A new round of fighting broke out in Russia-controlled part of Nagorno-Karabakh, with Armenian forces conceding to casualties and Azerbaijan claiming to take control of more territory.
On August 3 morning, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry released a statement that “members of illegal Armenian armed detachments in the territory of Azerbaijan, where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is temporarily deployed, intensive fired” at the Azerbaijan Army positions stationed in the direction of the Lachin district. As a result, an 18-year-old conscript Anar Kazimov had been killed.
Later the same day, the Ministry disclosed a footage from military drone targeting what appears to be Armenian army units, with a caption reading that “The Revenge Operation” was carried out by Azerbaijani forces.
Several combat positions of illegal Armenian armed detachments were destroyed, and an airstrike was inflicted on a military unit. … As a result, the manpower of illegal Armenian detachments was annihilated and wounded.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry
The statement added that Azerbaijani army, as a result of the operation, took control of a height named Saribaba and other heights ‘of high importance’ and retained a height named Girkhgiz, which Armenian forces “were trying to capture earlier”.
“The Republic of Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that the presence of Armenian armed forces and illegal Armenian armed formations in the territories of Azerbaijan, where peacekeepers of the Russian Federation are temporarily stationed, remains a source of danger contrary to the Joint Statement,” the Ministry added, referring to the ceasefire statement signed between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, which ended the 2020 war between the first two. The ceasefire statement stipulates the withdrawal of the Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry didn’t specify how many soldiers from either Armenian or Azerbaijani sides have been killed during the operation.
Armenian armed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh reported the loss of two soldiers and 19 wounded as a result of the fire from the Azerbaijani forces. The de-facto leader of the Armenian-held part of the region Arayik Harutyunyan declared a partial military mobilization.
As of August 4, the situation in the territory remains calm.
