Fighting Breaks Out Along Volatile Azerbaijan-Armenia Border, Leading to Casualties

There has been a recent outbreak of violence along the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia, with claims from Yerevan that Baku has imposed an illegal blockade on the Nagorno-Karabakh region. According to Azerbaijan’s defense ministry, Armenian troops fired upon Azerbaijani border positions, resulting in one injured soldier. The ministry also reported that three soldiers were injured by an Armenian attack drone and vowed to retaliate. Armenia’s defense ministry, on the other hand, stated that two Armenian soldiers were killed and one injured due to cross-border shelling by Azerbaijan. The two former Soviet republics have experienced sporadic border violence since late 2020 when they fought a six-week war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The Nagorno-Karabakh region, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, is inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians. However, Armenian forces captured the territory in 1991, which Azerbaijan, with Turkish support, regained in 2020. Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the border after the conflict to maintain peace. The issue of the Lachin Corridor, Armenia’s only land route to Nagorno-Karabakh, has been a point of contention in recent months. Yerevan accuses Azerbaijan of blocking the corridor, leading to a humanitarian crisis, while Baku denies these claims and accuses Armenia of exploiting the route for military activities. The UN Security Council has discussed the issue, with some members calling for the reopening of the corridor. Meanwhile, Russia has called for de-escalation and the use of alternative humanitarian routes. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have maintained relations with Russia, despite occasional disagreements, with Armenia being a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and Azerbaijan signing a political-military agreement with Russia in 2022.



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