Azerbaijan has launched a so-called “anti-terrorist campaign” in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh and demanded a “complete withdrawal” of ethnic Armenian troops as a condition for peace in the disputed territory.
Armenia’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, called on Russian peacekeepers to intervene in Armenian-majority areas and stop what it called Azerbaijan’s “total aggression” against the local population.
Here’s what we know so far.
What sparked the latest offensive?
Hours before Baku announced the offensive, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said at least six people were killed in two accidents in Azerbaijan’s Khojavind region, allegedly caused by landmines planted by Armenian security forces.
But in recent weeks, Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of massing its troops and condemned the blockade of its only land access to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia claims Azerbaijan is behind a months-long humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh after Baku last year blocked the only road linking the mountainous region to Armenia. The road, known as the Lachin Corridor, is patrolled by Russian peacekeepers.
Trucks laden with humanitarian aid entered Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday after Armenian separatists and the central government agreed to use a road connecting the region to Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to Baku.
How’s it going so far?
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that “the Azerbaijani Armed Forces are carrying out local counter-terrorism activities in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.”
In the same statement, the ministry said that “as part of the campaign, only legitimate military installations and infrastructure were targeted and incapacitated using high-precision weapons.” It added that it had established humanitarian corridors to Allow civilians to evacuate.
Meanwhile, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan urged Russia and the United Nations to take action to stop the fighting.
Al Jazeera reporter Robin Forestier-Walker, who has covered events in Nagorno-Karabakh extensively, said reports from within the region spoke of “potential large-scale attacks in the form of rocket attacks and shelling”, while Social Media Small arms fire could be heard in videos posted to the media.
Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, told Reuters that Azerbaijani forces had breached the line of contact with Armenian forces in several parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and were determined to achieve their goals. Strategic objectives.
Armenia denies deploying any troops in the area. However, many Armenians have volunteered to fight for Nagorno-Karabakh in the past.
Nagorno-Karabakh (Al Jazeera)
What are the possible consequences?
Journalist Yulia Shapovalova reported from Moscow that the latest aggression could lead to further escalation and a new war between the two sides.
“According to Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan, Azerbaijan is trying to drag Armenia into another war, but Armenia will not initiate any military action,” she said, adding that for Baku, the only way to achieve peace was is the complete withdrawal of Armenian troops from the area, but Armenia refuses to meet this condition.
Al Jazeera’s Forestier-Walker said there were “very serious concerns” that Tuesday’s action could be the start of another large-scale war between the two neighbours.
He noted that the situation for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh has been “dire” for months.
“Their main supply route to Karabakh from Armenia is cut off,” Forestier-Walker said.
“The situation has changed recently. Azerbaijani authorities are able to provide some assistance to Karabakh from Azerbaijani-controlled areas, but they are still putting pressure on access to Karabakh from Armenia because Azerbaijani authorities have long claimed that this route is used to move weapons and landmines Smuggling into territory still under ethnic Armenian control.”
Azerbaijani army regains land in Nalgorno-Karabakh
How did the world react?
Russian state news agency TASS quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova as saying that Russia was deeply alarmed by the “dramatic escalation” in the disputed area. She said Azerbaijan warned Russian peacekeepers in the region minutes before launching the military operation.
United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric also expressed concern. “It is very important that all activities cease and that both sides resume ongoing dialogue to avoid any further conflict,” he told Al Jazeera.
The EU condemns the escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh and calls on Azerbaijan to cease military activities, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.
“We call on Azerbaijan to immediately cease hostilities and cease current military activities,” he said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berberk said Azerbaijan was reneging on its commitments and taking military action in Nagorno-Karabakh. Paris, for its part, called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to end the crisis.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold emergency talks with all parties on Tuesday to end Azerbaijan’s “egregious” actions, a U.S. official said.
“We hope to be able to adapt to longer-term issues” after opening aid channels on Monday, the official said.
What’s the history behind the tension?
Fighting has broken out in the region nearly three years after a brief but brutal war with Armenia over the region that left more than 6,000 people dead.
The two former Soviet Caucasus rivals are locked in a decades-long dispute that erupted into large-scale hostilities in the 1990s and 2020.
The last large-scale conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh occurred in 2020 and lasted for six weeks before a Russian-brokered ceasefire. In the ceasefire agreement, Armenia ceded large swathes of territory it had controlled since the 1990s.
Since then, despite the good offices of the EU, Russia and the United States, the two sides have been unable to reach a lasting peace solution.
Why are Armenia and Azerbaijan fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh? (Al Jazeera)
#Azerbaijans #offensive #NagornoKarabakh
2023-09-20 03:01:42
