Azerbaijan Armed Forces launch anti-terror operation to disarm Garabagh separatists
Deadly mine terror was the last drop

ANALYTICS  19 September 2023 - 16:26

Hostilities returned to the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan on September 19 after the Azerbaijan Armed Forces launched a local anti-terrorist operation following intensified provocations by the illegal Armenian armed formations stationed in the region.

The operation came on the heels of the incidents that resulted in injuries and deaths on the Azerbaijani side. Deadly mine incidents in the Khojavand district in the morning on September 19 killed four police officers and two road construction workers. While, later on the same day, two servicemen of the Azerbaijani army stationed in the Aghdam district were wounded by the Armenian armed gangs located in the Azerbaijani territories temporarily monitored by the Russian peacekeeping contingent.

“The local anti-terrorist activities have been launched to … suppress large-scale provocations in the Karabakh economic region, to disarm and secure the withdrawal of formations of Armenia’s armed forces from our territories, neutralize their military infrastructure, provide the safety of the civilian population returned to the territories liberated from occupation, the civilians involved in construction and restoration work and our military personnel, and ultimately restore the constitutional order of the Republic of Azerbaijan,” the ministry said in a statement on September 19.

The ministry specified that the counter-terrorist measures aim to incapacitate positions on the front line and in-depth, long-term firing points of the formations of Armenia’s Armed Forces, as well as combat assets and military facilities using high-precision weapons.

In video footage disseminated on social media networks, the Azerbaijani army was seen destroying a Russia-made “TOR” multiple-launch rocket system, a “Mortira” electronic warfare system, combat equipment, and military units of the Armenian military in the city of Khankendi and surrounding areas, including on the Karkijahan-Khalfali dirt road.

The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan reiterated that the civilian population and civilian infrastructure facilities in the combat zone are not targeted. Only legitimate military targets are being crippled.

In a separate statement, the ministry said humanitarian corridors will be created on the Lachin road and the close perimeter for the evacuation of civilians from the zone of hostilities.

In the meantime, the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan said the local counter-terrorism measures have been launched to prevent possible large-scale provocations by the Armenian armed forces located in Garabagh, to ensure their disarmament, and achieve the implementation of the provisions of the Trilateral Statement from November 10, 2020.

“Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that the continuation of the existence of units of the armed forces of Armenia in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan contrary to the provisions of the Trilateral Statement dated November 10, 2020, is a serious threat to regional peace and stability. The only way to achieve peace and stability in the region is the unconditional and complete withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan and the dissolution of the puppet regime,” the ministry said in a statement on September 19.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia launched a full-scale military campaign against Azerbaijan, resulting in the longest and deadliest war in the South Caucasus region. The war ended in a ceasefire in 1994, with Armenia forcibly occupying 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories. This occupation led to the deaths of over 30,000 Azerbaijanis and the expulsion of one million others in a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign conducted by Armenia.

On September 27, 2020, the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia escalated when Armenian forces in the occupied Azerbaijani lands shelled military positions and civilian settlements of Azerbaijan. In a counter-attack that lasted 44 days, Azerbaijani forces liberated over 300 settlements, including the cities of Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, and Shusha, effectively ending the nearly 30-year-long illegal Armenian occupation. The war concluded with a tripartite statement signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia on November 10, 2020. Under this statement, Armenia also returned the occupied districts of Aghdam, Kalbajar and Lachin to Azerbaijan.

The statement also called for an immediate withdrawal of the Armenian armed formations from the Azerbaijani territories temporarily monitored by the Russian peacekeepers. However, Article 4 of the statement still goes unfulfilled. The peacekeepers have been impotent in ensuring their withdrawals despite their legally binding obligations.

Since then, the armed formations in Garabagh have been a source of danger to the ceasefire, as well as the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Instead of withdrawing, they have been supplying arms to their positions, as well as attempting to reinforce their illegal military posts within Azerbaijan’s borders. At different times, they resorted to multiple provocations, including mine terror, infiltration operations, attacks on Azerbaijani posts and more.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported on September 18 that Armenia’s more than 10 thousand-strong armed forces are still present in those lands. The illegal troops have more than a hundred tanks and other armoured vehicles, over two hundred heavy artillery pieces, including multiple rocket launchers, dozens of different types of radio-electronic warfare equipment, as well as more than two hundred mortars at their disposal.

Armenian mine terror

Meanwhile, at 4:00 AM on September 19, an anti-tank mine trapped a truck carrying the employees of the Azerbaijan Automobile Roads State Agency (AAYDA) at the Khojavand section of the Fuzuli-Ahmadbayli-Shusha highway, killing two. At 4:30 AM, employees of the Azerbaijan Interior Ministry heading to the deadly incident’s area were also killed in a similar anti-tank mine explosion.

Both deadly blasts took place near a newly built tunnel in the Taghaverd village of the Khojavand district within the territory temporarily monitored by the Russian peacekeeping contingent. The Interior Ministry claimed a sabotage group of the illegal Armenian armed formations to be behind the mine terror.

The State Security Service of Azerbaijan launched criminal cases into the incidents under the charges of organized crime, terror acts by using explosives, ethnic-hatred-based murder, and illegal acquisition and carrying of explosives and firearms.

According to the data published by the authorities of Azerbaijan, since the end of the Armenia-Azerbaijan 44-day war on November 10 to September 19, 2023, a total of 314 Azerbaijanis have been trapped in landmine explosions, of which 61 lost their lives and 253 got injuries. Among casualties, 48 civilians lost their lives and 101 suffered injuries of varying degrees. The death toll and injuries among the military personnel as a result of mine accidents stands at 13 and 152, respectively.

Since the start of Armenia’s military aggression against Azerbaijan in 1991, a total of 3,385 Azerbaijanis have become victims of landmines planted by Armenia, with 357 of them being young individuals and 38 being females.

The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan said on September 18 that since August 2022, a total of 2,728 landmines of 2021 Armenian production, including 1,119 landmines in the liberated Kalbajar and Lachin districts on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, and 1,609 in the Karabakh region, were detected and neutralized.

The Karabakh and East Zangazur regions of Azerbaijan have been heavily mined by Armenia’s forces since the 1990s. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia launched a full-scale military assault against Azerbaijan. The devastating war persisted until a ceasefire was signed in 1994 and led to Armenia’s occupation of 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories. During the conflict, over 30,000 Azerbaijanis lost their lives, and one million were forcibly displaced from their homes in a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign perpetrated by Armenia.

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