Heroes of the Baku-Grozny flight and Houthis under fire Caliber.Az weekly review

The editorial team of Caliber.Az presents the latest episode of the show "Events" with Murad Abiyev, which covers the major news of the week related to Azerbaijan and beyond.

Azerbaijan

On December 25, an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, operating the Baku-Grozny flight, crashed. As a result of the aviation disaster, 38 people lost their lives, including 25 Azerbaijani citizens, seven Russians, and six Kazakhstani citizens. On behalf of Caliber.Az, we express our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the deceased. Captain Igor Kshnyakin and First Officer Alexander Kalyanin performed the unimaginable—they managed to bring the out-of-control aircraft to solid ground, land it, and in doing so, save the lives of more than a third of the passengers on board. Unfortunately, the front part of the aircraft took too severe an impact, leaving no chance for survival for the passengers and the pilots in that section. Flight attendants Hokuma Aliyeva, Zulfugar Asadov, and Aydan Rahimli did everything possible to calm the passengers and prepare them for a rough landing. Fortunately, two of them survived. For Hokuma Aliyeva, this was her final flight. May Allah rest the souls of all those who perished in this crash.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, who was en route to Saint Petersburg for an informal Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit at the time of the disaster, ordered the N1 aircraft to be redirected to Baku upon learning of the crash.

It is important to note the promptness and professionalism of the Kazakhstani rescuers, doctors, and airport staff in Aktau, who provided all necessary assistance to the victims from the first moments of the disaster.

Meanwhile, the incident itself raises many questions. The final picture will be provided by the investigation, but its preliminary findings are already known. Passenger testimonies suggest that during the attempt to land the aircraft at its destination, Grozny, those on board felt impacts on the aircraft. Following this, the air traffic controllers did not allow the pilots to land in the Chechen capital. The aircraft was then directed to Aktau, Kazakhstan. The out-of-control plane, having lost communication with the ground, was forced to fly across the Caspian Sea before making a hard landing, which tragically resulted in the loss of life.

Photos and video footage from the crash site clearly showed holes in the aircraft's fuselage. The nature of these holes indicated that the Azerbaijani plane was shot at by the Russian "Pantsir" air defence system while flying over Grozny. It became known that the Russians were simultaneously repelling a massive attack by Ukrainian drones. Furthermore, as a result of the use of electronic warfare systems by the Russian side, the communication system of the Azerbaijani aircraft was completely paralyzed.

It was revealed that Baku rejected the proposal from Moscow and Astana to investigate the aviation disaster through the CIS International Aviation Committee. Official Baku insists that the incident be investigated by an international group of experts and specialists from Embraer. Azerbaijan believes that the decoding of the flight recorder should also be carried out by this group.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to apologize for the fact that the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane had been subjected to external physical and technical interference in Russian airspace, which led to the tragedy. The heads of state discussed the need for a thorough and comprehensive investigation of all the details of the tragedy and holding those responsible accountable.

It is important to note that the high-level apology from the Russian side was made possible due to the principled and decisive stance of President Aliyev, who stood firm on just demands, alongside the actions of the Azerbaijani state and society. The joint efforts of the pillars of Azerbaijani statehood brought the issue to the international stage and prevented the tragedy, which claimed the lives of our citizens, from being silenced. Now, according to all protocols, the Russian side must compensate all the victims and punish those responsible, and we are confident that these steps will follow.

In other news, it is worth noting the visit of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov to Belgrade. During the visit, Bayramov met with his Serbian counterpart Marko Djuric and was received by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. As Vucic mentioned in his social media post, special attention during the talks was given to cooperation in the fields of economy, military industry, and Azerbaijan's participation in EXPO 2027. As part of the visit, Jeyhun Bayramov also visited a monument symbolizing NATO's 1999 attack on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Ukraine – Russia

The central focus of events on the Ukrainian front remains the city of Kurakhovo, around which the Russian army continues to tighten the noose. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a drone attack on Kazan. Several drones hit residential buildings, but there are no reports of strikes on industrial or military sites.

A few days later, other regions of Russia were targeted, including the Chechen Republic, during which, as mentioned earlier, an Azerbaijani civilian aircraft was shot down. On the night of December 25, Russia launched another mass strike on Ukrainian cities, using 78 missiles and over 100 drones. The targets of the attacks were infrastructure facilities. It appears that Russia’s goal is to bring Ukraine to a state of paralysis by January 20, the inauguration date of Donald Trump. Under these conditions, Ukraine is likely to intensify its asymmetric strikes on Russian territory.

Middle East

The new Syrian government conducted an operation against pro-Assad forces in the Tartus province, a stronghold of the Alawite religious community to which Assad belonged. The situation in the province remains tense.

According to reports from Arab media, the victorious forces in Syria plan to file lawsuits in international courts demanding that Iran pay $300 billion for supporting the former president of the country, Bashar al-Assad. It is noted that diplomatic ties between the new Syrian authorities and Iran have been completely severed, and the current Syrian administration has no plans to restore them in the foreseeable future.

Thus, it seems that the new rulers of Syria are openly distancing themselves from Iran, not even considering the possibility of using the Islamic Republic as one of the links to create a system of checks and balances in the country.

Indeed, Iran and its proxies are becoming a weak link in the Middle East.

The Jewish state launched yet another mass strike on territory controlled by the Houthis in Yemen. In a statement, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the prominent Chairman of the World Health Organization, mentioned that Israel had claimed its strikes were aimed at the airport in Sana'a, two power plants, and three ports, which the Israeli military described as "military infrastructure." Ghebreyesus, who was at Sana'a airport with colleagues during the attack, miraculously survived.

However, it doesn’t matter whether the Houthis hide military facilities among civilian infrastructure or not; it is clear that Tel Aviv’s goal is not just to hit military targets, but to paralyze all vital infrastructure of the Houthis, with the ultimate aim of eliminating this group.

United States

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump decided to give entire communities a festive Christmas. In his Christmas greeting, he referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a governor and stated that if Canadian territories became the 51st state of the U.S., taxes for Canadians would be reduced by more than 60%. Additionally, Trump wished a Merry Christmas to "wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal." Finally, he extended holiday greetings to Greenland, which, according to him, "is needed by the United States for National Security purposes and, who want the U.S. to be there, and we will!” We are not sure about Canada and Greenland, which are politically protected by the monarchical houses of the UK and Denmark, but the situation around the Panama Canal could very well become quite heated.