PHOTO from right to left: The Chief of General Staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, General Birhanu Jula, the Ethiopian's Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, The President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde, and unidentified official, salute during a celebration that honored the Ethiopian National Defense Forces after Abiy's three-day deadline expired for Tigray forces to surrender, Wednesday Nov. 17, 2020 - credit | Abiy Ahmed Facebook |

Ethiopian troops have launched a “final and conclusive” offensive against rebel forces in the northern region of Tigray before the end of the week, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said in a statement posted on Facebook.

In a series of social media posts on Tuesday, Abiy said that a three-day deadline for rebel troops to surrender had expired, paving the way for a final push on Mekelle, Tigray’s capital.

The prime minister’s warning came after government forces carried out “precision led and surgical air operations” outside Mekelle, a government emergency task force said, and ground forces pushed forward.

Tigray government’s said civilians had been killed in the attacks, allegations the task force denied.

Abiy Ahmed says the deadline for surrender has expired, paving way for a push on Tigray’s capital

“The three-day ultimatum given to Tigray Special Forces and the militia to surrender to the national defense… has ended today,” Abiy said.

“Following the expiration of this deadline, the final critical act of law enforcement will be done in the coming days.”

Tigray TV showed what appeared to be a bombed-out residential area with damaged roofs and craters in the ground in Mekelle.

Abiy is under increasing pressure from African countries and international powers to end the two-week conflict, amid fears that the war will destabilize Ethiopia and the fragile Horn of Africa region.

Since he launched military operations in Tigray 13 days ago, hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands displaced. As many as 25,000 refugees have arrived in Sudan.

Four thousand refugees have been arriving every day, a “very rapid” rate, UN refugee agency spokesman Babar Baloch told reporters in Geneva. “It’s a huge number in a matter of days … It overwhelms the whole system,” he said, warning of a “full-scale humanitarian crisis”.

That remote part of Sudan has not had such an influx in two decades, he added.

At the weekend, Tigrayan forces fired missiles into the neighbouring country of Eritrea in an apparent attempt to internationalize the conflict and force outside intervention to bring it to an end.

The United Nations, the African Union, and others have called for talks, but Abiy has resisted, saying the war in Tigray was irreversible and aimed at “enforcing the rule of law”.ered the house,” the station quoted a resident as saying. “When I got out later, I saw all this destruction.”

With communications down and media barred, it is impossible to independently verify assertions made by any side.

Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Adow, reporting from Dejen in central Ethiopia, said the battle is now reaching a decisive phase.

“Security forces are telling us that Mekelle is the prize needed to defeat the TPLF, and in the next 48 hours they will be carrying out attacks on different sites in the capital of the Tigray region. They are calling this a ‘law-enforcement operation’ against ‘impunity’ to bring it to an end once and for all,” he said.