The Azerbaijani military carried out a new shelling of Azerbaijani positions on the state border. This was announced on Thursday, November 18, by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan.
"The units of the Armenian armed forces fired at the positions of the Azerbaijani army in the direction of the village of Kohanebi of Tovuz district from their positions in the village of Chinarli of Shamshaddin district on November 18 at 14:10 (13:10 Moscow time). The opposite side was suppressed by return fire," the statement reads.
It is clarified that there are no losses among the personnel of the Azerbaijani army as a result of the shelling.
Earlier in the day, the Azerbaijani ministry had already reported on the shelling on the state border by the Armenian armed forces. The Armenian positions were returned fire.
At the same time, before that, the Armenian Defense Ministry reported that the Azerbaijani military opened indiscriminate fire in the area of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in the Tavush region. The department added that the fire was suppressed by retaliatory actions.
The situation on the border escalated on November 14, when the Azerbaijani armed forces attempted an offensive, after which a shootout ensued. As a result of the fighting, Armenia lost contact with 24 servicemen, one more was killed, 13 were captured.
Yerevan has asked Russia to help protect the territorial integrity of the country.
The fire was stopped after talks between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Defense Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Suren Papikyan and Zakir Hasanov on November 16. The Armenian military department confirmed the stabilization of the situation on the border.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have disputed the ownership of Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988. Then the region, where mostly Armenians live, declared its secession from the Azerbaijani SSR. During the 1992-1994 military conflict, Baku lost control over Karabakh. In September 2020, Baku took control of a number of settlements during military operations, in particular the villages of Gervend, Garakhanbeyli, Nyuzgar and Goradiz of the Fuzuli district and a number of villages of the Jabrayil district. On November 8, 2020, the city of Shusha came under the control of Azerbaijan.
In November 2020, Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the participation of Russia, signed an agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. The document also provides for the introduction of Russian peacekeepers into the region, the exchange of prisoners between the parties to the conflict, the transfer of a number of regions of the region by Armenia to Azerbaijan and the return of refugees to Karabakh.
