Overview
- Diplomatic sources and an intelligence official said three blasts were heard across Addis Ababa on Wednesday night and the National Intelligence and Security Service had earlier announced an indefinite ban on drone flights over the capital for security reasons.
- A source linked to the seven-group opposition alliance said its forces had carried out several drone strikes in Addis Ababa, including near the military headquarters, a claim that Reuters and other outlets could not independently verify.
- Fighting that began in late September has intensified in northern Ethiopia, with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and allied groups seizing several towns and the region’s main airports, forcing suspension of commercial flights in Tigray.
- Pro-government militias reported capturing drone frames and batteries from forces tied to the TPLF, suggesting emerging insurgent drone capability, but those captures have not been independently confirmed.
- The renewed violence is disrupting banking, communications and humanitarian access, displacing people who had not fully recovered from the 2020–2022 war, and the United Nations has urged immediate de-escalation to prevent wider regional spillover.