Azerbaijan on Tuesday launched a new assault against Nagorno-Karabakh in what appears to be the start of a new major war over the ethnic Armenian enclave.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said it started an “anti-terrorist” operation against Nagorno-Karabakh and demanded the complete withdrawal of ethnic Armenian troops from the area and the dissolution of the de facto government, known as the Republic of Artsakh, which is based in the city of Stepanakert.
Artsakh officials said they have called for talks with Azerbaijan and a ceasefire. In response, the Azeri Presidency demanded a full surrender. “To stop anti-terrorist measures, illegal Armenian armed groups must raise the white flag, surrender all weapons, and the illegal regime must dissolve itself. Otherwise, anti-terrorist measures will be continued until the end,” the Presidency said, according to CNN.
Gegham Stepanyan, a human rights ombudsman for Artsakh, wrote on X on Tuesday that the Azeri assault had so far killed 25 people, including two civilians. He also said 138 people were injured, including 29 civilians, as of 9:00 pm local time.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said its forces had captured 60 military posts and destroyed up to 20 military vehicles. Baku claims it launched the assault in response to “systemic shelling” by Armenian-backed forces, but Armenia denies the accusations.
Nagorno-Karabakh is located in what’s considered Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized borders, which were drawn by the Soviet Union when Azerbaijan was a Soviet Republic. Ethnic tensions in the region culminated in the first Nagorno-Karabakh War, which lasted from 1988-1994 and ended with Armenia controlling territory around Nagorno-Karabakh.
In 2020, Azerbaijan launched the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, which lasted 44 days and resulted in Azerbaijan controlling the territory around the ethnic Armenia enclave. The territorial situation left only one road linking Armenia to the 120,000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, known as the Lachin Corridor.
Earlier this year, Azerbaijan took control of the corridor and put Nagorno-Karabakh under blockade. The Azeris have been accused of attempting ethnic cleansing, and the Biden administration has been pressured by some members of Congress to end military assistance to Azerbaijan over the blockade, which has caused severe shortages of food and medicine.
This move is with the blessing of Russia. It’s too bad Armenia doesn’t have oil or fertile soil to get an unconditional military support from NATO.
It’s presumably a message to Armenia from Russia: “Holding exercises with NATO at the same time you’re relying on our peacekeepers to protect you from Azerbaijan was a poor decision.”
Very true. Not to mention, they really want that area cleared out for the Azari pipeline.
Only issue with that is that according to Yerevan, the Russian Peacekeepers were not fulfilling their obligation to control the Lachin corridor that was blockaded and it suspected that Turkey and Russia were secretly striking deals.
As far as the exercise, here’s a response from the Armenian MoD:
“the purpose of the exercise is to increase the level of interoperability of the unit participating in international peacekeeping missions within the framework of peacekeeping operations, to exchange best practices in control and tactical communication”
Key words: peacekeeping missions
The US sets the example in the world. Now even Azerbaijan is launching a “war on terror.”
Going deeper, it all turned on Pashinyan’s accusatory barbs against Russia predating the 2020 war. Putin took this as an unexpected betrayal from the Orthodox ‘brother state’. Kremlin was accused of meddling in Armenia’s internal affairs. Pashinyan reiterated the view that Armenia needed to free itself of Russian influence, for good.
Meanwhile, the frosty Azeri-Russo relations had thawed under Aliyev, much to Putins relief. Azeris realised their golden opportunity to enact (irredentist) retribution against the Armenians. Russia just folded its arms and looked the other way as the conflict erupted, allowing the Armenians to get beaten up.
Kremlin message/warning was “This is what happens to fools who betray us”.