BAKU/YEREVAN, Aug 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Azerbaijan announced it had taken control of several strategic heights in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in a new escalation that killed three soldiers.
The Azerbaijani army said it conducted the operation dubbed “Revenge” in response to the “terrorist actions of illegal Armenian armed groups on the territory of Azerbaijan” which claimed the life of an Azeri soldier.
Arch enemies Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two wars — in 2020 and in the 1990s — over Azerbaijan’s Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Six weeks of fighting in the autumn of 2020 claimed more than 6,500 lives
and ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement.
Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades, and Russia deployed some 2,000 peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce, but tensions persist despite a ceasefire agreement.
On Wednesday, the Azerbaijani defence ministry said Karabakh troops targeted Azerbaijani army positions in the district of Lachin, which is under the supervision of the Russian peacekeeping force, killing an Azerbaijani conscript.
YEREVAN: Armenia called on the international community Wednesday to help stop Azerbaijan’s “aggressive actions”.
Yerevan “calls on the international community to take measures to stop the aggressive actions and attitude of Azerbaijan and to activate the necessary mechanisms to do so”, the Armenian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The latest flare of violence has jeopardized a fragile truce in the region, with European leaders urging restraint.
The Karabakh army, which is ethnically Armenian, said two of its soldiers were killed and 14 were wounded by Azerbaijani forces.
The enclave’s separatist leader, Arayik Harutyunyan, announced a partial mobilization Wednesday, further escalating the crisis.
A spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged an immediate end to Karabakh hostilities.
“It is essential to de-escalate, fully respect the cease-fire and return to the negotiating table to seek negotiated solutions, Borrell spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry blamed Azerbaijan for breaking the cease-fire, which Moscow brokered in 2020.
“In the Saribaba area, the cease-fire regime was violated by the armed forces of Azerbaijan,” the Russian ministry said in a statement. Moscow claimed it “was taking measures to stabilize the situation” with the help of Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives. — NNN-AGENCIES
