Timeline Of The Tigray War (July 2021–present)
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This Timeline of the Tigray War (July 2021 to present) is part of a chronology of the military engagements of the Tigray War, a civil war that began in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia in early November 2020.


Timeline


Beginning through June 2020


July 2021


1 July

A bridge across the Tekezé River was partly destroyed.


2 July

Around 7000 captured Ethiopian soldiers passed through Mekelle, on the way to a prison north of the city.


6 July

The Tigrayan government began mobilization to retake western Tigray from Amhara militias.


10 July

Fiyelwiha battle. A large group of Amhara militia from Wereta and the surrounding Fogera district had been occupying the Dima district in Tigray. On 10 July, they were defeated by the Tigray Defence Forces (TDF); several Wereta militiamen, including the head of the Peace and Security Bureau of the Fogera woreda were killed on the battlefield in Fiyelwiha, a small town of the Dima district.The Reporter, 17 July 2021
EHRC calls for civilian protection
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11 July

Following defeats of the ENDF and Amhara Special Forces in the Tigray War, the Fano (militia) took revenge on Tigrayan citizens in towns in Amhara region, killing people and looting shops, for instance in Wereta, where three Tigrayans were killed. In retaliation for the lost battle in Fiyelwiha the previous day, the Amhara Fano (militia) and mob murdered three civilians of Tigrayan origin in Wereta on 11 July 2021. Social media displayed imagery of the corpses been drag behind three wheel motorcycles, called “bajaj”.


12–13 July

The TDF offensive started on 12 July 2021 resulted in Tigrayan forces capturing southern Tigray, including the towns of Alamata and Korem. The TDF subsequently crossed the Tekezé River and advanced westward, capturing the town of Mai Tsebri and prompting Amhara officials to call on its militias to arm themselves and mobilize.


17 July

The TDF says it released about 1,000 captured Ethiopian soldiers at the Amhara-Tigray border.


19 July

A 10 vehicle convoy of the World Food Programme was attacked in the city of Semera in Afar region.


20 July

After controlling Kobo in the Amhara Region, the TDF did not harm the civilian population. Regional forces from Oromia, Sidama, Somalia, and the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples are mobilizing to support the ENDF in and around Tigray. The TDF launched an invasion on Afar Region making gains and repelling an allied counterattack on the TDF lines reportedly capturing vehicles and equipment.


22 July

The Afar regional government claims that 20 civilians were killed and 70,000 civilians displaced in clashes between the TDF and an alliance of ENDF and regional forces in Afar.


September 2021


late August/early September

According to an Amnesty International report released on 16 February 2022, in late August and early September 2021, TPLF fighters "deliberately killed dozens of people, gang-raped dozens of women and girls — some as young as 14 — and looted private and public property in two areas of northern Ethiopia's Amhara region."


31 August–4 September

Between 31 August and 4 September, TDF occupied the village of Chenna and adjacent areas in Dabat district. According to residents, TDF soldiers arrived demanding food, then killed those who resisted when fighters slaughtered their animals and looted their properties. The soldiers also shot at nearby Ethiopian troops from residential positions, drawing return fire on the residents. Government officials reported that the TDF massacred 120-200 civilians in all. Doctors at the hospital in nearby Dabat town put the death toll at 125 and counting. Human Rights Watch spoke to residents who witnessed 26 civilians summarily executed by the TDF in Chenna. The TDF denied the massacre. At least 30 women and girls were raped and sexually assaulted by TDF soldiers in and around Chenna during the occupation.


9 September

Residents told VOA News by telephone that the TDF killed 600 civilians in Kobo district. According to residents, on 9 September TDF fighters entered villages in Kobo searching for weapons but farmers repelled the soldiers from the villages. As TDF fighters withdrew from those villages to the town of Kobo, they killed men and teenage boys who were working their fields in retaliation along the way. Later that day, residents witnessed dozens of civilians summarily executed by TDF fighters in the town of Kobo. Spatiotemporal satellite imagery analysis corroborated witness testimony of new graves dug at two church compounds in the town to bury those summarily executed.


