Armed forces of Azerbaijan have conducted a retaliatory military operation against the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh’s militias that aimed to establish new combat positions, Azerbaijan’s defense ministry informed.
During the so-called Operation Revenge, the Azerbaijani Army killed three of the Armenian troops in the region and seized control over some important commanding heights in the so-called Lachin Corridor, a mountainous pathway that links Baku to the Nagorno-Karabakh.
The ministry said in a statement that they launched the retaliatory operation after members of illegal Armenian armed detachments opened fire and killed an Azerbaijani soldier early on Wednesday morning during a terrorist and sabotage action they were conducting.
In response to the Azerbaijani actions, the authorities in the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic have declared a partial mobilization in the region.
The Azerbaijan Army positions stationed in direction of the Lachin region, where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is temporarily deployed, have opened intensive fire toward the Armenian troops.
The Karabakh Defense Army informed in a statement issued in the evening that its troops thwarted Azerbaijani attempts to cross the line of contact throughout the day but denied that the Armenian side suffered any casualties.
However, the Armenian Ministry of Defense confirmed later the deaths of at least two of its soldiers, adding that 14 others have been injured in the attack by Azerbaijan, which, according to Armenia’s Security Council Secretary, Armen Grigoryan, wants Armenia to stop using the Lachin Corridor.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that its peacekeeping force stationed in the region reported three ceasefire violations by Azerbaijani troops on Tuesday and took efforts to resolve the situation.
The EU, on the other hand, demanded that Azerbaijani and Armenian forces immediately stop the hostilities, de-escalate the situation by fully respecting the 2020 Russia-brokered ceasefire, and return to the negotiating table.
Back in 2020, Azerbaijan captured parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory controlled by Armenians since the early 1990s which de-jure remains under Baku’s control after the 44-day-long war against Yerevan that ended with a ceasefire agreement that also deployed Russian peacekeepers to the region.
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