September 19, 2023, 10:57 BST
Updated 54 minutes ago
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Azerbaijan has increased its military buildup around Nagorno-Karabakh ahead of Tuesday’s operation
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said it had begun “anti-terror” operations in areas of Nagorno-Karabakh under Armenian control.
Tensions surrounding the breakaway ethnic Armenian enclave, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, have been high for months.
Air raid sirens and mortar fire could be heard in the capital Karabakh.
Eleven Azerbaijani police officers and civilians were reportedly killed in a mine explosion and another incident.
Defense officials in the breakaway region said the Azerbaijani military “violated the ceasefire along the entire line of contact through rocket and artillery attacks.” Other Karabakh officials spoke of a “large-scale military offensive.”
The two neighbors, Azerbaijan and Armenia, fought war over Nagorno-Karabakh twice, first in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union and again in 2020. Three years ago, Azerbaijan recaptured the territories around Nagorno-Karabakh held by Armenia since 1994.
Since December, Azerbaijan has effectively blocked the only route from Armenia to the enclave, the Lachin Corridor.
On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry in Baku accused the Armenian armed forces of “systematic shelling” of their army positions and said it had responded with “local anti-terror activities… to disarm and ensure the withdrawal of the formations of the Armenian Armed Forces.” our territories”.
It insisted that it did not target civilians or civilian facilities, but instead that “only legitimate military targets be incapacitated through the use of high-precision weapons.”
The Armenian Defense Ministry said that claims of Armenian military firing did not correspond to reality.
The sound of artillery and gunfire could be heard on Tuesday from the Karabakh regional capital of Khankendi, which Armenians call Stepanakert. An estimated 120,000 ethnic Armenians live in the mountainous enclave.
Officials in Armenia added that the situation at the country’s borders was “relatively stable” as of 2:00 p.m. (1000 GMT).
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was warned of the Azerbaijani offensive only minutes in advance and called on both countries to respect a ceasefire signed after the war in 2020. The EU’s regional special representative, Toivo Klaar, said there was an “urgent need for an immediate ceasefire”. .
Image source: Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan
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Azerbaijani officials released images of the aftermath of a deadly landmine explosion
The fragile ceasefire that ended the six-week war in 2020 has come under increasing strain in recent months.
About 3,000 Russian peacekeepers were deployed to monitor the ceasefire, but Moscow’s attention was diverted by the large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently said that Russia was “spontaneously” leaving the region.
Azerbaijan had denied building up troops in the region. On Monday, it allowed aid deliveries from the International Committee of the Red Cross to Karabakh on two roads, one via the Lachin Corridor from Armenia and the other via Azerbaijan’s Aghdam Road.
There were hopes that tensions would ease, but then Azerbaijani officials said six people, including four police officers, were killed when their vehicle drove over a landmine in the Khojawand area, which was recaptured during the 2020 war.
The Defense Ministry released images of the destroyed vehicle, but Armenian officials in Karabakh said it was the Azerbaijani military that violated the ceasefire.