Tensions persist in frontlines as Azerbaijan continues to violate ceasefire
Artsakh’s Defense Army has downed another Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone on Tuesday, Armenia’s Defense Ministry said and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan urged the international community to halt military supplies to Turkey.
In announcing the downing of a second Turkish drone, Defense Ministry spokesperson Shuhan Stepanyan also posted photos that showed the laser-guided missiles.
Stepanyan went on to confirm that the drone downed on Monday by Artsakh Forces, in fact was a Turkish Bayraktar TB2 combat UAV.
“The remote-controlled camera model of the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 combat UAV, which was hit by the air defense unit of the Artsakh Defense Army yesterday, is an L-3 WESCAM CMX-15D. It was manufactured in June 2020 by the Canadian company WESCAM and installed on the Bayraktar TB2 in September 2020. The total operational time is 31 hours,” explained Stepanyan.
Pashinyan on Tuesday explained that while the Artsakh Defense Army has shot down around a dozen of the Turkish Bayraktar drones since the Azerbaijani attacks began on September 27, none of them had landed on Artsakh territory until Monday.
Pashinyan went on to say that when the downed drone landed on Artsakh’s territory, the armed forces specialists were able to examine the wreckage and determine that the drone was outfitted in September with Canadian-made parts that were manufactured in June.
Canada has already suspended exports of the military drone technology to Turkey when it became evident that it was being used against Artsakh targets.
Pointing out the downed drones proved “Turkey’s direct involvement in the terrorist war,” Pashinyan called on countries that are supplying Turkey with components for the Bayrakdar drones and other hardware to follow Canada’s lead and freeze further supplies.
Azerbaijani forces continued their attacks on Artsakh positions on Tuesday.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry representative Artsrun Hovhannisyan said during his daily briefing that the situation along the line of contact was tense.
“Early this morning [Tuesday] the Azerbaijani armed forces again launched offensives both in the north and south. Particularly tense clashes took place in the south. During those clashes our forces successfully stopped a number of attacks and repelled them to their initial positions. The situation remains tense, military operations continue, but not so intensively like in the daytime,” explained Hovhannisyan.
A missile with an internationally prohibited cluster warhead fired by the Azerbaijani armed forces on civilian targets in Artsakh has been discovered near Stepanakert. More than 260 exploded and unexploded shrapnel bomblets were found.
“The area where the missile was found is of economic significance,” the State Service of Emergency Situations of Artsakh said.
“Residents here make their living by farming, gardening and beekeeping. There is not a single military facility anywhere nearby,” the service said, adding that the bomb squads will dispose the ordnance.