Overnight Blasts Rock Addis Ababa as Ethiopia's Northern Conflict Escalates

Explosions echoed across Addis Ababa overnight, according to three diplomatic sources who spoke to Reuters, marking a sharp escalation in the widening confrontation between Ethiopia's federal government and a coalition of armed opposition factions. The blasts struck the capital just hours after authorities imposed a ban on drone flights over the city and its surrounding areas, a restriction that now appears to have been introduced in direct response to an emerging aerial threat.

A source connected to the Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival claimed responsibility for a series of drone strikes in the capital, saying some of the attacks were aimed at the military's headquarters. The alliance, which brings together seven armed groups, has publicly stated that its objective is to unseat Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's administration. Its membership includes the Tigray People's Liberation Front, or TPLF, alongside organizations drawn from the Amhara, Afar, Somali and Benishangul-Gumuz regions, making it a broad and geographically diverse coalition rather than a single localized insurgency.

The overnight explosions represent a significant symbolic and strategic development. For months, the fighting has largely been confined to northern theaters of operation, but strikes inside Addis Ababa suggest the alliance possesses both the reach and the intent to bring the war to the government's political heartland. The timing, coming so soon after the drone ban, indicates that officials were already anticipating such attacks, though the measures evidently did not prevent them.

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground in the north has deteriorated rapidly. Al Jazeera's Muhammed Taha Tawakel, reporting from Afar on Wednesday, described how the fighting had shifted from the Amhara region deep into Tigray as government forces pushed northward. Federal troops have reportedly advanced to within roughly 40 kilometers, or 25 miles, of Mekelle, the regional capital of Tigray, placing the city under growing pressure.

In response to the government advance, TPLF fighters have reportedly withdrawn to new defensive positions, and some of the group's leadership has left Mekelle altogether. Thousands of civilians have fled the city alongside them, driven by fears of imminent clashes. Electricity and internet services across the region have been severed, cutting off residents from reliable information and complicating humanitarian access at precisely the moment it is most needed.

The latest wave of violence follows a large-scale offensive launched by Tigrayan forces last week, an operation the TPLF characterizes as a "defensive war" waged in response to federal drone and artillery strikes. Government troops and their allied fighters have since mounted a counteroffensive, and the two sides now appear locked in an intensifying cycle of attack and retaliation that shows little sign of de-escalating.

In the neighboring Afar region, government forces told Reuters they had retaken the towns of Erebti and Abaala, both located near the border with Tigray. That claim has not been independently verified. On Wednesday, Tawakel reported that the contest for control of the two towns was still underway and warned that the escalating violence in the north risked drawing Ethiopia and Eritrea into a broader war.

Local mediation attempts aimed at persuading the forces controlling Abala and Erebti to pull back have reportedly failed, leaving the fate of more than 80,000 Afar residents trapped in the area uncertain. The humanitarian implications are severe, as the affected population faces displacement, disrupted supply lines and the threat of being caught between opposing armed forces with no clear avenue of escape.

Tawakel further noted that the fighting in Afar carries the potential for regional repercussions. A wider conflagration could pull Eritrea directly into the conflict, and disruption to the routes linking Ethiopia with Djibouti would pose a serious risk to food security, given Ethiopia's heavy reliance on that corridor for imports. Combat has also reached areas along Ethiopia's borders with Eritrea and Sudan, raising the prospect that the conflict could spill across national boundaries and destabilize the wider Horn of Africa.

Ahmed Hussein, the deputy governor of Afar, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that Ethiopia had come under an unprecedented attack, which he said was designed to undermine the regional administration and install figures loyal to Eritrea. He urged Asmara to withdraw from Afar territory and held it responsible for the safety of civilians living in areas controlled by opposition groups. Eritrean officials have not responded publicly to the accusation, though the federal government has similarly accused neighboring states of backing the coalition, claims those states deny.

The broader trajectory of the conflict remains deeply uncertain. The federal government continues to describe its operations as necessary counterterrorism and stabilization measures, while the opposition alliance frames its campaign as a fight against an illegitimate and increasingly authoritarian central authority. With drone strikes now reaching the capital, government forces closing in on Mekelle, and regional powers facing mounting pressure to choose sides, the conflict appears to be entering a more dangerous and unpredictable phase, one in which the distinction between the northern battlefield and the rest of the country is rapidly eroding.