Fight for Shusha/i intensifies, new reports of Syrian mercenaries. Karabakh on November 7
Review of events in Karabakh for November 7
Information from Baku
• Fighting continued in the Agder, Agdam and Khojavend directions.
• The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense denied reports of the Armenian side about the shelling of the city of Shusha in Karabakh.
• The Armenian military conducted artillery and rocket attacks on villages in the Terter, Agjabedi and Aghdam regions of Azerbaijan.
• Azerbaijani President Aliyev on Twitter said that 16 more settlements came under the control of the Azerbaijani army in Fizuli, Jebrail, Gubadli, Zangilan, Khojaly, Khojavend regions.
• A 16-year-old teenager, Shahmali Atraf oglu Rahimov died in the village of Yeni Ayrija in the Barda region of Azerbaijan after a shell fired by the Armenian armed forces hit the house where he lived.
• The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry also denied the report of shelling from the territory of the Gubadli region of Azerbaijan, the village of David Bek near the city of Kapan in Armenia: “This is provocative disinformation. Azerbaijan has no military target on the territory of Armenia”.
Information from Yerevan
• The whole day the city of Shushi in Karabakh has been under fire. In the evening, there were reports of renewed shelling of Stepanakert by Grad and Smerch missile systems.
• There is a tense situation on the ground in the Martuni region, the entire day the Azerbaijani military has been conducting artillery and rocket attacks on the city.
• Detachments of volunteers and militias, together with units of the Defense Army, captured an important height in the area of the village of Karing (Arpagaduk) in the direction of Berdzor.
• The offices of the ombudsmen of Armenia and Karabakh published a joint report on the use by Azerbaijan of incendiary mixtures against civilian objects and in forests in Karabakh, very close to settlements – in particular, 100 meters from the villages of Nngi, Sgnakh, Aknakhbyur, Tagavard, Tog, Karin Tak.
Earlier, the Ombudsman of Karabakh reported that at least 1,815 hectares of forest areas had already been burned down due to the actions of the Azerbaijani troops.
- Torture claims, vandalism – war in Karabakh, Nov 6
- Karabakh: Azerbaijani army nears ‘fortress city’ Shushi/Shusha
SOHR report on Syrian mercenaries in Karabakh
The site of the Syrian Monitoring Center for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the bodies of 12 more mercenaries who fought on the side of Azerbaijan in Karabakh were delivered to their homeland.
It is reported that over the entire period of the conflict in Karabakh, at least 250 people who departed from Syria for the war have died.
The bodies of 195 of them have already been delivered to Syria, and at least three Syrian mercenaries are in captivity in Karabakh.
According to the website, up to 2,580 Syrian militants were transferred to the Karabakh conflict zone. 342 of them returned to Syria, they refused to participate in hostilities, writes SOHR.
Armenian President on the role of Turkey and Russia in an interview with a Belgian magazine
“If Turkey did not intervene in the Karabakh conflict, its main parties would agree to a ceasefire,” Armenian President Armen Sargsyan said in an interview with the Belgian magazine La Libre Belgique.
“Turkey has a broad agenda in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, the Eastern Mediterranean. But its main goal is Europe. […] Turkey wants to control the flow of energy resources from the Caspian Sea and Central Asia. […] Another trump card of Turkey is refugees [who can be poured from Turkey to Europe] and terrorists [who are involved in the Karabakh conflict].”
“Russia has good relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan. And unlike Turkey, it can be a mediator.”
Since September 27, the Azerbaijani and Armenian armies have been fighting in the zone of the Karabakh conflict with the use of armored vehicles, artillery and drones. Both sides accuse each other of shelling settlements. Thousands were killed among the military and civilians on both sides. An armistice was declared three times during this time – on October 10, 18 and 26, but each time it has been immediately violated. The parties accuse each other of non-compliance with the ceasefire.