15 September

On 15 September, the Ethiopian Walta TV interviewed groups of light-armed militiamen in the Zobel hills at the east of Kobo, threatening the vital north–south road across the central Ethiopian highlands.


23 September

It was reported that at least 150 people had starved to death in Tigray territories in the month of August, and that at least 400,000 people had reached famine conditions.


27 September

The '' BBC'' reported that aid trucks were unable to transport crucial supplies to Tigray, as hundreds of trucks that made the journey from other parts of Ethiopia between July and September did not return, due to lack of fuel and hassling of drivers. The United Nations aid chief,
Martin Griffiths Martin Griffiths (born 3 July 1951) is a British diplomat who currently serves as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations. Personal life and education Born in Wales, Griffiths was ...
assumed that famine has taken hold in Tigray, where a nearly three-month long "de-facto blockade" restricted aid deliveries to 10% of what is needed in the war-torn region.


30 September

Amid UN concerns about a blockade of aid deliveries to Tigray, the Ethiopian government expelled 7 top UN officials, reportedly because of "meddling" in its internal affairs, giving the officials 72 hours to leave the country.


October 2021


Early October

An intensive air campaign began against TDF positions in
North Wollo North Wollo (Amharic: ሰሜን ወሎ) also called Semien Wollo, is a zone in Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is bordered on the south by South Wollo, on the west by South Gondar, on the north by Wag Hemra, on the northeast by Tigray Region, an ...
by the Ethiopian Air Force.


18 October

The Ethiopian Air Force killed three civilians in Mekelle. That day, Tigray forces reported
airstrike An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The offic ...
s in Mekelle, which were first denied, later admitted by the Ethiopian government.


20 October

The Ethiopian Air Force carried out a second series of airstrikes targeting inhabited areas of Mekelle city, and also on the small town of
Agbe Agbe is the main locality of the Tanqua Millash district of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. The municipality (''tabia'') centre is in Sele town. Until January 2020, Agbe belonged to the Abergele district. Geography The ''tabia'' occupies the so ...
. A large enterprise,
Mesfin Industrial Engineering Mekelle ( ti, መቐለ, am, መቀሌ, mäqälle, mek’elē) or Mekele is a List of zones of Ethiopia, special zone and capital city, capital of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Mekelle was formerly the capital of Enderta province, Enderta Awrajj ...
, was also targeted, and one of its engineers got killed.


21 and 22 October

Airstrikes continued on 21 and 22 October; the latter was nearby Mekelle University main campus, and
Mekelle Airport Alula Aba Nega Airport , also known as Mekelle Airport, is an airport serving Mekelle, the capital city of the Tigray Region in northern Ethiopia. The airport is located southeast of the city. History This airport was built in the late 1990s ...
and coincided with the landing time of a UN humanitarian flight. As a consequence, the UN cancelled further humanitarian flights to Mekelle.AFP, 22 October 2021: N cancels Tigray flights after Ethiopia government airstrike https://news.yahoo.com/ethiopia-air-strikes-hit-tigray-102335411.html/ref>


29 October

The TDF captured the town of Dessie with the Ethiopian government denying the claim.


30 October

The TDF said they captured the town of Kombolcha and the OLA claimed to have captured the city of
Kamisee Kemise (; ) is a town and administrative seat of the Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Kemise is northeast of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa and has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1424 meters above sea level. I ...
from ENDF allied forces. The Ethiopian government denied the towns were captured.


November 2021


1 November

OLA and TDF forces said they officially met up.


2 November

As the counter-offensive came deeper into federally-controlled territory, the Ethiopian government declared a six-month state of emergency.


4 November

During an interview with Radio France Internationale, French historian and
Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
expert
Gérard Prunier Gérard Prunier (born 1942, in Paris ) is a French academic, historian, and consultant. He specializes in African history and affairs —particularly the Horn of Africa and the African Great Lakes regions. Biography Prunier received a PhD in Afr ...
explained that the bulk of the Eritrean army in Tigray is defending the border with
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
(to prevent Tigrayan rebels from being supplied by Egypt, which is hostile to Abiy Ahmed's government) and to protect Eritrea's border with Tigray, thus leaving the defense of Addis Ababa mostly to Amhara militias in the face of heavy losses sustained by Ethiopia's federal army.


