Fighting between Ethiopia's government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front has restarted, and the danger now spreads well beyond Ethiopia's borders.

• Drone strikes and ground battles resumed in late September, with the TPLF seizing airports and pushing into the Afar region.
• The TPLF's goal is to cut the road from Djibouti, the route for nearly all of Ethiopia's imports including gas — which would cripple both the army and the economy.
• Government drones won the last war, but someone hit Ethiopia's main air base and military headquarters with attack drones, suggesting the rebels now have that weapon too.
• Seven rebel groups formed an alliance to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, though only three are actually fighting and most of them hate each other.
• Addis Ababa blames Eritrea and Sudan for backing the alliance, a belief that could pull neighbors into the war.

Outlook: Government troops are closing in on the Tigrayan capital, but a stretched army fighting on several fronts could lose its gains fast — and if Ethiopia turns on its neighbors, this war merges with Sudan's.