In just one week, the resumption of clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan already shows a heavy toll. More than 200 Armenian servicemen have been killed since September 13 in the worst border clashes since the 2020 war. The toll is « of 207 [morts]including three civilians,” clarified the Armenian Security Council on Monday, September 19, adding that “two civilians are missing, 293 soldiers and three civilians are injured”. Twenty soldiers were taken prisoner by the Azerbaijani army, according to the same source.
This brings the death toll on both sides to almost 300. On the Azerbaijani side, the toll to date is 79 soldiers killed, according to Baku. This is an unprecedented escalation since 2020, threatening to torpedo a fragile peace process between the two rival Caucasian countries which share nearly 1,000 kilometers of border.
Reconciliation between Yerevan and Washington
The heads of Armenian and Azerbaijani diplomacy are due to meet in New York on Monday, at the initiative of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. On Sunday, visiting Yerevan, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi condemned the attacks “illegal” from Baku. His trip to the Armenian capital marked a new sign of rapprochement between Washington and Yerevan, while the Kremlin, traditional mediator in this region, is very busy with the difficulties of its military offensive in Ukraine.
Since 2020, Russia has been deploying a peacekeeping force on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But this proved ineffective in preventing the military escalation of the past week. These clashes are the most intense since a war between the two countries in 2020 for control of the Nagorny Karabakh enclave, which left more than 6,500 dead and led Yerevan to cede territory to Baku. Prior to 2020, Armenia and Azerbaijan had already clashed in the 1990s over Nagorny Karabakh, a conflict that claimed more than 30,000 lives.