Washington-brokered truce eases as fighting resumes in Nagorno-Karabakh

A US-backed ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh went into effect on Monday between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the third truce in weeks, but eased shortly after Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces resumed fighting in the mountain enclave. , defying international efforts to end a conflict that has killed hundreds in the past month.

The third ceasefire since October 10 was agreed on Sunday after separate talks in Washington between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers. However, within minutes of its entry into force at 8 a.m. (0400 GMT) local time on Monday, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that Armenian forces had shelled villages in the Terter and Lachin regions, located at extreme opposites of the conflict zone. The Nagorno-Karabakh authorities denied launching attacks and charged that Azeri forces resumed attacks on Armenian military positions on the northeast side of the line of contact.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a televised speech on Monday that he wanted to resolve the conflict “militarily or peacefully” after the two sides accused each other of breaking a truce agreed hours earlier in Washington.

“… I suggested to him that if he wanted a peaceful solution, we should stop, but we should immediately inform ourselves that Armenia is leaving our lands,” Aliyev said.

Speaking live on Facebook later Monday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he did not believe that Azerbaijan was interested in a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

“The Armenian people are ready for mutual concessions, even painful ones, but not for the capitulation of Karabakh,” he said.

The office of Artak Beglaryan, Nagorno-Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman, said 90,000 residents, or 60 percent of the enclave’s population, had fled their homes to other locations in Nagorno-Karabakh or Armenia. The ombudsman’s office said a civilian was killed and two injured in a missile attack in the village of Avetaranots on Monday.

A total of 41 civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh and 974 military personnel were killed, the ombudsman’s office said. While Azerbaijan said 65 Azerbaijani civilians had been killed and 297 wounded. He has not disclosed his military casualties.

The OSCE Minsk Group, formed to mediate the conflict and led by France, Russia and the United States, also participated in the talks on Sunday and is scheduled to meet again with the Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers in Geneva. on October 29.

(With contributions from agencies)