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Over the evening of September 27th, and continuing in September 28th, clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh continued.
Both sides reportedly deployed heavy artillery.
During the fighting in Karabakh, the Armenian side suffered losses overnight, 15 more servicemen were killed. As of the morning of September 28th, the number of victims among the military is 31 people.
It is unclear how many Azerbaijani soldiers were killed, as Armenia claims to be in the hundreds, while Azerbaijan claims it lost none.
The most recent report is that overnight Azerbaijan lost some positions to the Armenian army, which pushed back to reclaim them due to the reduced intensity of attacks.
#Artsakh/#Karabakh President #Harutyunyan @Pres_Artsakh:
"Tonight our army had number of successes in different directions returning some military positions from #Azerbaijan."#KarabakhNow #NKPeace— Artak Beglaryan (@Artak_Beglaryan) September 28, 2020
Conflict betw. #Armenia and #Azerbaijan
what the EU could (not) do? @dgapev and @IISS_org scenario work had it
Protecting Europe – full paper: https://t.co/wPolqsJhto (new link) pic.twitter.com/LGQC6P1LaY
— Christian Mölling (@Ce_Moll) September 28, 2020
A video was shared reportedly showing two Armenian tanks being destroyed by Azerbaijani forces.
#Qarabağ belongs to Azerbaijan, and they will fight for every inch of it…! #QarabağAzərbaycandır #AzerbaycanYalnızDeğildir https://t.co/iOdZrndERM
— Naser K Zadran (@imzadroon) September 28, 2020
Separate reports claimed that Russia was providing assistance to Armenia through Iran. With photographs showing military hardware being delivered.
Pictures are coming from different cities, Russia?? is giving help to Armenia through Iran.#Azerbaijan #Armenia pic.twitter.com/6I4QyEJ4Ah
— Regional Warfare ? (@Kashmir28471265) September 28, 2020
On the morning of September 28th, the Armenian Foreign Ministry reported that they attempted risk reduction, but Azerbaijan had refused everything.
FM @ZMnatsakanyan to @France24_en: "We repeat, once again, there were many proposals to establish very precise risk-reduction, investigative, ceasefire-regime-strengthening mechanisms, which were strictly denied, because use of force has been exactly instrument of #Azerbaijan." pic.twitter.com/NScX2ASrJ2
— MFA of Armenia?? (@MFAofArmenia) September 28, 2020
The overnight intensity of clashes was low, but they kept happening.
As of the morning of September 28th, Azerbaijan is reportedly continuing its heavy offensive, using artillery, armored vehicles and TOS.
Armenia is firmly defending its positions.
During night battles continued w/ different intensity. Early in morning, #Azerbaijan resumed its offensive operations, using artillery, armored vehicles, TOS
heavy artillery system. Armenian subdivisions have been firmly repelling encroachments of AZE subdivisions— Shushan Stepanyan (@ShStepanyan) September 28, 2020
A video was released of an Armenian ATGM hitting an Azerbaijani tank.
Another Video from #Armenia shooting the #Azerbaijan Tank by ATGM.#Warzone pic.twitter.com/3Ykb3QjMg6
— Manish Jha (@manishj449) September 28, 2020
This night #Azerbaijani military forces target was civil population of #Martakert. #Azerbaijan used #Smerch against civil population of #Artsakh !#StopAzerbaijaniAggression #StopAliyev #ArtsakhStrong #DefendArtsakh pic.twitter.com/y0vO6kXysP
— Alice Sharafyan (@sharafyan_a) September 28, 2020
#Armenia attacked the garden of the school on the #Fuzuli front. pic.twitter.com/JwVUPKnM8n
— Requ (@Just_Requ) September 28, 2020
An Azerbaijani General was reportedly wounded and taken prisoner by Armenian forces.
The #Azerbaijani side reports that Azerbaijani General Mayis Barkhudarov was wounded and taken prisoner. In 2016, Barkudarov announced that the Azerbaijans army could reach as far as Yerevan. Today his dream came true. He will come to Yerevan but in a different status ##artsakh pic.twitter.com/Ocnj2kPtkp
— Akshay Bairwa ?????????????????? (@I_am_akshayyy) September 28, 2020
A presumed list was published of the names of Syrian militants that were sent to assist Azerbaijan in the offensive.
