Eritrea's intervention in the Tigray war: third-party authoritarian counterinsurgency reconsidered

This article examines the motives, strategies, and outcomes of Eritrea's military intervention in Ethiopia's Tigray war (2020-22). It situates the Eritrean effort as a case of 'third-party authoritarian counterinsurgency' that reflects but also expands available scholarly understandings of this particular brand of warfighting. We highlight fear, ambition, and revenge as important motives for the Eritrean leadership's intervention; large-scale clandestine operations, civilian brutalization, uneven coordination with allies, and loss aversion as key elements of the Eritrean strategy; and the ways in which the intervention, despite tactical successes, largely fell short of its strategic goals.