The battles of Nagorny Karabakh do not subside: Azerbaijan is sticking...

There are no signs of a truce soon due to the battles raging between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region, especially since the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, insists on demanding the Armenian forces to withdraw from the region, but yesterday he called the latter to apologize, which threatens to continue Escalation, and increases fears of instability in the wider region, in light of the competition of multiple forces in the region. In a televised speech, Aliyev said: “I have only one condition” for the ceasefire: “The (Armenian) armed forces must leave our lands,” demanding that the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, “apologize to the Azerbaijani people.” He added, “Let him say I want to withdraw my forces from the occupied lands. Let him say that Karabakh is not Armenian.” And he demanded that Pashinyan define a “clear plan” for an Armenian withdrawal from the disputed territory, continuing: “In such a case, we will restore the ceasefire regime,” considering that what his country is doing is to restore “historical justice.” Aliyev’s speech came at a time when the forces of the Nagorno Karabakh region, and in return, the Azerbaijani forces, yesterday, exchanged artillery shelling, which targeted the capital of the region and the second cities of Azerbaijan, on the eighth day of the bloody fighting. The two sides also intensified fiery statements, ignoring calls for a cease-fire, and each held the other side responsible for the outbreak of fighting. Since Friday, Stepanakert, the largest city in Nagorny Karabakh, has been bombed, forcing residents to take shelter in basements and shelters. A spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, Artzaron Hovensyan, accused “Azerbaijani forces of bombing civilian targets.” Also, the President of the region, Arayik Harutyunyan, announced that his forces would respond by targeting the military infrastructure in the “major cities” of Azerbaijan, located far from the front, calling on “civilians to leave these cities immediately.” In the aftermath, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense said that the second city of the country “Ganja is under fire from the Armenian forces.” Baku, Yerevan, was accused of carrying out the bombing, which was denied by the latter, while the spokesman for the Presidency of the Nagorno Karabakh authorities, Vagram Boghossian, announced that these attacks were carried out by the regional forces, stressing the “destruction” of a military airport.

At least 64 Syrian fighters from pro-Turkish factions have been killed in the fighting

Meanwhile, in light of the “increasing number of victims among the civilian population”, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, expressed his concern, reiterating his call for “a ceasefire as soon as possible.” As for Turkey, it quickly condemned what it said were attacks carried out by the Armenian forces on the city of Ganja. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered that “the Armenian attacks targeting civilians today in the second largest city of Azerbaijan, Ganja, constitute a new indication of its position (Yerevan), which does not recognize the law. We condemn these attacks ».
In turn, Iran issued a warning, through its Foreign Ministry, to its two neighbors, Armenia and Azerbaijan, after shells fell on its territory. “No aggression on our land is accepted by any of the disputing parties, and we warn all parties seriously to take the necessary precautions in this regard,” the ministry’s spokesman, Saeed Khatib Zadeh, said in a statement. The Iranian official news agency (“IRNA”) has reported, in recent days, that a number of missiles fell on the border areas in the northwest of the Islamic Republic, as a result of the ongoing conflict on the other side of the border.
Meanwhile, at least 64 Syrian fighters from factions loyal to Turkey have been killed in the ongoing battles, according to what was reported by the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The observatory said that the dead are among 1,200 fighters sent to Azerbaijan since last week, after it had previously indicated that their number was 850. At least 36 of them were killed in the battles during the last 48 hours only, according to the observatory, which raises the total toll from 28 to 64 dead.

Subscribe to «News» on YouTube Here