Nagorno-Karabakh battles do not relent: Azerbaijan sticks to its terms

There are no signs of an upcoming truce due to the battles between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region, especially since Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev insists on demanding that Armenian forces withdraw from the region. , but yesterday he called the latter to apologize, which threatens to continue. Escalation, which increases fears of instability in the wider region, in light of competition from multiple forces in the region. In a televised speech, Aliyev said: “I have only one condition” for the ceasefire: “The (Armenian) armed forces must abandon our lands” and demanded that the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, “apologize to the Azerbaijani people. “. He added: “Let him say that 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 restoring “historical justice.” .

Aliyev’s speech came at a time when the forces of the Nagorno Karabakh region intensified and, in return, the Azerbaijani forces, yesterday, exchanged artillery bombardments, which especially targeted the capital of the region and the second cities of Azerbaijan, on the eighth day of bloody fighting. The two sides also stepped up strong statements, ignoring calls for a ceasefire, each blaming the other side for the outbreak of the fighting. Since Friday, Stepanakert, the largest city in Nagorno Karabakh, has been bombed, forcing residents to take refuge in basements and shelters. A spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, Artzrun Hovensyan, accused “Azerbaijani forces of bombing civilian targets”. In addition, the president of the region, Arayik Harutyunyan, announced that his forces would respond by attacking the military infrastructure in the “main cities” of Azerbaijan, located far from the front, and called on “civilians to leave these cities immediately”. Subsequently, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that the country’s second city “Ganja is under fire from Armenian forces.” Baku, Yerevan, was accused of carrying out the attack, which was denied by the latter, while the spokesman for the Presidency of the Nagorno Karabakh authorities, Vagram Boghossian, announced that these attacks were perpetrated by regional forces, highlighting the “destruction” of a military airport.

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

Meanwhile, faced with the “growing number of victims among the civilian population”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed his concern and reiterated his call for “a ceasefire as soon as possible”. As for Turkey, it quickly condemned what it said were attacks carried out by Armenian forces in the city of Ganja. The Foreign Ministry considered, in a statement, that “the Armenian attacks against civilians today in the second largest city of Azerbaijan, Ganja, are a new indication of their 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 projectiles fell on its territory. “None of the disputing parties accepts aggression on our land, and we seriously warn all parties to take the necessary precautions in this regard,” said ministry spokesman Saeed Khatib Zadeh in a statement. The official Iranian news agency (“IRNA”) has reported, in recent days, that several missiles hit the border areas of 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 the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The observatory said the dead were among the 1,200 fighters sent to Azerbaijan since last week, having previously indicated that their number was 850. At least 36 of them died in fighting in the last 48 hours alone, according to the observatory. , bringing the total death toll from 28 to 64.

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