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Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev announced on October 3 that his country’s armed forces had captured the town of Mataghis from Armenian forces.
Other towns and villages that are allegedly under control of Azerbaijani forces are Talysh, Mehdili, Chakhirli, Ashagi Maralyan, Sheybey, Quycaq and Ashagi Abdurrahmanli.
Earlier today, the Azerbaijani media reported the capture of an Armenian base next to Mataghis, which is located in the northeastern part of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Today, the Azerbaijani army raised the Azerbaijani flag over Mataghis. Mataghis is ours, Karabakh is Azerbaijani,” President Aliyev wrote on Twitter.
The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has not released footage to confirm the capture of Mataghis, so far. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense of Armenia is yet to comment on the Azerbaijani President’s claims.
#Azerbaijan President announced that Azeri Military captured city of Mataghis. https://t.co/C9gCn98hsO pic.twitter.com/nFO4jVVSDR
— A#### ?? (@aldin_ww) October 3, 2020
In the morning, Shushan Stepanyan, Press Secretary of the Armenian MoD, announced that a large-scale Azerbaijani attack on Nagorno-Karabakh was repelled. Stepanyan didn’t provide any further information.
The battle in Nagorno-Karabakh, which began on September 27, has not seen any real advance by Azerbaijani forces, thus far. If the capture of Mataghis is confirmed, the situation will likely escalate further.
A ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh is unlikely as for now. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia appear to be unwilling to step back and engage in talks.
The Azerbaijani military released a video showing some of the captured positions:
