BBC Reporting on Tigray: Federal Forces Hold Mekelle and the Main Towns, the TPLF Spokesman Says It Has Not Been Defeated, and Residents Say Fighting Continues in Central and Northern Tigray
MEKELLE, Tigray, Ethiopia — The Ethiopian federal army has taken control of most main towns in Ethiopia's Tigray region, but whether the latest conflict is really over remains unclear, the BBC reported on November 12 and 13.
Fighting broke out in late September between the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the party that had run Tigray for decades, and the national army, a resumption of the two year civil war that officially ended in 2022. Within less than two weeks, federal forces marched into Mekelle, the regional capital. The TPLF made what it called a strategic withdrawal from the city and Tigray's other main towns, so the army encountered little resistance.
Ethiopian government officials and supporters argue that the war is effectively over and that the only remaining task is to clear Tigray of TPLF elements. Getachew Reda, a senior TPLF official who switched sides and is now an adviser to the prime minister, declared that the war in Tigray had ended and that stabilising the region should now be the immediate priority.
TPLF spokesperson Mikael Asgedom, speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, told the BBC this is not a defeat. He said the TPLF is preparing for a major counteroffensive, and that its fighters have launched attacks against Ethiopian forces in several locations following their withdrawal from the region's towns, operations he presented as demonstrating the group's continued military capability.
Residents in different parts of Tigray told the BBC that fighting is continuing in central, northern and north western parts of Tigray, with the use of heavy artillery and drone strikes. Eyewitnesses around Sheraro, a town near the Eritrean border, reported heavy fighting involving artillery and ground forces in recent days, while a motorcycle operator in the southern town of Yechila said military checkpoints were still active.
Verified information from Tigray is hard to come by, and the BBC is unable to report from there. Hundreds of people are reported to have died in the conflict, including dozens killed by drone strikes and bombing raids by the air force, according to roundup reporting.
Source: BBC
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：埃塞俄比亚提格雷州默克莱大学（资料图，2023年摄）。Jnyssen 摄，维基共享资源 CC BY-SA 4.0。 / Photo: Mekelle University in Tigray, Ethiopia, in 2023. Photo by Jnyssen, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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- 2026-11-13BBC Reporting on Tigray: Federal Forces Hold Mekelle and the Main Towns, the TPLF Spokesman Says It Has Not Been Defeated, and Residents Say Fighting Continues in Central and Northern TigrayThis story