10 November

Amnesty International accuses Tigrayan rebel fighters of gang raping women in Ethiopia


11 November

In view of rebels advancing on the capital city, fears are expressed for the safety of the Mugher plant (operated by Dangote Cement), located at 90 km northwest of Addis Ababa.


23 November

The Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he campaigned to lead his army into battleground.


28 November

The Ethiopian state television announced that the Ethiopian troops take control of Chifra, a district located in Afar Region.


December 2021


1 December

The Ethiopian government said they recaptured Shewa Robit 220 km (135 miles) far from Addis Ababa. It was occupied by Tigray forces earlier. According to the Minister of Ethiopian Government Communications Legese Tulu, they also retook nearby towns like Debre Sina, Wegeltena, Mezezo, Mollale. They retook Lalibela, as well.


5 December

The Ethiopian government claimed that they recaptured Dessie and Kombolcha.


12 December

Reuters reported that forces loyal to the TPLF had recaptured the town of Lalibela less than two weeks after government forces and their allies had recaptured control of the town for themselves.


18 December

Legesse Tulu, head of Government Communication Service, announced that government forces have taken control of several towns from TPLF, including: Weldiya, Kobo, Lalibela,
Hara Hara may refer to: Art and entertainment * Hara (band), a Romanian pop-band * ''Hara'' (film), a 2014 Kannada-language drama film * ''Hara'' (sculpture), a 1989 artwork by Deborah Butterfield * Goo Hara (1991-2019), South Korean idol singer ...
, Robit, Sanqa, Sirinka, Hamusit, Estaysh, Ahun Tegen, Dilb, and Kul Mesk.


19 December

Ethiopian Government, announced that deputy prime minister Demeke Mekonnen visited Lalibela following its recapture.


20 December

Getachew Reda Getachew Reda ( Tigrinya and Amharic: ጌታቸው ረዳ; born June 1974) is an Ethiopian politician who is currently an advisor to the president of the Tigray Region, Debretsion Gebremichael. Getachew is also an executive committee member a ...
, spokesman of the TPLF, announced they were withdrawing from several areas of northern Ethiopia in order to "open the door to humanitarian aid." This retreat had not been not confirmed.


23 December

On 23 December, the Ethiopian government announced that its military forces would temporarily halt any excursions into Tigray.


24 December

Ethiopian forces purportedly massacred an unknown number of people in the town of Abala. Soldiers went door to door killing ethnic Tigrayans but spared non-Tigrayan civilians.


January 2022


7 January

Ethiopia announced pardons for high-profile political prisoners. Its government said it will release several leading TPLF members and opposition leaders from the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups. Aid workers say an airstrike at an IDP camp in Dedebit, northwest Tigray, killed 56 people.


10 January

According to aid workers and hospital officials, 17 people working at a flour mill, were killed in drone strikes in the town of Mai Tsebri. It was reported the strikes injured dozens of people and killed 16 donkeys.


11 January

According to an official and a doctor at Mekele's main hospital, 2 people were killed and dozens injured in a drone strike in Hiwane.


February 2022


3 February

Militants reportedly belonging to the TPLF attacked an Eritrean refugee camp in Berhale, killing at least five people. Thousands were displaced and several women were abducted.


March 2022


24 March

TPLF and Ethiopian forces agreed to make a ceasefire in order to allow humanitarian aid into Tigray.


May 2022


20 May

The TPLF says it will release 4,028 government soldiers it captured as part of a series of ongoing negotiations.


August 2022


August 24

Ethiopian government forces conducted an air raid in Mekelle which struck a kindergarten and surrounding houses, leaving four dead - two of them children. Witnesses reported an explosion followed by anti-aircraft gunfire. The Ethiopian government denied hitting the kindergarten; instead claiming they were targeting military sites, although it wasn’t immediately clear if there were any in the area, and alleged that the TPLF had actually staged the dead bodies. Both Federal Government spokesman Tulu and Military spokesman Adane refused to respond to inquiries about the attack.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timeline of the Tigray War (July 2021-present) Conflict Tigray War Tigray War (July 2021–present)