The siege of Barentu took place in 1977 in and around the town of Barentu. It was jointly laid to siege by the

Eritrean Liberation Front The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF; ; ; ), colloquially known as Jebha, was the main Eritrean War of Independence, independence movement in Eritrea Province, Eritrea which sought Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia during the 1960s and the ear ...

(ELF) and the

Eritrean People's Liberation Front The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), colloquially known as Shabia, was an armed Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist organization that fought for the Eritrean War of Independence, independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1 ...

(EPLF) against the forces of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

The battle

The town of Barentu was defended by a large garrison of Ethiopian troops. The garrison had constructed numerous fortifications to improve the defensibility of the town. Furthermore, a local Kunama militia had been raised to support the Ethiopian troops. The Ethiopian garrison was reorganized as Task Force 507, while the

Ethiopian Air Force The Ethiopian Air Force (ETAF) () is the air service branch of the Ethiopian National Defence Force. The ETAF is tasked with protecting the national air space, providing support to ground forces, as well as assisting civil operations during wa ...

deployed their F-5Es in

Mekelle Mekelle (), or Mek'ele, is a List of zones of Ethiopia, special zone and capital city, capital of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Mekelle was formerly the capital of Enderta province, Enderta Awrajja, awraja in Tigray Province, Tigray. It is locate ...

and began using their air superiority to their advantage. This close air support inflicted heavy casualties on the forces of the ELF and EPLF who were conducting their first major joint operation. The failure of this joint operation would have significant consequences later in the War of Independence. On 13 June 1978, the EPLF and the ELF attempted to storm the town of Barentu in a coordinated assault, however this town was situated on high ground and they were soon exposed to heavy firepower. The EPLF lost 150 troops and 1 tank. According to reports, fighting between the ELF and EPLF also happened, and caused around 400 casualties. The EPLF and the ELF would abandon the siege before retreating to

Agordat Agordat (also spelled Akordat or Ak'ordat) is a city in Gash-Barka, Eritrea. It was the capital of the former Barka Province, which was situated between the present-day Gash-Barka and Anseba regions. History Agordat was historically a key ce ...

in August 1978. The failure of the siege and the heavy losses incurred by both the ELF and EPLF forces in this battle, as well as the failure at the First Battle of Massawa, led to the withdrawal of rebel forces.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barentu Battles of the Eritrean War of Independence Battles of the Ethiopian Civil War 1977 in Eritrea 1977 in Ethiopia Conflicts in 1978 Ethiopia–Soviet Union relations Battles in 1977 Sieges involving Ethiopia 1970s sieges