#Azerbaijan hired jihadist terrorists, militants from #Syria to attack #Artsakh – names released #ArtsakhStrong #ՀԱՂԹԵԼՈՒԵՆՔhttps://t.co/Pu2iLVgskd
— Araks Martirosyan (@araks91_araks) September 28, 2020
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he is “extremely concerned over the fresh resumption of hostilities” between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“The Secretary-General strongly calls on the sides to immediately stop fighting, de-escalate tensions and return to meaningful negotiations without delay,” Guterres’s spokesman said in a statement.
Guterres “condemns the use of force and regrets the loss of life and the toll on the civilian population,” the statement said, adding that the secretary-general would speak to the president of Azerbaijan and the prime minister of Armenia.
Both sides exchanged accusations, with Armenia saying that Azerbaijan has caused the escalation, with Turkey directly supporting it in its offensive.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan later called on the international community to ensure that Turkey does not involve itself in Armenia’s conflict with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Pashinyan also said Turkey’s behavior could have destructive consequences for the South Caucasus and neighbouring regions.
The Nagorno-Karabakh leader Araik Harutyunyan said that the region has lost some positions to Azerbaijan’s army amid renewed clashes.
He also said there were dead and wounded both among civilians and military personnel.
Azerbaijan said that full responsibility for the present situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border falls on the political and military leadership of Armenia, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has said.
“Another [act of] aggression by Armenia against Azerbaijan is a blatant violation of fundamental norms and principles of international law, international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, as well as United Nations Security Council Resolutions 822, 853, 874, 884 of 1993, demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the armed forces of Armenia from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” the ministry said in a statement.
Turkey has voiced its support for Azerbaijan in response to the clashes.
“While I call on the Armenian people to take hold of their future against their leadership that is dragging them to catastrophe and those using it like puppets, we also call on the the entire world to stand with Azerbaijan in their battle against invasion and cruelty,” said Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Twitter.
“We will support our Azerbaijani brothers with all our means in their fight to protect their territorial integrity,” added Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar in a statement.
How did it begin?
Armenia’s Defense ministry said an attack on civilian settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh, including the regional capital Stepanakert, began on the morning of September 27th.
The authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh said 18 people were killed – 16 of their troops, a woman and a child – and 100 wounded.
Armenia’s government declared martial law and total military mobilization, shortly after a similar announcement by the authorities inside Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Get ready to defend our sacred homeland,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said after accusing Azerbaijan of “planned aggression”.
PM Nikol Pashinyan: “Not An Inch Of Land To Our Enemy. I Am Ready To Die For Our Homeland.” #Armenia ?? #Artsakh #NagornoKarabakh#SupportArmenia pic.twitter.com/S7NujrU98y
— Aparichit ⚪ (@sd_m2019) September 28, 2020
Warning that the region was on the brink of a “large-scale war”, he urged the international community to unite to prevent any further destabilization.
Armenia said it had shot down two helicopters and three drones, and destroyed three tanks during the clashes. It also said that it had killed hundreds of Azeri soldiers.
Azerbaijan’s defense ministry confirmed the loss of one helicopter but said the crew had survived, and reported that 12 Armenian air defense systems had been destroyed. It denied other losses reported by Armenia.
President Aliyev said he had ordered a large-scale counter-offensive operation in response to Armenian army attacks.
“I am confident that our successful counter-offensive operation will put an end to the occupation, to the injustice, to the 30-year-long occupation,” he said.
#Armenia , #NagornoKarabakh : Heavy fights between #Armenian army and #Azerbaijani army.
The #Armenian troops counter attack with success!!! pic.twitter.com/EeFHFLsEMq— Info Warrior (@InfoWarriorNews) September 27, 2020
A video was released showing the result of an Armenian counterattack. There appears to be no videos published of the clashes overnight.
This is the result of the #Armenian counterattack.
The #Azerbaijani troops wasn't able to hold them and suffered heavy casualties and lost 11 paces of equipment.
WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES….#Armenia #NagornoKarabakh #Artsakh #ArtsakhStrong pic.twitter.com/lwk6zys7ep— Info Warrior (@InfoWarriorNews) September 27, 2020
A video was also shared on Twitter presumably showing Syrian militants being deployed by Turkey to assist the Azerbaijani army.
On the video from #Azerbaijan, possibly, islamist terrorists from #Syria and #Libya, backed by #Turkey. Ilham Aliyev's regime is trying to use terrorists in the war against #Karabakh and #Armenia#ArtsakhStrong pic.twitter.com/VvZGWCN3CZ
— Kornelij (@Kornelij) September 27, 2020
The situation is still developing with Armenia reportedly holding its positions, but Azerbaijan just renewing the heavy intensity of the offensive. Currently, the situation is on the brink of full-out war between the two neighboring countries over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
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