The Ethiopian government says it has recaptured a series of cities from Tigray forces News

A spokeswoman says Shewa Robit, a town claimed by Tigris forces last week, is now among those under government control.

The Ethiopian government says its forces have recaptured Shewa Robit, a town 220 kilometers (135 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa, which was claimed by fighters in the northern Tigray region last week.

Government spokeswoman Legesse Tulu said on Wednesday that Shewa Robit was among several small towns recaptured by the Ethiopian army and regional forces loyal to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last week. announced he would go to the battlefield to carry out a counterattack after being threatened by Tigris fighters marching on Addis Ababa.

“On the Shewa front, Mezezo, Molale, Shewa Robit, Rasa and their entourage have been freed from the TPLF terrorist,” Legess said in comments broadcast in the state media, referring to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. Abiy’s government for more than a year.

The wild conflict it took a big turn about a month ago when Tigris forces said caught Strategic cities of Dessie and Kombolcha, located on a key highway to Addis Ababa.

Legess said the government would restore Dessie and Lalibela “in a short time,” a UNESCO World Heritage Site that fell into the hands of Tigris forces in August, even though fighting is raging on at least three fronts.

Tigris forces did not comment immediately.

In recent days, state media have released images of an Abiy in uniform, a former military lieutenant colonel and the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner in what appeared to be the northeastern region of Afar.

On Sunday, state media said the army controlled Chifra in the lower town of Afar, and Abiy said on Tuesday that these gains would be repeated in the Amhara region, where Dessie is located.

Much of northern Ethiopia is in the shadow of communications and access to journalists is severely restricted, making it difficult to verify battlefield claims. Al Jazeera, however, was able get exclusive access to Digit, the first international news organization.

“The scenes we have seen are horrific,” Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent reported on Sunday from the village of Mohammed Taha Tewekel.

“Dead corpses everywhere on the streets … proof of the toughness of the fight. There are clear signs of inhumanity in this conflict. The commercial shops of the village were completely destroyed, even the mosques were not saved. All the neighbors have fled for their lives. ”

There have been fears of an Addis Ababa Tigris force march he asked The United States, France, Great Britain and other countries are urging their citizens to flee Ethiopia as soon as possible, as international mediation attempts have so far yielded no results.

Abiy’s government says the gains of the rivals are excessive and the capital is safe.

The UN estimates that tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions displaced and hundreds of thousands starved to death under similar conditions since the fighting began in early November 2020. In late November, government forces took over the capital Tigray, Mekelle. , but by June, Tigris forces had recaptured most of the region and pushed it into the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions.