Did Ethiopia's army say it launched drone strikes on Eritrean troops, as Al Jazeera reported?

What was claimed

On 10 October, Al Jazeera published a report on Eritrea’s appeal to the UN Security Council, credited to its staff, AFP and AP. Describing the fighting in Tigray, it says A:

The Ethiopian army pushed TPLF rebels back this week and seized the region’s capital, Mekelle. It also said it launched drone strikes against Eritrean troops in the region.

“It” is the Ethiopian army. The sentence gives no statement, spokesperson, date or link A.

If the army had said this, it would be the first time Ethiopia’s government had acknowledged attacking Eritrean forces, a significant step between two states that have just cut diplomatic ties. It would also be the strongest evidence so far that Eritrean troops were in Tigray: Ethiopia’s own army confirming it had struck them.

What the record shows

We found no statement by Ethiopia’s army, defence ministry, government or prime minister’s office claiming drone strikes on Eritrean troops.

The news agencies Al Jazeera credits reported the opposite. On 8 October, Reuters reported the strikes on the word of the conflict monitor ACLED, which said they were “believed to have been carried out by Ethiopia’s military”. It added: “Spokespeople for Ethiopia’s government, military and prime minister’s office did not respond to requests for comment” B. AFP reported the same day that “neither Ethiopia nor Eritrea has responded to questions about the fighting”. The only Ethiopian military voice in its report was an anonymous commander who spoke of “small pockets of the enemy forces still resisting” C. Reuters’ report of 10 October, the day of Al Jazeera’s article, again attributes the strikes to ACLED D.

Al Jazeera’s own earlier reporting followed the agencies, attributing accounts of Eritrean movements to witnesses, a militia commander and ACLED E.

Our verdict

Unsupported. Al Jazeera attributes to Ethiopia’s army a statement we could not find, about strikes that the army had not answered questions about. The agencies whose copy the article draws on attributed the strikes to a conflict monitor’s belief, not to Ethiopia. Turning that into an Ethiopian military statement gives readers an official confirmation that, on the record, does not exist. If such a statement is produced, we will review this fact check.