The Ethiopian army began massing its forces around the last city still in the grip of the Tigray Liberation Front in the Amhara region in the north of the country, after it managed during the previous battles to remove the danger from the capital, Addis Ababa.
Al-Jazeera correspondent said that the Ethiopian army, backed by special units, pushed its forces north towards the city of Waldia, and this development comes after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed announced two days ago that his forces had taken control of the strategic cities of Disi and Kombolcha.
Satellite images also showed that the government army and the forces of the Afar and Amhara regions began to mobilize their forces in order to start the battle to regain control of the city of Waldia.
The Tigray Liberation Front said that its exit from the cities of Disi, Kombolcha and Bati in the Amhara region took place as part of what it described as a strategic withdrawal plan.
But the front, which is allied with other armed factions from the Oromo region and other regions, has suffered in the past two weeks, a series of setbacks, after advancing rapidly from the north to the south until it is about 200 km from Addis Ababa.
The Front says other countries intervened in the war in support of the Ethiopian government.
In statements from one of the fighting fronts last Sunday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that his forces had tightened control over most of the areas of Amhara region and the entire Afar region, and had inflicted the militants of the Tigray Front a heavy loss, adding that what the front militants had penetrated into areas in the past five months had been retaken by the army on 15 days.
return to normal life
Meanwhile, Ngossi Talahoun, the military commander in Showa Governorate in Amhara province, told Al Jazeera that life has gradually begun to return to normal in the areas that have been regained control in the region.
Talahoun added that the electricity and communications services began to work gradually, and that the biggest challenges facing the government are the resettlement of more than a quarter of a million displaced people in their areas, and in this regard, he appealed to local and international relief organizations to provide support.
The Al Jazeera team was able to enter the strategic city of Shawarbit in the Amhara region, and monitor the situation there, after the government forces managed to regain control over it.
The battles continue in Ethiopia despite Western and international calls to stop the war and start negotiations for a political settlement of the conflict, and warnings of a worsening humanitarian situation.
The war broke out in November 2020 after the government accused the Tigray Front of attacking army camps in the city of Mekele, the capital of Tigray province.
Since then, the war has witnessed many ups and downs.
Where the government forces managed to control most of the region before the Tigray Front regained control over it and began to advance south with the aim of reaching the capital, Addis Ababa.