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Azerbaijani forces are now a few kilometers from the strategic city of Shusha in Nagorny Karabakh, the head of this separatist region announced on Thursday, where clashes have continued since the end of September between Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists.
“The enemy is a few kilometers from Shusha, five kilometers maximum,” said Arayek Harutyunyan in a video posted on Facebook, adding that “the main objective of the enemy is to invade Shusha (…) and whoever controls it controls Artsakh,” referring to a The Armenian designation of the Nagorno Karabakh region.
Shusha is located about 15 kilometers from Stepanakert, the main city of the region, on a road that connects it with Armenia.
Shusha’s control, located on a hill, allows you to target Stepanakert.
“In the next few days, the situation at the front must be reversed and the enemy must be punished directly at the gates of Shusha,” Harutyunyan confirmed in a video clip taken near a historic Armenian cathedral located in this city. He added, “Let’s unite and fight together!”
Since the fighting began on September 27, Azerbaijani forces have reclaimed land that was beyond their control since the 1990s, when a war between the two sides broke out that left 30,000 dead and led to the secession of the region of Nagorno Karabakh, inhabited by the majority of Armenians.
This region supported by Armenia declared its independence after the 1994 war, but was not recognized by the international community or by Armenia.
Wild and unreasonable
On Thursday, the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities accused Azerbaijani forces of launching a large-scale bombardment of Stepanakert, which had already been hit by projectiles since the return from the fighting.
“Azerbaijan was attacked (the city) for several hours, and dozens of shells fell on it,” a senior local official, Artak Beglarian, told AFP, referring to “injured civilians.”
This comes a day after the Azerbaijani city of Barda, a city near Nagorny Karabakh, was attacked. Baku accused the Armenian army of killing 21 people in the attack and wounding dozens. Five civilians died Tuesday night.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev took an oath of “revenge” and “retribution in the field”.
For its part, Armenia denied being responsible for the attack on Barda.
On Thursday, Amnesty International accused all parties involved in the conflict – “the Armenian forces and those supported by the Armenian and Azerbaijani forces” – of using cluster munitions despite their ban.
“The shelling of populated areas with cluster munitions is brutal and unreasonable,” said the organization’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Mary Struthers.
On both sides, more than 1,250 people, including at least 130 civilians, died during the ongoing clashes, the highest number since the 1990s, according to partial results.
On Thursday, Azerbaijan announced the return to Armenia of the bodies of 30 soldiers who had died in the clashes.
Azerbaijani President’s adviser Hikmat Hajiyev said that “Armenia did not show good faith in this matter”, but “agreed to open a humanitarian corridor” thanks to Russian mediation.
Armenian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan confirmed the transfer of the bodies via Russia and the Red Cross, adding that Yerevan was ready to return the bodies of Azerbaijani soldiers.
He was expected to hold a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries in Geneva on Thursday, but the meeting has been postponed until Friday, and will not be direct between them, according to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
