Fighting widens across Ethiopia as Tigray clashes escalate

“They’ve begun an offensive around southern Tigray,” Abdisalam Balema, a member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front’s (TPLF) central committee, told Al Jazeera by phone from Mekelle, the Tigrayan capital, on Wednesday morning. “They’re carrying out strikes in many places. We are not sure of the extent of it or whether they will continue, but we will assess it.” Balema did not know it then, but he was describing the start of a major military escalation. Fighting intensified across parts of Tigray and later spread to the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions, pitting federal forces against several armed groups. A day later, Balema told Al Jazeera that the situation had become a “full war”.