Ethiopia: Tigray Forces Seize Mekelle Airport as Fighting Spreads to Afar Region
Panoramic view of Mekelle, capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region, in 2018 (file photo, illustrative of the city, not of this week's fighting). Photo: A.Savin, Free Art License, via Wikimedia Commons.
Tigrayan forces took control of Mekelle airport and clashed with federal troops at several locations in Ethiopia's Afar region this week, in the most serious escalation since a 2022 peace deal ended the devastating Tigray war. Ethiopian Airlines has suspended flights to three northern airports.
Forces of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) seized control of Mekelle airport, the main airport in Ethiopia's Tigray region, on September 23, 2026, and clashed with federal government troops at multiple locations in the neighboring Afar region, in what news outlets are describing as the most serious escalation since a 2022 peace agreement ended Ethiopia's devastating Tigray war, according to Al Jazeera and Euronews.
Ethiopian Airlines suspended flights to three northern airports — Mekelle, Axum and Shire — "due to the current situation," the airline said, apologizing to customers for the disruption. Fighting was reported at several towns in the Afar region, including Abala and Erebti, with a former TPLF official quoted as saying federal forces were "fast-retreating" — a claim Reuters-style reporting could not independently verify.
The clashes follow the announcement on September 21 that the TPLF had joined a seven-group military alliance with other armed factions. Ethiopia's federal government, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, had accused the TPLF in June of accumulating weapons in violation of the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement, which ended a war that killed an estimated 600,000 people between 2020 and 2022. Sporadic clashes had already resumed in late 2025.
A humanitarian worker cited by Euronews said aid groups were "expecting it to expand," adding that a truck of food had been sent to help people already displaced by the fighting. No official casualty figures have been released, and key details — including the full extent of territory under TPLF control and the status of a small federal police contingent that had been stationed at Mekelle airport — remain unconfirmed as the situation develops.