The New Phase

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Drone strikes killed 10 people and wounded 13 others in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region in recent days, the latest flareup in a conflict that began almost three years ago, Reuters reported.

The attack in Tigray’s capital, Mekelle, came just days after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which controls swathes of the territory, offered a ceasefire with the Ethiopian government

The federal government has not commented on the airstrikes or allegations that neighboring Eritrean troops had joined the conflict.

The civil war began in 2020 and has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and led to starvation in the northern region. Tigrayans remain cut off from the world with communications and banking services severed.

The conflict has also dragged Eritrean forces into Tigray. They are accused of perpetrating abuses such as gang rapes, mass civilian killings and torture. The Eritrean government has rejected the allegations.

Following this week’s strike, Tigrayan rebels warned that Eritrea is attempting to re-enter the war, which erupted again in August after a brief lull earlier this year, according to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses in Eritrea told the AP over the weekend that the government is mobilizing its armed forces and sending them to Ethiopia to shore up forces there. They said people including students and public servants, are being rounded up across the nation.

Eritrea, one of the world’s most isolated countries, requires all citizens between the ages of 18 and 40 to serve in the military. According to human rights organizations, the practice, which lasts in most cases indefinitely, is driving thousands of Eritrean youths into exile.