Fighting returns to northern Ethiopia as rebel alliance presses the government

Fighting has resumed in northern Ethiopia, with Tigray forces seizing Mekelle's airport and a seven-group alliance newly formed against the government.

• Seven Ethiopian armed groups announced in September the formation of the "Ethiopian People's Forces for Survival" alliance.
• Tigray forces seized the Alula Aba Nega airport in Mekelle, and Ethiopian Airlines suspended flights to Tigray airports.
• Army chief of staff Gen. Berhanu Jula accused Eritrea, Egypt, and Sudan of supporting the groups fighting the government.
• The army said it killed 272 Tigray fighters and wounded 260 others, figures that could not be independently verified.
• Tigrayan forces seized three towns in the Afar region as fighting entered its sixth day across Tigray, Amhara, and Afar.
• The Afar ruling party chief accused Tigrayan forces of besieging thousands of civilians and using them as human shields.
• The UN warned of drone use in the fighting and of harm to civilians.
• The Ethiopian army captured the town of Alamata in southern Tigray, advancing toward Mekhoni and Maychew.
• A drone strike hit the headquarters of Tigray TV in Mekelle, the regional broadcaster ordered suspended by federal authorities.
• An estimated 150,000 people have been displaced in Ethiopia's Afar region since the fighting resumed.