Armenia, Azerbaijan report casualties amid fresh border clashes

Fresh border clashes have erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with both sides having sustained casualties.

The fighting broke out around their common border, northwest of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, on Friday.

According to Armenia’s Defense Ministry, four of its troops had been killed and another wounded in shelling near the border villages of Sotk and Norabak.

Azerbaijan’s authorities said Armenia had struck the country’s positions across the border in the Kalbajar region, using drones, wounding three soldiers.

“We declare that all responsibility for the tension and its consequences lies with the military-political leadership of Armenia,” Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said. 

Nagorno-Karabakh has been at the center of a dispute between Baku and Yerevan for more than three decades.

Since gaining independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, the two neighboring countries have fought two wars, in 1994 and 2020, over the mountainous territory.

Karabakh, while acknowledged as a part of Azerbaijan by the international community, has a predominantly Armenian population that has persistently opposed Azerbaijani governance since a separatist war in 1994.

In 2020, a new conflict erupted in Karabakh resulting in the loss of over 6,500 lives from both sides within a six-week period. The war concluded with a ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia, which led to Yerevan relinquishing control over significant portions of Azerbaijani territory that it had held for many years.

Accusations of ceasefire breaches are regularly exchanged between both parties.

Tensions remain high and skirmishes along the shared border are a regular occurrence despite mediation efforts by the European Union, United States and Russia.

Russia brokered a peace deal between the two sides in November 2020 an end to a 44-day war in the region. It has since deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers.

European Union Council President Charles Michel, who mediated another round of peace talks between the two countries, stated on July 15 that peace and normalization of ties between Azerbaijan and Armenia could be achieved if both sides avoid violence and harsh rhetoric.

“Real progress depends on the next steps that will need to be taken in the near future. As a matter of priority, violence, and harsh rhetoric should stop in order to provide the proper environment for peace and normalization talks,” Michel said.