Ethiopian drone strikes targeted Eritrean forces inside a northern Tigrayan city on Thursday, conflict monitors and witnesses said, raising fears of a broader regional war.
Relations between the two neighboring countries, who fought a brutal border war between 1998-2000, have sharply deteriorated recently.
Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of backing rebels in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region and the two countries severed diplomatic ties last week.
On Wednesday, sources said Eritrean troops had crossed the border and were positioned around the city of Adigrat.
Conflict monitor ACLED said that “Eritrean troops and ammunition” in the Adigrat area were hit by “multiple drone strikes” overnight.
“There were many, many drone strikes yesterday, some Eritrean lorries have been destroyed, they are no more in the streets,” one witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
Neither Asmara nor Addis Ababa have yet responded to inquiries about the situation in northern Ethiopia.
The allegations come amid renewed fighting between Ethiopian government forces and an opposition alliance that includes the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF.
Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel accused Ethiopia on Wednesday of fabricating allegations to justify military action against his country.
In a post on X, he accused Ethiopia’s ruling party of creating “a fallacious narrative of ‘self-defense.’” He did not specifically address the movements or strikes described by ACLED.
Eritrea fought alongside Ethiopia during the 2020-2022 civil war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
But the relationship soon deteriorated, particularly over landlocked Ethiopia’s persistent claims that it has a right to sea access.
