Azerbaijan launches deadly attack on Armenian border

Azerbaijan has been accused of launching an unprecedented attack on Armenia just days after its leader warned that Armenia could fall victim to Azerbaijani aggression while Russia, its only major ally, is haemorrhaging troops and resources in Ukraine.

Armenia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that Azerbaijan’s forces used heavy artillery, drones and small arms to target eastern Armenian towns outside Nagorno-Karabakh, once the epicentre of a long-running conflict, late on Monday as the worst outbreak of fighting since the 2020 ceasefire accords killed at least 49 Armenian troops.

Separately, Armenia released footage that allegedly showed Azerbaijani soldiers trying to cross the Armenian border.

Azerbaijan insisted it simply responded to a provocation of the Armenian military that allegedly planted landmines near its supply lines, but the attack on areas previously untouched by the long-standing conflict appears to be unprecedented.

Just a few days earlier at a conference call with other heads of state and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s prime minister, voiced concern that Azerbaijan may be tempted to attack his country while Russia, Armenia’s main backer, is busy fighting a protracted war in Ukraine.

“While the world’s attention and Russia, our main security partner, is fully focused in Ukraine we have fears that this might trigger destabilisation in the (South Caucasus) region.”

The Kremlin mediated a 2020 ceasefire agreement that ended a month-long war over Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. About 2,000 Russian peacekeepers are still stationed there.

Mr Pashinyan told parliament on Tuesday that Azerbaijani shelling has killed 49 Armenian soldiers, the biggest loss of life since 2020, and that the number of casualties is likely to rise. “We have to note that, unfortunately, that number is not final.”

Azerbaijan did not immediately report any casualties.

Russia brokered a ceasefire on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border by late Tuesday morning but renewed, although less intense, fighting was reported an hour later, Mr Pashinyan told parliament.

The Armenian leader spoke with Putin, asking for military assistance under their obligations as members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.

Moscow has not commented on the request but Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said on Tuesday the president was “making every effort to contribute to the de-escalation of tensions on the border”.

Countries urged not to ‘squander ceasefire deal’

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe called for a truce, urging the parties not to “squander” the ceasefire deal that has largely held for two years.

Later on Tuesday, the office of French President Emmanuel Macron promised to bring up the hostilities at the UN Security Council this week.

Azerbaijan launched the attack at a time when Russia’s attention is fully focused on disastrous losses in Ukraine, while Azerbaijan is being bolstered by its long-standing ally Turkey which has supplied it with modern weapons including combat drones.

Turkey on Tuesday threw its weight behind Azerbaijan as Hulusi Akar, the country’s defence minister, accused Armenia of provoking the fighting and pledged to stand by Baku “in its just cause”.

The clashes broke out less than two weeks before Armenia was to transfer to Azerbaijan the so-called Lachin corridor, a mountain road between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan has accused Armenia of dragging its feet on implementing parts of the ceasefire deal and repeatedly breaking the ceasefire, a claim that Yerevan has denied.