Azerbaijan launches action against Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh: Cities targeted by "strong attacks"

Azerbaijan announced today that it had launched "anti-terrorist operations" against Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory between the two countries.

Soon after, Armenian separatist authorities in the enclave announced that the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert, and other cities in the area were the target of "heavy attacks."

"Azerbaijan has started a large-scale military operation against the Republic of Artsakh (as Armenians call Nagorno-Karabakh)," the representative office of the separatists in Armenia wrote on Facebook.

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan stated today that the operation "with the help of high-precision weapons" began a few hours after the death of four soldiers and two civilians in a mine explosion in Nagorno (Upper) Karabakh, one of the most mined areas in the world.

France Press journalists report hearing detonations in Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Separately, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called a meeting of his security council for today. The agenda will include extensive military actions launched in Azerbaijan, the press service of the Armenian Ministry of Defense announced, as reported by the Russian authorities.

Azerbaijan assessed today that peace with Armenia is possible if Armenia "completely" withdraws from Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The only way to achieve peace and stability in the region is the unconditional and complete withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the dissolution of the alleged separatist regime," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Azerbaijan's defense ministry said separately that it had established humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians from Nagorno-Karabakh, where Baku had launched a military operation.

The mountainous region of Nagorno (Upper) Karabakh and part of the surrounding territories have been under Armenian control since the end of the separatist war in 1994, but Azerbaijan regained those territories in a six-week war in 2020, which ended with a ceasefire brokered by Russia, and since then a contingent of Russian peacekeepers has been in Nagorno -Karabakh.

However, Azerbaijan claims that after the armistice, Armenia smuggles weapons into the area. Because of these claims, the only road that connects Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia has been blocked, which has caused shortages of both food and medicine in the region.

Yerevan accuses Baku, which denies the accusations, of causing a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh by blocking the "Lachin Corridor" from the end of 2022. Armenia also accuses Russia of not doing anything.