Baku Warns Attack on Stepanakert as Azeris Target Civilians in Artsakh

Artsakh Defense Army sums up losses on Karabakh side
BAKU, STEPANAKERT—The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on Monday warned that its armed forces are ready to attack the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic capital of Stepanakert, if Armenian forces continue to attack civilian targets near the Karabakh-Azerbaijan border, Reuters reported.
This warning comes as widespread reports from Stepanakert indicate that Azerbaijani armed forces are targeting civilian population and throughout the weekend, have killed at least four civilians, among them an 11-year-old boy in Martuni and brutally massacred an elderly couple in the Talish village of Martakert.
During a press conference Monday, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Defense Ministry and Defense Army summed up the events leading up to Monday and provided an accounting of losses incurred by the Artsakh Armed Forces.
Speaking to reporters in Stepanakert, Head of the Karabakh Defense Army Operative Division, Colonel Vitali Arustamyan said that among the 20 casualties that have been listed, two were children and three were elderly.
Arustamyan also said that there were 72 wounded and 26 people were missing in action. He also added that heavy fighting was taking place around five military positions in the south and three positions in the north.
“No Armenian positions are under Azerbaijani control. In the sections where the enemy managed to make ground advances amount to 200 to 300 meters,” said Arustamyan.
On Monday the Azerbaijani Army has deployed more sophisticated military hardware, which Arustamyan said that Karabakh Armed Forces were able to repel.
The Colonel also said that the Armenian side has lost seven tanks. The Azerbaijani side has lost eighteen tanks, two helicopters, one item of engineering equipment, three infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), six drones and one BM-21 “Grad” launch vehicle.
Also on Monday, the Armenia Defense Ministry issued a statement regarding the latest developments in the fighting in Artsakh, which erupted late Friday and early Saturday when Azerbaijani Armed Force began a multi-pronged attack on all fronts of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan border.
The Armenian Defense Ministry stressed that the Republic of Armenia is the guarantor of the security of the people of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. At the same time, as a side that is not involved in the military operations, the MOD of Armenia appreciates that the calls to end the hostilities have been directed to Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh – the two sides involved in the conflict.
The Defense Ministry also warned that its aggression against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Azerbaijan has been employing tactics used by terrorist organization, “which according to international humanitarian law, are considered to be military crimes. Those include torture of non-combatants and prisoners of war, including even beheadings, mutilation of corpses, etc. Those acts have been photographed and displayed with the objective of terrorizing people.”