Armenia suffers human “losses” in ongoing battles against Azerbaijan
She added that Yerevan also lost control of two “militIG sites” as a result of these confrontations, while Azerbaijan captured 12 Armenian soldiers.
On the other hand, Armenia also announced that it had inflicted “heavy losses” on the Azerbaijani forces. The statement added, “The battles are continuing and their intensity has not diminished.”
Armenia confirmed that the Azerbaijani forces use “artillery and weapons of various calibers”.
Yesterday, European Council President Charles Michel called on Armenian and Azerbaijani officials to “a just de-escalation” and a “comprehensive ceasefire.”
These confrontations erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan after an escalation that lasted for weeks, which raised fears of the resumption of a bloody war that took place last year between these two rival countries in the Caucasus, in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The war took place over six weeks in the fall of 2020, and killed more than 6,500 people, and ended in a major defeat for Armenia, which was forced to cede several areas in the vicinity of the disputed enclave.
Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the area in November 2020 as part of a ceasefire negotiated by President Vladimir Putin.
In the 1990s, the two countries also fought battles over Karabakh, which Yerevan won at that time.
Yesterday, Azerbaijan blamed Armenia’s recent confrontations, declaring that its forces “made a large-scale provocation” by attacking Baku sites in the Kalbajar and Lachin regions in western Karabakh, according to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.
Baku regained control of these two regions last year.
Baku indicated that two Azerbaijani soldiers were wounded in yesterday’s battles. Yerevan was accused of “deliberately causing this escalation of tension.”
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement that “the Azerbaijani militIG repelled a counter-attack by the Armenian forces (…). The Armenian soldiers are leaving their posts in panic and fear.”
Despite the signing of a ceasefire agreement and the deployment of Russian peacekeepers, tension remained high between the two former Soviet republics.
Both countries constantly speak of renewed violence and casualties among soldiers.
And the Karabakh authorities indicated Saturday that the only road linking Armenia to the breakaway enclave in the Lachin Corridor, was closed for a short period due to an accident between the two sides.
After the fighting broke out yesterday, Yerevan, a member of a Moscow-led coalition, called on Russia to intervene.
“Due to the attack against the sovereign territory of Armenia, we are going to Russia to ask it to protect the territorial integrity of Armenia,” SecretIG General of the Armenian Security Council, Armen Gargoryan, said.
The defeat of Yerevan last year left a great shock to a large part of the Armenian people and continues to shake the political class today.
For its part, Azerbaijan relied, in this war, on the support of Turkey, which provided it, in particular, with drones.
Thousands of people demonstrated in Yerevan last week to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whom the opposition describes as a “traitor” after concluding the armistice agreement with Baku.
In the past months, Ankara has repeatedly called on Armenia to engage in dialogue with Azerbaijan, saying that it is also ready to normalize its relations with Yerevan.
