Armenian residents set houses on fire en masse in Aghdara VIDEO

On September 23, at about 19:35, the technical surveillance means of the Azerbaijan Army recorded the mass burning of residential houses by Armenian residents in the Aghdara direction, Caliber.Az reports, citing the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry.

On September 19, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched a local anti-terrorist operation in the Garabagh region in an attempt to destroy the remnants of illegal Armenian armed groups after they refused to dissolve and surrender voluntarily.

The fragile situation in Garabagh between Azerbaijan and the de-facto separatist regime heightened in the last few months, with both sides moving troops across the region. Recently, Azerbaijan increased its pressure on Khankendi, demanding the quick disarming of armed groups and re-integration of the ethnic Armenian population.

The trigger point for military actions became the anti-tank mine explosion in the Khojavand district that killed two civilian workers and four police officers. According to the official statement of the local authorities, those landmines were planted after the area was cleared as an act of provocation against Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani Defense Ministry stated that they accepted the appeal of the Armenian population of Garabagh to cease military actions to prevent human casualties. As a result, the military operations halted as of 13:00, September 20 under the terms of Baku to lay down arms and surrender to Azerbaijani forces.

On 21 September 2023, a meeting with representatives of Armenian residents of the Garabagh region was held in the Yevlakh district at the invitation of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration.

During the meeting, issues related to the reintegration of the Armenian residents of Garabagh on the basis of the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan were discussed.