Tigray People's Liberation Front forces seized control of Alula Aba Nega Airport in Mekelle on Wednesday, marking a dramatic escalation in a conflict that's already displaced one million people and left critical peace commitments unfulfilled.
An airport employee described the sudden takeover. "While we were on our way to the airport for work, our supervisor called the driver and told him that Tigray forces had taken over the airport," the worker said. "Since there were no flights, he told us to return home." A foreign security source based in Ethiopia confirmed the seizure.
Ethiopian Airlines suspended all flights to Mekelle, Axum and Shire effective immediately "due to the current situation in the Tigray region," the carrier said in a statement. Flight Radar data showed Wednesday morning's scheduled service between Mekelle and the federal capital Addis Ababa was cancelled. A small number of federal police had been guarding the airport, but their condition remained unknown.
A Region Still Reeling
The airport seizure comes as Tigray hasn't recovered from the last war. Around one million people remain displaced from the 2020-2022 civil war that killed some 600,000 people, according to African Union estimates. Many aspects of the Pretoria Peace Agreement that ended that devastating conflict remain unfulfilled.
That uneasy calm lasted until late 2025, when clashes resumed less than one year ago. Since then, the federal government has launched multiple drone strikes in Tigray and massed troops at the regional border. Rights groups have accused the TPLF of a campaign of forced recruitment this year as it prepares for renewed conflict.
Widening Alliance Against Federal Government
On Sunday, the TPLF was announced as a member of a new alliance of anti-government armed groups from across the country. Ethiopia faces a myriad of insurgencies, including in its most populous regions, Oromia and Amhara.
The TPLF ruled the whole of Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018 before being sidelined with the rise of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, eventually triggering the civil war. Ethiopian authorities have accused the TPLF of allying with neighbouring Eritrea, as well as Ethiopian armed groups. The federal government has a significant military advantage, having ramped up production of military drones since the last conflict.
Why This Matters:
The resumption of active conflict in Tigray threatens to compound a humanitarian crisis that never ended. One million people remain displaced from fighting that concluded less than four years ago, and the peace agreement that was supposed to rebuild the region sits largely unimplemented. The seizure of a major airport by rebel forces signals that diplomatic solutions have failed to address the underlying grievances that sparked Ethiopia's deadliest modern conflict. With the federal government deploying drone strikes and the TPLF reportedly forcing recruitment, civilians face renewed violence in a region where basic services and infrastructure haven't been restored. The formation of a broader anti-government alliance suggests this conflict could spread beyond Tigray, threatening stability across Ethiopia's most populous regions and potentially displacing millions more people who've already endured years of war.