Tigray forces seize Mekelle, Aksum and Shire airports as fears of a new Ethiopian war grow

Tigrayan forces seized control of the airports in Mekelle, Aksum and Shire on 23 September 2026 and clashed with Ethiopian federal troops along several fronts, according to AFP reporting carried by France 24 and a same-day alert from the conflict monitor ACLED.

The Tigray Defense Forces (TDF), led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), took prisoner the small number of federal police guarding the airports, France 24 reported. Ethiopian Airlines suspended flights to all three cities. One airport employee told AFP that "the airport had been taken over by Tigray forces. Since there were no flights, he told us to return home."

Fighting on several fronts

ACLED reported armed clashes along the Tigray-Amhara border in the Kobo-Tumuga direction and on the Zata, Dinqa and Sekota lines, and along the Tigray-Afar border on the Tonsa line. France 24 reported fighting in Abala and Erebti in the Afar region, where humanitarian workers noted displacement, and said Tigrayan forces also attacked positions in the Amhara region alongside the Fano insurgent group.

TPLF Vice President Amanuel Assefa told AFP: "It is the beginning of the war." He said federal ground forces had attacked from multiple directions, making de-escalation unlikely.

The Tigray regional government said in a statement that its fighters had entered a "defensive war," accusing the federal government of launching "an open invasion and attack on us, accompanied by infantry" after months of drone strikes and bombings. The statement warned that discussing military operations "apart from the relevant body, will entail legal accountability."

A new alliance against the government

According to ACLED, low-scale conflict between the TPLF and the federal government began on 1 August 2026 at Shererina on the Ethiopia-Sudan border, and until 22 September was largely limited to federal drone strikes on TDF and TPLF officials, concentrated in Mekelle and the Southern Tigray zone. Since early September, the TDF had deployed tanks and artillery to Southern Tigray.

On 22 September, ACLED said, a new coalition called the Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival was formally announced. It brings together seven armed and political factions, including the TPLF, the Amhara Fano National Movement, the Oromo Liberation Army and the Ogaden National Liberation Front, with the stated aim of removing the current government.

ACLED's analysts, Jalale Getachew Birru and Clionadh Raleigh, wrote that the airport seizures themselves are not militarily significant, since the TPLF already controls Tigray as its regional government. The larger concern, they wrote, is coordinated action across the country. They added that while many of the alliance's groups lack the capability for a sustained uprising, the TPLF and Amhara factions remain serious threats to the government's stability.

International reaction

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Ethiopian President Taye Atske Selassie warned of "forces of destruction and mayhem," Al Jazeera reported.

The US Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ervin J. Massinga, said in a statement: "I am disappointed to see the leadership of the TPLF, that the United States sanctioned earlier this year, make the poor decision to launch a large-scale offensive today. Rejecting dialogue sponsored by the AU under President Obasanjo and engaging in an unwinnable fight does nothing for the people." He added that the US "has tools to sanction additional leaders," but that "a reasonable political dialogue is the right way to go."

The Eritrea question

Ethiopian authorities have accused the TPLF of allying with Eritrea, which the TPLF denies, France 24 reported. According to Reuters reporting carried on Martin Plaut's blog, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said members of the new alliance "had been collaborating for a while with Eritrea's financial backing." Eritrea's information minister declined to comment, and Eritrea has repeatedly denied supporting Ethiopian armed groups. ACLED listed tensions with Eritrea among the pressures already stretching Ethiopia's military.

The TPLF fought a civil war with the federal government from 2020 to 2022 that killed some 600,000 people, according to African Union estimates. One million people remain displaced from that war, France 24 reported.

This report draws on reporting from France 24 (AFP), Al Jazeera, ACLED, Reuters, the US Embassy in Ethiopia and the Tigray regional government, as published by Martin Plaut.