Eritrea Shows Strategic Restraint While Ethiopian Airlines Still Uses Its Airspace
The Ethiopian regime’s airline, Ethiopian Airlines, is still using Eritrea’s airspace for overflights, despite its war-lingering rhetoric towards Eritrea and its closing of Eritrea’s embassy in Addis Ababa.
Eritrea shows strategic restraint when it needs to.
Eritrea has been allowing Ethiopian Airlines overflights in Eritrea, providing cheap and reliable routes through Eritrea’s airspace, despite Ethiopia threatening Eritrea with war over Eritrea’s Assab port, and despite Ethiopia arming Eritrean armed opposition like RSADO, EANC, Brigade Nhamedu, and the Islamic Green Movement.
Eritrea could have gone further, closing its airspace to Ethiopian Airlines in response to Ethiopia’s closing of Eritrea’s embassy.
Eritrea could also consider giving a military base to Egypt to deter Ethiopia. But Eritrea shows restraint towards Ethiopia the whole time.
Not even one single time did the Eritrean leader consider closing its airspace to Ethiopia, or say Ethiopia will be Gaza. Abiy’s government did.
Not one single time did Eritrea host a big Ethiopian opposition gathering in Asmara since the 2018 peace agreement. But the Ethiopian regime hosted an EANC–Brigade Nhamedu gathering in Addis Ababa in January 2025, and its Ethiopian general threatened to change Eritrea’s borders.