At least four Armenian soldiers were killed and three Azeri soldiers were wounded in new hostilities near the border, the authorities of the two states announced on Friday, the new heated episode was recorded against the background of their conflict over the enclave Nagorno Karabakh.
“After the provocation of Azerbaijan, the Armenian side counts four dead and one wounded in the battle”announced the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, which initially spoke of two dead and one injured.
Earlier, he had announced that he would release an “announcement” about the fallen “and about the state of health of the injured”, after informing “the families” of the victims.
The Sotk region, where hostilities broke out, according to Yerevan, is located in southeastern Armenia, on the border with Azerbaijanwhere clashes between the armies of the two states are frequent.
For its part, the Azeri Defense Ministry announced that the Armenian army “wounded two soldiers” in a drone strike in the Kalbachar region, also near the border, and a third by opening fire.
“The responsibility for the tense situation and its possible consequences belongs entirely to the civil-military leadership of Armenia”Azerbaijan’s defense ministry added, complaining that Yerevan was amassing “military material and additional troops” near the border.
The previous bloody incident involving the two states unfolded on June 28, when four Armenian soldiers were killed in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, a predominantly Armenian territory claimed by both countries.
Baku and Yerevan have blamed each other for the new escalation in the mountainous region, over which they have clashed since the 1990s.
Yerevan has accused Baku since December of blocking supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh, of imposing a blockade on a strategically important route, the Lachin Corridor, causing major shortages and a “humanitarian crisis”.
Baku, which defends the establishment of a checkpoint on the road axis citing security reasons, counters that civilian transport and traffic can be carried out unimpeded.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned in mid-July, speaking to AFP, that it is “very likely” that a new war will break out between his country and Azerbaijan.
After the most recent six-week war in the fall of 2020, when Azerbaijan recaptured territory controlled by Armenia for decades, Baku and Yerevan have signed a cease-fire agreement brokered by Moscow.
Despite the efforts of Russia – which historically has influence in the two former Soviet republics -, the European Union and the USA, the peace process seems to have reached a deadlock again.
Source: News Beast
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