Operation Fenkil commenced during the night of February 8, 1990, when highly agile and effectively coordinated EPLF forces initiated their offensive from She'eb, overrunning the Ethiopian 6th Division's forward headquarters, situated eighty-six kilometers away from Massawa.

The operation unfolded along two primary axes: wide outflanking maneuvers commenced along the ridges on both the western and eastern flanks.

The Ethiopian 18th Infantry Division and two mechanized brigades were dispatched from Asmara to rescue them, but the EPLF repulsed them and forced them to retreat to Ghinda.

At the height of the battle, EPLF naval units on speed boats were able to land on the island, taking the Ethiopian defenders by surprise.

Even the vengeful bombing, which persisted until the end of March and resulted in the destruction of numerous historic Islamic buildings, could not alter the disastrous outcome.

Isaias Afewerki, leader of the EPLF, concurs, acknowledging the fall of Massawa as the greatest strategic victory during the struggle.

[8][9] In 2004 on the fourteenth anniversary of the battle, Eritrea issued a set of two stamps and a three-stamp minisheet honoring the "Liberation of Massawa".