Afar people

But in broad strokes, the two organizations agree that their interests are aligned right now.

The alliance also includes the Oromo Liberation Army and ethnic insurgent movement from the Oromia region, as well as militant groups from the regions of Afar and Benishangul-Gumuz.

Those groups aren't all as active in the conflict as the TPLF, but the Fano, in particular, have taken full advantage of their opportunity.

For now, it appears that each of the rebel factions understands that by focusing on the federal government and staying out of the way of each other, they can all get closer to bringing down Abiy Ahmed and his government.

Perhaps, like the Libya scenario, fighters start crossing borders, leaving one country's internal conflict where things are a bit more under control and crossing into another to turn the tide there.

Or perhaps, most likely of all, a new South Sudanese civil war redoubles the overall humanitarian crisis as 10 million vulnerable people are forced to just figure it out amidst a regional humanitarian collapse.

The wider region would already face serious problems if the new conflict in Ethiopia were to send waves of displaced people out from Tigray, Afar, or Amhara.

But if that domino falls, it may strike a much bigger domino in South Sudan, where the real humanitarian catastrophe begins.

He said his forces would counterattack in due course.

The fighting has spread to Amhara and Afar.

A pro-government group in Afar said Thursday it had retaken the town of Abrieti, which rebel forces had seized earlier in the week.

It thanked the Ethiopian military for air support.

Tawakkol reported that rebel forces still hold a rear link with Eritrea along the border.

He also reported fear that the fighting will reach Adwa, Aksum, Shire, and Mekelle.

Some residents have begun fleeing to Amhara and Afar.

An explosion hit the Ministry of Defense in Addis Ababa early Thursday.

The TPLF and the federal government fought a two-year civil war from twenty-twenty to twenty-twenty two that killed an estimated six hundred thousand people, ending in the Pretoria peace agreement, which has now just broke.

Seven armed groups, including the TPLF, Oromo, and Afar factions among them, have now formed a coalition against Abiy Ahmed's government.

Tigrayan forces seized regional airports and are pushing toward the Djibouti trade corridor to hit Ethiopia's economy.

Ethiopia's government has accused Eritrea, Egypt, and Sudan of backing this coalition, and the question everyone's asking now is whether a regional war is inevitable.

Um, you know, once this alliance was, was announced and formed, uh, and it was declared that they were seeking the, the overthrow of the, of the government in, in Ethiopia, um, you know, it wasn't gonna be a long time, uh, before the fighting started, and, and that's essentially what's happened.

A matter of days after the announcement of this, we saw, um, you know, uh, Tigray authorities in Tigray, uh, take over, uh, three of the regional airports in, in the region.

They were mostly unguarded and uncontested, uh, but we have seen, uh, you know, we have seen fighting spread, uh, to areas, um, in southern Tigray, in northern Amhara, and along the border with, with Afar.

Um, we've seen seven different regional groupings, uh, ethnic groupings announce their, uh, alliance and their intention to, to join in this, this wider, uh, survival alliance, uh, to overthrow the government.

Fano fighters ambushed the army in Ethiopia's Amhara region.

In neighbouring Afar, the Allies seize control of towns, urging people to join them.

In Tigray, the region at the heart of a two-year civil war, rebel fighters take over three airports.

This is a full-blown war again, says the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the TPLF.

The authorities, the federal authorities could overrun the Tigrayan defences, take over Mekele and then impose their own writ.

On that city, that might see the TPLF withdraw into the mountains, try and mount a guerrilla campaign.

Another alternative is that the alliance, Tigrayan and Amhara, with some support from the Romo and Afar rebels, could also push back the military, which would be a big setback for Prime Minister Abiy and would probably for the first time place him under considerable political pressure in the centre.

And then the third option, major possibility is that you just have a grinding, ongoing insurgency and a continuing effort by the authorities to overcome it, which will sap Ethiopia's economy, which will cost an immense amount, not just for the combatants, but for the many civilians who live there.

So these two parties are also a coalition, a party to the alliance now.

And there is another one from the Afar Regional State, which was also, some of its members were part of the Afar Regional Police, and they broke ranks with the regional government since two years, and they have formed a new armed group.

So this alliance is an alliance of seven.

And we are hearing today an inclusion of another small armed group from the Sedama regional state, the Sedama People's Liberation Front.

We have not confirmed it yet, but they are saying they wanted to join the alliance.

So the alliance will have eight members.

But the immediate war yesterday broke out between the TPLF and the federal government in the Tigray region and expanded to Afar and Amhara region.

Nicholas, tell us a little bit about the external players in this too, and where neighbouring Eritrea and players like the UAE come into this conflict.