Ethiopian Troops Reach Zalambessa on the Eritrea Border

Ethiopian government troops reached Zalambessa on Tuesday, Oct. 13, a town of about 15,000 people on the border with Eritrea. Six sources told Reuters about the advance, including four people in touch with residents, a diplomat, and an expert in contact with both sides. The town was held before by Tigrayan rebels.

Witnesses and a conflict monitor said Eritrean troops crossed into Zalambessa last week to support the rebels. It was not clear on Tuesday whether Eritrean troops or rebels were still in the town. Eritrea denies any incursion. Asmara has asked the United Nations to take deterrent steps against Ethiopia, and says Addis Ababa's charges amount to a declaration of war. A spokesman for a pro government militia did not confirm that the army had taken the town. Ethiopia's military and the prime minister's office did not answer requests for comment.

A war restarting in pieces

Fighting broke out last month, in September 2026, when a rebel alliance led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front went on the offensive. The alliance has battled federal troops since Sep. 23 in Tigray, Amhara and Afar. The new fighting reopens the war of 2020 to 2022, which killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Ethiopia's counter offensive has driven rebels from a string of towns and pushed them north. Federal forces and allied militia entered Adigrat, about 30 km from the border, on Saturday, Oct. 10, days after Eritrean troops were pushed back from that city. In a letter to the UN Security Council shared with Reuters on Friday, Oct. 9, Ethiopia's foreign minister Gedion Timothewos said Eritrean forces had deployed up to 60 km inside northern Ethiopia. He called it an all out invasion and said Ethiopia had no option but to defend itself.

The two countries have severed diplomatic ties. Eritrea fought beside Ethiopia's federal government in the 2020 to 2022 war. The alliance has since broken down, in part over Ethiopia's push for sea access, which Eritrea fears could end in a move on its port of Assab.

What happens next

Diplomats are pressing both capitals to stop before the border fighting becomes a full war. The danger is wider this time: conflicts run across the region, and tension across the Red Sea is already high. The next signal is whether Eritrean forces are still on Ethiopian soil when independent monitors reach the border towns, and whether either side answers the UN calls in public.