(Reuters) – Azerbaijan has launched “anti-terrorist activities” in the Nagorno-Karabakh region to restore constitutional order and expel what it called Armenian military formations, a move that could foreshadow a new war in the region.
Heavy shelling was heard on unverified social media footage filmed in Stepanakert, the capital of Karabakh, called Khankendi by Azerbaijan, on Tuesday.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement of its intention to “disarm and ensure the withdrawal of the formations of the armed forces of Armenia from our territories, (and) neutralize their military infrastructure”.
The ministry said it was targeting only legitimate military targets using “high-precision weapons” and not civilians, as part of what it called an effort to “restore the constitutional order of the Republic of Azerbaijan”.
Civilians were free to leave through what it called humanitarian corridors, it added, including one to Armenia.
Armenia, which claims that its armed forces are not present in Karabakh, said in a statement through its Defense Ministry that the situation on its own border with Azerbaijan was stable.
Internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, Karabakh has a predominantly ethnic Armenian population and fell out of Baku’s control in the early 1990s after a war.
Azerbaijan regained large swathes of land in and around the region in a war in 2020, but ethnic Armenian authorities, who consider the area their ancestral homeland, remained in control of part of Karabakh, including its capital.
A ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia and enforced by Russian peacekeepers has remained fragile ever since, with frequent shelling and mutual accusations.
Armenia has accused Moscow, which is involved in its own war in Ukraine, of being too distracted to be able to guarantee security.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement of its intention to “disarm and ensure the withdrawal of the formations of the armed forces of Armenia from our territories, (and) neutralize their military infrastructure”.
The ministry said it was targeting only legitimate military targets using “high-precision weapons” and not civilians, as part of what it called an effort to “restore the constitutional order of the Republic of Azerbaijan”.