What we know about the Azerbaijan offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh | Explainer News | USAEMALL.com

Azerbaijan launched what it referred to as “anti-terrorist activities” in the breakaway area of Nagorno-Karabakh and demanded the “complete withdrawal” of ethnic Armenian forces as a situation for peace in the disputed territory.

Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has in the meantime referred to as on Russian peacekeeping troops in the Armenian-majority area to intervene and cease what it stated was Azerbaijan’s “full-scale aggression” towards the native inhabitants.

Here’s what we know up to now.

What triggered the newest offensive?

Baku’s assertion saying the offensive got here a couple of hours after Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated not less than six folks had died in two accidents in the Azeri Khojavend district, allegedly on account of landmines put in by Armenia’s safety forces.

But in current weeks, Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of build up troops and decried a blockade of its solely land hyperlink to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia claimed Azerbaijan was behind a months-long humanitarian disaster in Nagorno-Karabakh after Baku final yr blocked the sole highway linking the mountainous area with Armenia. It is named the Lachin Corridor, and Russian peacekeepers police it.

On Monday, vans loaded with humanitarian assist entered Nagorno-Karabakh after Armenian separatists and the central authorities agreed to make use of roads linking the area to each Armenia and Azerbaijan, based on Baku.

What have been the developments up to now?

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense introduced on Tuesday that “local anti-terrorist activities carried out by the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan were ongoing.”

In the similar assertion, it stated that “as part of the activities, only legitimate military installations and infrastructure are targeted and incapacitated using high-precision weapons”. It added that it has created humanitarian corridors to permit the evacuation of civilians.

Meanwhile, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan urged Russia and the United Nations to take motion to cease the combating.

Al Jazeera’s Robin Forestier-Walker, who has extensively lined occasions in Nagorno-Karabakh, stated studies from inside the area spoke of “large-scale attacks in the form of potential rocket attacks and shelling” whereas the sound of small-arms hearth might be heard in movies posted on social media.

Hikmet Hajiyev, overseas coverage adviser to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, informed Reuters that Azerbaijani forces have damaged by a line of contact with Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh in a number of locations and are decided to fulfil their strategic objectives,

Armenia has denied having any forces in the space. However, many Armenians have in the previous volunteered to combat for Nagorno-Karabakh.

What is the doable fallout?

Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova stated that the current aggression may result in additional escalation and the outbreak of a brand new battle between the two sides.

“According to Pashinyan [the prime minister of Armenia], Azerbaijan is trying to drag Armenia into yet another war, but Armenia is not going to launch any military operations,” she stated, including that for Baku the solely path to peace is a whole withdrawal of Armenian troops from the space – a situation Armenia refuses to satisfy.

Al Jazeera’s Forestier-Walker stated there was “great fear” that Tuesday’s operations might be the begin of one other large-scale battle between the two neighbours.

He famous that the scenario has been “dire” for months for the inhabitants of Nagorno-Kabarakh.

“They have been cut off from the main roads supplying Karabakh from Armenia,” Forestier-Walker stated.

“Things have been shifting recently. The authorities in Azerbaijan were able to get some aid into Karabakh from the Azeri side of control, but they were still putting pressure on the access of Karabakh from Armenia because the Azeri authorities have claimed for a long time that this route is being used to smuggle in weapons and mines into the territory that is still under ethnic Armenian control.”

How has the world reacted?

Russia expressed deep alarm at “the sharp escalation” in the contested area, the TASS information company reported, citing Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova. She stated Azerbaijan had warned Russian peacekeepers in the area about navy motion simply minutes earlier than launching it.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric additionally expressed concern. “It’s very important that all the activities cease and both parties go back to a sustained dialogue to avoid any further clashes,” he informed Al Jazeera.

The European Union condemned the escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh and referred to as on Azerbaijan to cease its navy actions, the EU’s overseas coverage chief Josep Borrell stated in a press release.

“We call for the immediate cessation of hostilities & Azerbaijan to stop the current military activities,” he stated on social media platform X, previously generally known as Twitter.

Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stated that Azerbaijan had damaged its promise by resorting to navy motion in Nagorno-Karabakh, whereas Paris referred to as for an pressing UN Security Council assembly to finish the disaster.

A United States official stated that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will maintain pressing talks Tuesday with all sides to finish the “egregious” operation by Azerbaijan.

After the opening of an assist path on Monday, “We were hopeful that we were going to be able to adapt to the longer-term issues,” stated the official.

What is the historical past behind the tensions?

Renewed combating in the area comes virtually three years after a short however brutal battle with Armenia over the space, in which greater than 6,000 folks had been killed.

The ex-Soviet Caucasus rivals have been locked in a decades-long dispute with large-scale hostilities breaking out in the Nineteen Nineties and in 2020.

The final large-scale battle in Nagorno-Karabakh lasted for six weeks in 2020 earlier than a Russian-brokered truce. The ceasefire noticed Armenia cede swathes of territory it had managed since the Nineteen Nineties.

The two sides have since been unable to succeed in an enduring peace settlement regardless of mediation by the European Union, Russia and the US.