Ethiopian drone strikes have targeted Eritrean forces who had reached a northern Tigrayan city, a conflict monitor and witnesses said on Thursday, amid fears of a wider regional war.
Relations between the two neighboring countries, who fought a border war from 1998 to 2000, have again deteriorated in recent months.
Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of backing rebels in its northern Tigray state, and the two countries severed diplomatic ties last week.
The government in Asmara in turn accuses Ethiopia of supporting its own opponents, and of looking for a pretext to invade its territory and seize direct access to the Red Sea.
Eritrean information minister, Yemane Meskel, said on X that Ethiopia was “openly working to bring about regime change in Eritrea by providing shelter and support to certain mercenaries who claim to be opposition.”
Asmara’s troops crossed the border this week and were positioned around the Ethiopian city of Adigrat in northern Tigray, multiple sources have told AFP.
Conflict monitor ACLED said “Eritrean troops and ammunition” in the Adigrat area were hit by “multiple drone strikes” overnight between Wednesday and Thursday.
“There were many, many drone strikes yesterday. Some Eritrean lorries have been destroyed. They are no longer in the streets,” one witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
Another witness in Adigrat, who also asked for anonymity, said they had heard a “massive explosion during the night.”
“I also saw Eritrean military vehicles that had been hit by a drone,” they added.
A third witness said Eritrean troops appeared to be retreating north.
