Yesterday Ethiopia began shelling and used helicopters and Antonov bombers to try and dislodge the Eritrean Defense Forces. The Burie front had been quiet until yesterday when Ethiopia launched what seemed to be a major offensive. However, one of Ethiopia's helicopter gunships was shot down by Eritrean artillery fire behind Eritrean lines and the offensive did not materialize. Ethiopian troops made no ground movement and the shelling died down to sporadic fire by mid-afternoon.

Ethiopia has no territorial claims on Assab. The Ethiopian initiative against Assab comes only a few days after an Ethiopian spokesperson contended that "Ethiopia wants nothing more" than to regain land to which it feels it has a claim.