Residents in Adigrat said Eritrean soldiers crossed into northern Ethiopia and moved through the Tigrayan town toward Edaga Hamus, deepening fears that the fighting in the region is spreading beyond its current flashpoints. The reported movement came as clashes intensified along the corridor leading toward Mekelle.
The timing matters because the area has been on edge for weeks. Fighting broke out two weeks before the report after months of tension between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, with both sides accusing the other of violating the 2022 deal that ended a two-year civil war. Ethiopia has also accused Eritrea of backing the TPLF, an allegation Asmara has denied, and the latest unrest followed the launch in September of a new alliance of armed groups in Ethiopia that includes the TPLF.
Residents gave specific accounts of what they saw. One person in Adigrat said, “I saw about 40 trucks carrying soldiers. The convoy was moving south.” Another said, “We have been seeing trucks with Eritrean registration plates passing through the city.” That same resident said they saw “around 20 to 30 large trucks heading toward Edaga Hamus,” and added that acquaintances along the route had seen more vehicles carrying heavy weapons, including anti-aircraft guns, while some troops were also moving on foot. A source in Mekelle said relatives in Adigrat described up to 60 trucks carrying soldiers that were later deployed in mountainous terrain near Edaga Hamus.
The accounts point to something larger than a brief pass-through. Multiple reports said Eritrean troops moved from the border town of Zalambessa toward central Tigray, with convoys passing through Adigrat and heading toward Edaga Hamus, a town between Adigrat and Mekelle. Images circulating on social media appeared to show heavily loaded military trucks carrying uniformed personnel toward Adigrat, Edaga Hamus and possibly Wukro. Sources in Wukro also said national army soldiers and allied fighters had entered the town on Wednesday after an exchange of heavy weapons about 15km south of it.
Yet the most important fact remains unresolved: the movement has been described in detail by residents, but it has not been independently verified. The said it had not yet been able to confirm the reported troop movements and could not report from Tigray and surrounding areas. That leaves the purpose of the deployment unclear, whether the trucks and heavy weapons were part of an organized reinforcement or a temporary movement, and whether the next step will be further escalation or a halt at the edges of the fighting.
The risk is wider because Eritrea was a key ally of Ethiopia during the 2020-2022 war, when the conflict drove Tigray to the precipice of famine, and relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea have since deteriorated sharply. Last week, the two countries severed diplomatic relations. With the fighting now pressing closer to the route between Adigrat and Mekelle, the region is left with movement on the ground, accusations from capitals, and no clear answer yet on what the Eritrean convoy was meant to do.
