Tigray Defense Forces

The Tigray Defense Forces ( ti, ሓይልታት ምክልኻል ትግራይ, italic=no; TDF: ሓምት), colloquially ''Tigray Army'' () is a paramilitary rebel group in Tigray. It was founded by distant former generals of Ethiopia in 2020 to fight the federal government mandate and federal forces which enforce federal mandate in the regional state, in the Tigray War. The TDF is said to have experience with guerrilla warfare.Jamestown Foundation, 24 May 2021
Tigray Defense Forces Resist Ethiopian Army Offensive as Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethnic Militias Enter the Fray
/ref> Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch have reported that TDF rebels have partaken in gang rapes and extrajudicial killings of civilians during their occupation of the Afar and Amhara regions. According to the Ethiopian Ministry of Justice TDF rebels have been found responsible for at least 540 civilians deaths by 28 December 2021.

Composition

The Tigray Defense Forces consist of a merger of the Special Forces of the Tigray Regional government, soldiers that have defected from the federal forces, local militia, members of Tigrayan political parties such as the TPLF, National Congress of Great Tigray, Salsay Weyane Tigray, Tigray Independence Party and othersPlace St Pierre, 19 April 2021
Guerre civile au Tigré, la situation sur le terrain (Fulvio Beltrami)
/ref> together with numerous youth who fled to the mountains.Ethiopia Insight, 27 April 2021
René Lefort: Ethiopia's vicious deadlock
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Within the TDF, analysts believe that the relative influence of the TPLF has been weakened, at the benefit of the other, often relatively new, components.

Equipment

the TDF was reported by Oryx , military-focused blog to operate at least 53 main battle tanks, 21 armoured personnel carriers, 48 pieces of towed artillery, 11 rocket launchers and even ballistic missiles. This is significant since, unlike a unconventional guerilla force, they can, in theory, fight conventionally.

Transition from regular to guerrilla force

According to the Jamestown Foundation:

Leadership

Many of the TDF officers and non-commissioned officers defected from the ENDF in the lead up to and during the Tigray War. In a zoom meeting with Tigray diaspora activists in June 2021, the President of the disputed Government of Tigray, Debretsion Gebremichael, said that the TDF is led by a central command which coordinates all aspects of the armed resistance of Tigray.

Lieutenant General Tsadkan Gebretensae, who was the Ethiopian national forces commander in chief until 2001, became the TDF commander in chief and remained in that post until March 2021, when he became a member of the Central Command.Tghat, 7 June 2021
General Tsadekan Gebretensae Exclusive Interview With Dimtsi Weyane Tigray, Broadcast on May 29, 2021
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Lieutenant General Tadesse Werede Tesfay ("Wedi Werede") is part of the command and Commander-in-Chief of the TDF since March 2021.

Brigadier General Migbey Haile is Commander of the Army.

Brigadier General Abraha Tesfay ("Dinkul") is Commander of Army.Tesfaselam Informer
General Dinkul: The most famous general leading Tigraian Defence Forces speaks about the war in Tigray
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Rank and file

According to the Jamestown Foundation, as of May 2021 "Young men and women—many of whom fear being raped or murdered—are fleeing to areas under the nominal control of the TDF. The TDF is also accused of carrying out attacks on Amhara civilians."

Tigrayans belonging to civil society have also joined the TDF. This includes Professor Kindeya Gebrehiwot, previous president of Mekelle University; Desta Gebremedhin, previous journalist of BBC World, numerous popular musicians, and Prof. Mulugeta Gebrehiwot, an internationally renowned peace researcher. Desta Gebremedhin's wife Weyni Abraha explained that Desta was not in peace after the breakout of the Tigray war. Desta made his decision to join TDF when he went to Sudan to cover the Tigrayan refugees.

The TDF has been accused of forced recruitment, including that of minors. According to multiple witnesses and Tigrayan administrative officials, each household in Tigray was required to enlist one family member to the TDF, and those who refused to comply were arrested and imprisoned, including parents of minors who did not wish to enlist.

Operational mode

In 2020–2021, the TDF operates as a guerilla force in the Tigray War.

According to the Jamestown Foundation, as of May 2021 "the TPLF, or now TDF, possess the two components most critical to conducting a guerrilla war: deep knowledge of the geographic and socio-political terrain and a sympathetic population. The TPLF/TDF also has caches of weapons and an abundance of fighters as well as professionally trained officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs)."

TDF's operational mode is to launch attacks at night, beat Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers, take their equipment, and reuse it against them. To communicate, they pass through the people, "because this war is also theirs".Radio France internationale, 23 May 2021
Éthiopie: comment les forces rebelles du Tigré organisent la résistance
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In July 2021, after the Ethiopian government had declared a unilateral ceasefire and withdrawn from much of the Tigray Region, the TDF invaded the neighboring Afar and Amhara regions. The ENDF then launched its own counteroffensive and by December 2021 had recaptured those regions.

Strategy

According to the Jamestown Foundation, "After the ENDF and soldiers from the Eritrean Army took over Tigray’s major towns, TDF forces retreated to strongholds in the mountainous central interior of the region. There, the TDF consolidated forces and re-organized for a transition to guerrilla-style combat... Following what was a strategic retreat to the rugged interior, TDF forces re-organized into small, highly-mobile, lightly armed, detachments of ten to eighty fighters. These detachments were then further divided into mission-specific units."

Popular support

According to the Jamestown Foundation, "The Ethiopian government's scorched earth strategy in Tigray has all but ensured the alienation of most Tigrayans. It has also ensured that the TDF will have no shortage of committed fighters and sympathetic supporters within Tigray."

War crimes

The TDF have been implicated in numerous war crimes in Afar and Amhara Regions to include the extrajudicial killings of civilians, indiscriminate shelling and shooting, rape as a weapon of war, use of civilians as human shields, and widespread looting and destruction of civilian infrastructure and private property.

International medias reported that TDF burned down entire village near Kobbo which is in North Wollo. This reports show satellite images of entire village before and after it was burned.

References

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2020 establishments in Ethiopia
2020 establishments in Tigray
2020 in Ethiopia
2021 in Ethiopia
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Military units and formations established in 2020
Tigray War
Wars involving Eritrea
Wars involving Ethiopia