AZERBAIJAN: Azerbaijan has said that its military actions in Nagorno-Karabakh have entered a second day, following the launch of what it termed “anti-terror” operations on Tuesday. It said it will not cease these operations until ethnic-Armenian separatists surrender.
Tensions in the South Caucasus region have remained elevated for several months regarding the breakaway enclave, which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. The last conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia occurred three years ago.
In a statement released on Wednesday morning, Azerbaijan’s defence ministry reported the “neutralisation” of military equipment belonging to the Armenian armed forces, which included military vehicles, artillery, and anti-aircraft missile installations.
On Tuesday, Baku issued an ultimatum demanding “illegal Armenian military groups” to disarm and dismantle their “illegal regime.”
The longstanding conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia began in the early 1990s following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 2020, Azerbaijan regained control over Nagorno-Karabakh and its surrounding regions, leading to a ceasefire monitored by Russian peacekeepers.
Ethnic Armenians residing in Karabakh appealed for a ceasefire and the initiation of negotiations. However, Azerbaijan’s ultimatum indicated its intent to solidify its control over the mountainous enclave.
Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian Prime Minister, accused Azerbaijan of initiating a ground operation with the goal of “ethnic cleansing.” But hundreds of Armenian demonstrators, angered by their nation’s response, fought with police in front of Yerevan’s parliament, denouncing their leader as a traitor and demanding his resignation.
Azerbaijan proposed initiating talks in Yevlakh, located approximately 100km north of the Karabakh regional capital known as Stepanakert, among ethnic Armenians.
Since late 2020, a contingent of 3,000 Russian personnel has been overseeing the delicate ceasefire. However, Moscow’s focus has shifted due to its extensive military intervention in Ukraine.
Approximately 120,000 ethnic Armenians inhabit the mountainous enclave. Russia reported the relocation of nearly 500 civilians from high-risk zones, while separatist forces claimed they assisted in moving a total of 7,000 individuals.
For the past nine months, Azerbaijan has effectively blocked the only route connecting Armenia to the enclave, known as the Lachin Corridor. Azerbaijan said it had begun its operation after the deaths of six individuals, including four police officers, in two landmine explosions on Tuesday morning.
Subsequently, air raid sirens blared, and the sounds of artillery and gunfire echoed in Karabakh’s primary city. This led to damage to residential buildings, with journalist Siranush Sargsyan witnessing a nearby building being struck.
Officials in Karabakh reported five fatalities and numerous injuries, including women and children.
Defence officials in the breakaway area stated that the Azerbaijani military had “violated the ceasefire along the entire line of contact with missile-artillery strikes”. Meanwhile, some other Karabakh representatives initially described this as a “large-scale military offensive,” although later reports suggested a decrease in the intensity of the attacks.
The Azerbaijani defence ministry maintained that it was not targeting civilians or civilian structures, asserting that “only legitimate military targets are being incapacitated by the use of high-precision weapons”.
It charged that Armenian forces were “systematically shelling” its army positions, and it launched “local, anti-terrorist activities… to disarm and secure the withdrawal of Armenia’s armed forces from our territories” in retaliation.
In a brief televised statement, Armenia’s prime minister denied any involvement by his military.
Russia’s foreign ministry received only a last-minute warning of the Azerbaijani offensive and urged both nations to honour the ceasefire in 2020. Toivo Klaar, the EU’s regional special representative, stated there was an “urgent need for an immediate ceasefire”.
Both Russia’s Foreign Ministry and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for President Aliyev to halt military actions promptly. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate cessation of hostilities on Wednesday morning and for “stricter observance of the 2020 ceasefire and principles of international humanitarian law”.
South Caucasus commentator Laurence Broers stated on Tuesday that the blockade had weakened the Armenian population in Karabakh and that Azerbaijan’s operation had been initiated “seemingly to retake Armenian-populated Karabakh in its entirety”.
Nikol Pashinyan recently stated that Russia was “spontaneously leaving the region”. In contrast, Azerbaijan has received robust support from its ally, Turkey. Hikmet Hajiyev, a special adviser to Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev, called upon the separatist ethnic-Armenian administration to “dissolve itself.”
Azerbaijan had previously denied any significant troop buildup in the area. On Monday, they permitted aid from the International Committee of the Red Cross to enter Karabakh through two routes: one via the Lachin Corridor from Armenia and the other along Azerbaijan’s Aghdam road.
Prior to Tuesday’s offensive, there were hopes that tensions might de-escalate. The Azerbaijan defence ministry shared images of a vehicle it claimed was destroyed by a landmine, but ethnic Armenian officials contended that it was Azerbaijan’s military that had violated the ceasefire.
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