Armenia continues targeting Azerbaijani civilians, army

ANKARA 

The Armenian forces on Friday continued targeting civilian settlements and units of the Azerbaijani army in various directions of the front with mortars, howitzers, and small arms, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said.

Starting from early morning, the Armenian Armed Forces have been attacking the Tartar city, as well as Gazyan and Husanli villages of this region, a ministry statement said.

The Tapgaragoyunlu village in Goranboy region was also shelled by the Armenian forces last night, said the statement.

"Units of the Azerbaijan Army are taking retaliatory measures to suppress the enemy's firing points," it added.

Overnight, the positions of Azerbaijani military units located in Tovuz, Gadabay, and Dashkesan regions of Azerbaijan were also "intermittently fired" at from the direction of Berd, Chambarak, and Vardenis regions of Armenia, it added.

Noting that these regions are geographically away from the "theatre of combat operations", Hikmet Hajiyev, the assistant to the Azerbaijani president, said on Twitter that Armenia tries to "broaden the geography of military operations" by such provocations.

The ministry said that the combat operations continued with varying intensity, mainly in the Aghdere, Aghdam, Khojavend, and Gubadli directions of the front.

"The enemy was forced to retreat suffering casualties on personnel and military vehicles in some areas of the front," it said.

Noting that the combat operations are currently underway, the ministry said that the operational situation is "under the control" of Azerbaijani troops.

Conflict

Fresh clashes broke out on Sept. 27, and since then, Armenia has repeatedly attacked Azerbaijani civilians and forces, even violating three humanitarian cease-fire agreements since Oct. 10.

To date, at least 92 civilians have lost their lives, including 11 children and infants, and some 404 people, with at least 36 children among them, have been injured in recent attacks by Armenian forces, according to Azerbaijan's Chief Prosecutor's Office. 

Some 3,064 houses and 100 multi-apartment residential buildings have been destroyed, while 504 civilian facilities have been damaged.

The latest US-brokered temporary humanitarian cease-fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia went into effect on Oct. 26. However, it was short-lived, as only a few minutes after it got effective, Armenian forces again violated the truce.

The first armistice, reached on Oct. 10, was violated within 24 hours as Armenian missile attacks on the Azerbaijani city of Ganja claiming many civilian lives.

Another truce on Oct. 17 was also violated by Armenia troops.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan, and neighboring regions.

About 20% of Azerbaijan's territory – including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions – has been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

While world powers have called for a sustainable cease-fire, Turkey has supported Baku's right to self-defense and demanded the withdrawal of Armenia's occupying forces.

Multiple UN resolutions also call for the withdrawal of the invading forces.