Azerbaijan continues military operations in Nagorno - Karabakh

Azerbaijan appears to have signalled its intention to continue military operations launched the previous day in Nagorno-Karabakh, despite calls to stop the hostilities that have so far left some dead in the breakaway region, where mainly ethnic Armenians reside. Calling for a halt to hostilities has been made by the United Nations, Western powers, and Russia.

Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry said on the morning of September 20th that it was continuing “successfully” what it termed “operation against terrorism”, targeting sabotagers.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's office issued a statement saying he had told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that “measures against terrorism will be halted if [the forces in Karabakh] lower weapons”.

The UN Security Council on September 21st will hold an emergency meeting, as the international community is looking for ways to avoid an intensifying of the long conflict. Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars for control of the breakaway region, with the last war fought three years ago.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres] immediately demands that the fighting stop immediately, the situation be stressed, and there is strict respect for the ceasefire achieved in 2020, as well as for international humanitarian law”, said Stephanie Dujaric, spokesman for the UN chief.

In the late hours of September 19th, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been conducting telephone conversations with leaders of both countries.

The US State Department said Blinken called on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to immediately stop military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh, the region that is internationally known as Azerbaijan's territory.

The U.S. top diplomat also demanded Azerbaijan to return dialogue.
Blinken “

Meanwhile, Blinken told Armenian Prime Minister Nikola Pashinian that the US “fully supports Armenia's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity”.
Moscow also urged both sides to stop violence.

Because of the rapid escalation of armed clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh, we call on the sides in the conflict to immediately stop the bloodshed, stop the hostilities and avoid causing the victims among civilians”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, according to TASS agency.

The Russian Ministry's statement added that Russian peacekeepers are helping the civilian population in Nagorno-Karabakh. In this region, almost 120,000 ethnic Armenians live. Russia said it is offering civilians health aid and evacuation assistance.

After weeks of bloody clashes and a day after the first humanitarian aid shipment was allowed to enter the area, Azerbaijan began its major escalation on September 19th to the breakaway region, which is already on the brink of humanitarian crisis.

This, since there have been road jams in this region for nine months, which has been unable to send humanitarian aid despite ongoing calls from Baku to allow food and other aid deliveries.

The grenades began shortly after Baku blamed two explosions on what he described as the “Armenian sabotage groups”. The blasts killed at least four military personnel and two civilians in the Nagorno-Karabakh areas that are under the control of Russian peacekeepers.

Russian peacekeepers have been in the area since the ceasefire agreement was reached that ended six weeks of fighting in 2020. Azerbaijani that world recovered most of the territory and seven surrounding counties that were under the control of ethnic Armenians supported by Yerevani since the 1990s.

Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry said it aims for groups to surrender and Armenian troops to withdraw from the region.

Yerevan has retaliated by saying there are no troops in Nagorno-Karabakh.
France has called the UN Security Council's urgent meeting to address the crisis that erupted at the time when many world leaders have gathered at the UN General Assembly in New York, where the Russian invasion of Ukraine is one of the key points of speeches and debates.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna named Baku's latest operation as illegal, unwarranted and unacceptable”.

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