STEPANAKERT (Arminfo.am)—The Artsakh Republic Defense Army on Monday released information regarding casualties and injuries from the previous week of skirmishes between Armenian and Azeri forces, which began on July 28 with an attack on Artsakh by Azeri forces.
The Artsakh Defense Army reports 25 dead and 30 wounded for the Azerbaijani side following their attacks on Artsakh in the last week.
On July 28, Azeri soldiers began an offensive on Artsakh’s Martakert region. They were repelled by Artsakh forces, suffering two casualties and several injuries. The same day, Azeri forces suffered one casualty and more injuries in a different, simultaneous attack on the Martuni region.
On July 31, Azerbaijan attempted a takeover of Armenian positions in the area of Gulistan, but failed. They lost two soldiers. On the night of August 1 to 2, Armenian forces thwarted another Azeri attack. Nine Azeri soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the fighting.
On the same night, a group of 50 Azeri soldiers attempted another attack, again in the Martakert region. They lost six soldiers amid seven wounded when Armenian forces again stopped the attack. Meanwhile, the Azeris lost another three soldiers amid four wounded while attacking Martuni once more. An attack on the Askeran region on Aug. 2 resulted in one casualty and several wounded for the Azeri forces.
“The frontline military units of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Defense Army guard the entire Line of Contact with Azerbaijan and take retaliatory actions when necessary, forcing the enemy to retreat with big losses,” the Artsakh Defense Army said in the statement.
The flare-up of violence on the Line of Contact between Artsakh and Azerbaijan has led to fears of escalation and calls for calm from international leaders. Russia and he EU have urged the two sides to respect the 20-year-old ceasefire agreement between them. Turkey offered condolences to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for the loss of Azerbaijani soldiers’ lives during the violence.
The Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan are set to meet in Sochi, Russia, later this week in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“At the end of this week, our president is due to hold separate meetings in Sochi with the president of Armenia and then with the president of Azerbaijan,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Itar-Tass news agency. “When they all find themselves in the same place and at the same time they will probably not avoid a conversation on Nagorno-Karabakh. Just how that will be organized depends on us.”
May God keep and protect Armenia and Armenians from these barbarians!
May God bless the The Artsakh Republic Defense Army.. Their own demise is the only thing they understand.
Armenians haven’t had an independent army in hundreds of years. Its the ONLY thing that we need to rely upon. Not Russia, USA or anyone else. Might makes right. That simple. And if was me, I would arm all the inhabitants near the border. never leave them defenseless…And last we need to allow all Armenians from around the world the ability to serve in the Armenian Army.. I would gladly go…
Fully agree, Joe.
Alas, for diasporans who wish to overtly serve in the defense battalions, there are no formal opportunities in place to accept, house, feed or train us. And before that, dual (diaspora-artsakh) citizenship would have to be enacted.
Corrupted oil man, “Ishak Aliyev” is in trouble, what ever he promised to Turkic herds, for his professional brave army, will fall over his stupid head, along with Axeri famous over sized long flag pole !
How naive for someone to actually believe that Mother Russia did not anticipate this when selling sophisticated weapons to the Azeris If proven otherwise, then the Russians must be the stupidest people on earth. How is it that they unknowingly sell weapons to an enemy of an ally and then have to come to the aid of that ally???
If anyone believes that scenario, please check into the nearest mental hospital ASAP.
Yeah, Oh well, Gee golly, Azerbaijian, Let me offer you my sincere condolences for your shared pain, la la, la, la, etc. etc.
Apparently, only talks are easy and not helping calming down the aggressor, another words it’s just a formality without any sustainable results, whereas a disciplinary action against the real aggressor will be more effective relatively, but none of OSCE group members show the courage to be effective lest they hurt the feelings of the aggressor. A.N.
It very hard to imagine Putin, in light of Russia’s recovery of Krim region of Ukraine which belonged to her all along, in anyway imply Armenia giving back recovered Armenian territories of Artsakh to Azerbaijan… That would be very ‘ironic’ and exactly ‘hypocritical’… No?
Are we still stuck on the same paradigm that people are going to play by the rules, and that what Russia does for itself, it should do for us, too?
No, not really. Mr. Putin has Mother Russia’s interest at heart. The only thing he is concerned with is total hegemony over the region and the path to his objective is to bring Azerbaijan into the fold. The only thing Azerbaijan is interested in is regaining control of Artsakh. Together, they both know what they want. Follow me?
Enough of this. Artsakh is free and independent. Armenians are united more than ever. Turkey go to hell. Azerbaijan go to hell. And all friends of Turkey and Azerbaijan you can all go to hell also.
Does going to hell also include Mother Russia?
Where is our hero Andranik?
All Armenian soldiers who are at the front, facing the mongoloid turk, are heroes, they are all Andraniks.
The Armenian eagles are all over the Armenian highlands. Artnatsek Hayer. Artnatsek mer Fedayiner. Artnatsek zhogovourd.
HAY ZiNVOR BADVAVOR , YEGiR HAYGi BES PARAVOR
The escalation of border skirmishes is actually a good thing. The azeris know they can’t commit to an all out surprise attack it’s too risky, politically and militarily. Typical turkish strategy of war of attrition. This escalation has been going on for sometime but most did not realize it. The barbarians wish prolonged trench warfare to nibble away at Armenian border defenses. Best of all worlds for the bloodthirsty barbarians and Armenians. After all, whenever the turks pulled these stunts before, the west condemned both sides, when as we all know, there was only one aggressor: the turks. It’s ironic that they started on the 100th anniversary of the beginning of world war one. Who would have thunk it that in the 21st century there would be trench warfare.
The azeris will slowly increase the use of artillery and the west will continue to mumble. The turks are taking 25% in casualties in every foray. The Armenians must be joyful for having idiots as an enemy. There is only one front were Armenians can nibble away at and not sustain significant casualties : azeri occupied Nakhichevan. Armenians have been in a constant life and death struggle with these central Asian barbarians for a thousand years. This kind of war they are presenting is just as good as if they were presenting their own heads on a silver platter.
God bless Christian Armenia !
Christian Americans stand with Armenia
Let enemy walk on minefields of Artsakh. Put more landminers for them.