A video was shared on Facebook and YouTube with a claim that it shows Ethiopian drone strikes on the leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Close to half a million viewers watched the video on Facebook and it got over one hundred thousand views on YouTube.
However, HaqCheck confirmed that the footage doesn’t show the Ethiopian army undergoing a drone strike on TPLF leaders.
The federal government of Ethiopia joined with the Eritrean government and other regional governments managed to oust TPLF from Mekelle and other major towns of Tigray after the war broke out on Dec 3, 2020.
However, the conflict became protracted and continued as TPLF resorted to guerrilla warfare. The federal government of Ethiopia together with the then Tigray interim administration declared a unilateral ceasefire in June 2021 and withdrew armed forces from many parts of the Tigray regional state.
Immediately, TPLF armed forces controlled the regional capital city of Mekelle and other areas.
Nonetheless, the fighting continued as TPLF advanced its forces toward the adjacent regional states of Afar and Amhara. The TPLF armed forces controlled many territories including major towns of the Amhara region that are very close to Addis Ababa.
As the Ethiopian military and other allied forces launched a counterattack against the TPLF armed forces, the federal government regained the territories in the Amhara and Afar regional states that were taken into control by the belligerent in the months of November and December last year.
On March 24, 2022, the Ethiopian government declared a cessation of hostilities with the TPLF. The TPLF instantly confirmed that it accepted the declaration of cessation of hostilities by the federal government.
Peace talks had been on the way as third parties tried to mediate between the Ethiopian government and TPLF. The African Union assigned former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, special envoy of the Union to the Horn of Africa to facilitate a potential peace talk between the Ethiopian government and the TPLF. Obasanjo had been back and forth meeting senior leaders of the belligerents trying to facilitate negotiations between them.
Later on, TPLF announced that it had no confidence in Obasanjo because Obasanjo was not impartial and competent enough to lead potential peace talks and negotiations with the Ethiopian government.
On Aug 16, 2022, the TPLF said that the federal government already violated the cessation of hostilities jointly declared at the end of March. The TPLF claimed that the armed forces of the federal government attacked its forces with artillery and tanks.
The TPLF forces stated on Aug 24, 2022, that the federal government had launched attacks against its armed forces in the southern Tigray areas. It further announced that the primary intention of the attacks by the federal government was to launch integrated attacks on the western front.
The federal government however declined the allegations saying the TPLF provoked the attack and announced it would use necessary military measures to stop the military expansion of the TPLF to neighboring areas.
Against this backdrop, a claim supported by video came out with an assertion that it shows Ethiopian drone strikes on the leaders of the TPLF.
However, the footage is not of ongoing fighting between the belligerents in Ethiopia and doesn’t show the Ethiopian army undergoing a drone strike on the TPLF leaders.
The footage was taken from a video published on YouTube allegedly showing Turkish drones targeting enemy forces during the war of Nagorno Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020. The video was posted on Apr 7, 2021.
HaqCheck, therefore, rendered the claim on Facebook and YouTube False due to its use of inaccurate footage.
