Federal forces retake Tigray airport as rebels withdraw and ties with Eritrea snap

Perspective Analysis

Ethiopian federal forces and their allied militias advanced into Tigray’s capital region in the first days of October 2026 and took control of Alula Aba Nega Airport, roughly ten kilometres from the centre of Mekelle. The airfield had been seized by Tigray People’s Liberation Front fighters on 23 September when the group launched a fresh offensive that also struck government positions in neighbouring Afar and Amhara. Reports compiled from anonymous Ethiopian military sources and humanitarian observers describe TPLF combatants and senior figures leaving Mekelle ahead of the government push, with no large-scale fighting recorded inside the city itself during the final advance.

The TPLF had controlled the airport and other facilities in Tigray for little more than a week before the reversal. A pro-government militia identifying itself as the Tigray Peace Forces posted on social media that it had seized the airfield and was clearing the city. That statement reached international readers through a Reuters dispatch carried by outlets including The Jerusalem Post. Reuters noted that it could not immediately verify the claim and that Ethiopia’s Prime Minister’s Office had not responded to requests for comment. The TPLF itself offered no immediate public reply.

Separate reporting chains reached similar conclusions through different routes. An Ethiopian general speaking on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press that the military held full control of the airport. Humanitarian sources quoted by AFP described TPLF fighters and leaders departing Mekelle, leaving government buildings and police stations unsecured. Residents told AFP they feared looting in the absence of security forces. Deutsche Welle and ORF both drew on these AFP and AP accounts when they described government forces reclaiming the facility. Kenya Today likewise relayed AFP material that placed the recapture inside a broader federal counter-offensive.

Neither the Ethiopian National Defence Force nor the TPLF issued an official statement confirming or denying the airport’s status at the time the reports appeared. Communication blackouts in Tigray and restricted media access further limited independent checks. The TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael had already signalled in a video message released on 2 October that his forces would shift to guerrilla tactics if conventional positions became untenable, echoing the strategy used after federal troops first took Mekelle in 2020.

The airport reversal coincided with a sharp deterioration in Ethiopia’s relations with Eritrea. Addis Ababa closed the Eritrean embassy and expelled ten diplomats, citing threats to national security. Eritrea responded by severing diplomatic ties. Kenya Today, Deutsche Welle and ORF all recorded these steps. Ethiopian officials have accused Eritrea, along with Sudan and Egypt, of backing the TPLF-led opposition coalition; those three governments have rejected the charges. The African Union expressed concern over the widening tensions and urged restraint on all sides.

Accounts differ most clearly on who deserves credit for the airport gain. The Jerusalem Post and Anadolu Agency foregrounded statements from the Tigray Peace Forces militia, presenting the capture as an action by allied irregular forces. Deutsche Welle attributed the development squarely to Ethiopian government forces, citing the unnamed general’s confirmation to AP. Kenya Today and ORF, both working from AFP dispatches, emphasised TPLF withdrawal and the advance of regular troops without spotlighting militia claims. These differences track the underlying wires each outlet relayed rather than independent on-the-ground reporting.

The diplomatic rupture receives consistent treatment across the set. Every outlet that mentioned the embassy closures and reciprocal expulsions framed them as Ethiopian-initiated moves followed by Eritrean retaliation, with the underlying accusations of external support left unattributed to any named Eritrean source. No outlet in the group carried direct comment from Asmara or from the Eritrean public.

The most widely corroborated element is the federal side’s physical control of the airport itself. Multiple independent reporting chains—AFP through Kenyan, Austrian and German outlets; AP through Deutsche Welle; and militia statements carried by Reuters—converge on that outcome. The precise extent of government presence inside Mekelle proper remains less settled, with no on-record confirmation from either combatant and with resident accounts limited to observations of TPLF departures rather than federal arrivals. The militia’s specific claim of having cleared the city stands on a single reporting chain.

The pattern of sourcing explains much of the variation. Outlets that stayed close to AFP or AP material reproduced the emphasis those agencies placed on withdrawals and anonymous military confirmation. Those that carried the Reuters dispatch preserved the militia quotation and the verification caveat. The absence of any Eritrean-sourced material leaves the regional stakes described entirely through Ethiopian government framing.