UPDATED: The commander of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, General Berhanu Julah, confirmed that the Ethiopian army captured the city of Makelle, the capital of the Tigray region.
General Berhanu Julah
On November 28, the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) began an offensive to capture Makelle, the capital of the northern region of Tigray, according to a number of sources.
Debretsion Gebremichael, leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), told Reuters in a text message that the city, where 500,000 people live, was under “heavy bombardment”. No human losses have been reported, thus far.
Sources in the ENDF confirmed to al-Jazeera that the offensive on Makelle city began, without providing any additional information.
Click to see full-size map.
A day earlier, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that the ENDF had launched the “final phase” of their operation in Tigray.
The defense forces of Ethiopia reportedly captured several 122-mm rockets for the BM-21 Grad MLRS from the Tigray People’s liberation front. The rockets were reportedly kept at St. Michael’s Church in the Paradise area.
Click to see full-size image
Click to see full-size image
On November 22, Abiy gave the TPLF 72 hours to surrender or the ENDF would launch an attack on Makelle. Tigray fighters rejected the ultimatum.
Billene Seyoum, a spokeswoman for the PM office, said the ENDF would not “bombard” civilian areas in Makelle, adding that the safety of Ethiopians in the city and Tigray region is a “priority” for the federal government.
The operation in Tigray began on November 4 in response to a large-scale attack by the TPLF on military positions of the ENDF in the region.
The conflict has thus far claimed the lives of more than 600 civilians. Thousands others fled the fighting in the region. A political settlement appears to be off the table as both sides are still determined to continue fighting.
As expected and predicted by me, Debretsion Gebremichael and the rest of the TPLF “leadership” long ago abandoned Mekelle for the hills while leaving the civilian population behind with orders to “die for Tigray”. Their illusory victory boasts also proved as fictional as those of their Armenian counterparts. Now they’ll be thinking of a guerrilla war, but they’ll find it much harder than during the 1980s. Ethiopia has cut off the Sudanese border, the only other border is Eritrea, which hates the TPLF more than the Ethiopian government does, and unlike the 1980s the TPLF has literally no allies at all. According to Ethiopian government souces* civilians armed by the TPLF to fight the army handed over their weapons to the government instead, which implies that the TPLF has lost even the support of the people of its own capital. What guerrilla war can be sustained under these conditions?
* https://piazzadcara.wordpress.com/2020/11/28/ethiopia-natl-defense-force-takes-full-control-of-mekelle-city/
I think Xi Jinping is supporting the Gov finishing up the political dominance of Tigray in Ethiopian parliamentary systems, this could be part of China’s new international approach, banking is not so important anymore and China is not dependent on foreign investment like it used to be, but recourses are critical and Ethiopia has a lot to offer.