NAIROBI – Ethiopia’s prime minister on Friday defended military operations against the country’s well-armed Tigray region, asserting that months of patiently trying to resolve differences have “failed” because of the regional leadership’s “criminal hubris and intransigence.”Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in a brief statement on Twitter asserted that the military operations “have clear, limited and achievable objectives — to restore the rule of law and the constitutional order.”The northern Tigray region was increasingly cut off as Ethiopia's civil aviation authority said that starting Friday airports in the regional capital, Mekele, along with the regional cities of Shire, Axum and Humera were “closed for any services." And in Sudan, the acting.