eritrean troops were reported inside Tigray, which the Ethiopian government called an "all-out invasion", while federal forces retook Adigrat, Adwa and the border town of Zalambessa. On October 16, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced an interim government for Tigray. The Ethiopian military says about 270 Tigrayan fighters have been killed; there is no verified civilian death toll.

About 150,000 people were displaced in the first week of fighting, Valerie Browning of the aid group APDA told the Associated Press. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said the number of wounded patients at hospitals in Korem and Alamata rose from about 180 to more than 420 within 48 hours. The fighting compounds an existing crisis: as of September, Tigray's Disaster Risk Management Commission counted about 900,000 people living in 31 camps for internally displaced people and 3.9 million needing emergency food. As of October 10, the UN said its operations in northern Ethiopia were on hold, and aid depots in Mekelle have been looted.

As of October 20, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), working with the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, had delivered medicines and medical equipment to 33 health facilities in Tigray and supported 32 health facilities in Amhara, and had pre-positioned 6,000 household kits in Tigray and 2,000 in Amhara. Acting as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC also facilitated the evacuation of 161 people from Mekelle to Semera, in Afar, on September 28.