ADDIS ABABA,
\nEthiopian forces battled overnight to repel an assault by Tigray rebels in the Afar region, a humanitarian source said Friday, with reports of an internet blackout in the north of the country. Rebels in the northern Tigray region seized local airports and launched attacks into the neighbouring states of Afar and Amhara this week, saying they were once again in a \u201cfull-blown war\u201d with the federal government.
\nLocals fear a repeat of the telecoms blackout and supplies blockade imposed on Tigray during the last civil war in 2020-2022 that killed an estimated 600,000 people. Online monitor Netblocks said there was an \u201cinternet disruption in northern Ethiopia corresponding to reports of a telecoms blackout in Tigray\u201d. Media was unable to contact sources in the region by phone on Friday.
\nA humanitarian source in Afar said there was \u201cheavy fighting overnight\u201d around the town of Abala that sits in the mountains on the border with Tigray. \u201cThe federal forces pushed the rebels from entering the town,\u201d the source said, adding that a drone was used by the army. Heavy clashes occurred in North Wollo Zone of Amhara on Thursday, including around the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Lalibela, home to Ethiopia\u2019s famed rock churches.
\nAnalysts say the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front (TPLF) appears to be repeating its strategy from the last war \u2014 pushing south through Amhara towards the capital, Addis Ababa, while the offensive in Afar is likely aimed at cutting off supplies from Djibouti, which provides almost all of Ethiopia\u2019s international trade cargo, including fuel.
\nThe TPLF has forged an alliance with six other armed groups around the country in a bid to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The government has a significant military advantage, however, with a large arsenal of drones, an army numbering some 500,000, and the support of external actors, notably the United Arab Emirates.
\nThe renewed fighting comes at an awkward moment for the United States, which only this month lifted sanctions on Ethiopia and Eritrea related to atrocities committed during the last civil war, saying the \u201cnational emergency\u2026 has expired\u201d. The US embassy sided with Ethiopia\u2019s government this week, saying it was \u201cdisappointed to see the leadership of the TPLF\u2026 launch a large-scale offensive\u201d.
\nThe conflict could also draw in neighbouring Eritrea, which fears landlocked Ethiopia is planning to invade it to gain access to the Red Sea. Back in Tigray, prices for basic goods have been spiking as locals raced to stock up on supplies.
\n\u201cThere is panic in the community,\u201d Samuel Gebreslassie, 37, who works in a spice shop in the Tigray capital, Mekelle, told media on Thursday. \u201cThere is deep fear that banks, telecom networks, electricity and basic goods could be cut off again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopian forces battled overnight to repel an assault by Tigray rebels in the Afar region, a humanitarian source said Friday, with reports of an internet blackout in the north of the country. Rebels in the northern Tigray region seized local airports and launched attacks into the neighbouring states of Afar and Amhara this …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":103505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103512,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103485\/revisions\/103512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}