"As per our current assessment, the enemy has been heavily hit and is no longer capable of executing its wishes," said Mr. Legesse.

However, as it cools its heels nearby, the government said it will take the necessary measures to ensure the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) does not pose a threat to the security of the region.

"As per our current assessment, the enemy has been heavily hit and is no longer capable of executing its wishes," said Mr. Legesse.

The TPLF and the federal government and its allies have been at war for over a year.

In the first eight months of the war, Government forces were stationed in Tigray before being forced to withdraw in June after sustaining several casualties.

Seemingly in pole position, the Tigrayan forces then invaded the Amhara and Afar regions in July.

This was a strategic move aimed at ending a humanitarian aid blockade on famine-hit Tigray, but TPLF was forced to retreat from those positions this month after the Ethiopian army and its allies stepped up their military operations.

Air strikes on Tigray have continued unabated, despite the Ethiopian army’s unilateral cessation of hostilities on the ground.

On Wednesday, an air strike hit a power substation in Mekelle, the Tigrayan capital.

The strike disrupts power access in the northern region, which the United Nations has appealed to the Ethiopian government to restore to normalcy.

The conflict in northern Ethiopia has killed thousands, displaced millions, and pushed 400,000 people in Tigray towards the brink of famine.

The TPLF accuses Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of wanting to centralise power at the expense of the regions while the federal government accuses the TPLF - which used to dominate national politics for nearly three decades - of trying to reclaim power.

Both sides deny the allegations leveled against the other.

It remains to be seen whether the Ethiopian army’s suspension of ground force activities serves as the lull before the storm or an overture to lasting peace.