Armenia reported 49 soldiers who were killed in clashes with Azerbaijan this morning (Tuesday) following the latter’s military shooting at the Armenian border towns. This increases the risk of a rekindling of the decades-old conflict.
Artillery fire from the armed forces of Azerbaijan washed over the skies of the Armenian border towns. This is according to the Armenian Ministry of Defense, which added that the attack included drones and cannons fired in the direction of the cities of Goris, Sotek and Jarmuk.
The attacks were acknowledged by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, but there they emphasized that the attacks are “on a small scale” and “aimed at ensuring the security of Azerbaijan’s borders”.
The artillery fire came as a response to Armenian forces allegedly firing small arms in the direction of the settlement of Novobanovka in the Gadbai region and the settlement of Hosulu in the Lachin region near the border of the two countries. Armenia denied these accusations by Azerbaijan.
But the flame of conflict that was ignited with the collapse of the Soviet Union has been burning for decades with a large and sudden flare-up last month, when the two countries clashed over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region – a landlocked area between Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The area is inhabited and controlled by ethnic Armenians but is located in the territory of Azerbaijan.
Nagorno-Karabakh, backed by Armenia, declared independence from Azerbaijan in December 1991. Since then, Azerbaijan has not faced the territorial change and vowed to regain control of the territory, which is internationally recognized as Azerbaijan.
It is worth noting that Armenia was Russia’s security ally. Moreover, the Kremlin maintains a peacekeeping force in the region, having brokered a cease-fire agreement in early November 2020 that ended a nearly two-month conflict that has killed at least 6,500 people, according to Reuters.
The US called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities” as early as Monday evening, according to a statement from the office of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Blinken said: “The USA is very concerned about reports of attacks along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, including attacks against settlements and civilian infrastructure inside Armenia. As we have long made clear, there can be no military solution to the conflict. We call for an immediate end to all military hostilities.”
Russia also called for an end to the quarrel. Its foreign ministry said it brokered a ceasefire at 09:00 Moscow time on Tuesday morning, and it expects both sides to fulfill the terms of the agreement.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said: “We express extreme concern about the sharp worsening of the situation in the areas on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. We call on the parties to avoid further escalation of the situation, to exercise restraint and strictly maintain the ceasefire.”
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