After Ethiopian forces captured the town of Lalibela in the Amhara region earlier this December, Tigrayan forces recaptured the town, which is also a United Nations World Heritage site.

Governmental forces captured the town on December 1, 2021, only to discover that without firing a bullet, the Tigrayan forces have recaptured it two weeks after. 

A witness told Reuters, Sunday, that locals were fleeing the town, "We panicked, we never saw this coming. TPLF [Tigrayan People's Liberation Front] forces are now patrolling the town wearing their uniforms."

Neither governmental spokesperson, Legesse Tulu, nor the TPLF spokesperson, Getachew Reda, commented on the event. 

Another witness told Reuters that special Amhara forces and their militia allies, who are both allied with the government, began leaving Lalibela on Saturday night.

"The last batch left this morning. We heard gunshots from a distance last night, but the Tigrayan forces recaptured Lalibela without firing guns in the town," said the witness, who is a hotel receptionist. 

The TPLF has been at war with Abiy Ahmed's government since November 2020, and the conflict took a sharp turn recently when governmental forces announced they had captured the strategic towns of Dessie and Kombolcha.