September 2022 Armenia–Azerbaijan clashes
Major escalation of the 2021–2022 Armenia-Azerbaijan border crisis / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On 12 September 2022, a series of clashes erupted between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops along the Armenia–Azerbaijan border, marking a major escalation in the current border crisis between Armenia–Azerbaijan[13][14] and resulting in nearly 300 deaths and dozens of injuries on both sides by 14 September.[15][16][17][18][19][7] A number of human rights organizations and governments – including the United States, European Parliament, Canada, France, Uruguay, Cyprus – stated that Azerbaijan had launched an attack on positions inside the Republic of Armenia.[20][21][22][23][24]
September 2022 Armenia–Azerbaijan clashes | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Armenia–Azerbaijan border crisis | |||||||||
A map of Azerbaijani strikes on the territory of Armenia between 12-13 September 2022. At least 23 localities were hit. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Belligerents | |||||||||
Azerbaijan | Armenia | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Ilham Aliyev (President, Commander-in-Chief) Zakir Hasanov (Minister of Defence) |
Nikol Pashinyan (Prime Minister, Commander-in-Chief) Suren Papikyan (Minister of Defence) Edvard Asryan (Chief of the General Staff) | ||||||||
Units involved | |||||||||
Azerbaijani Armed Forces | Armed Forces of Armenia | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
Per Azerbaijan:[7] Armenian claim: 431 servicemen killed[8] |
Per Armenia:[9] Azerbaijani claim: | ||||||||
4 Armenian civilians killed and 2 missing[9] 7 Armenian and 3 Azerbaijani civilians injured[11][12] |
This article may contain an excessive number of citations. (October 2023) |
Azerbaijani forces attacked military and civilian positions in Vardenis, Goris, Sotk, Jermuk, and other cities[25] with artillery, drones, and heavy weapons.[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][21][22][34][23] Azerbaijan claimed that Armenian forces had staged "large-scale subversive acts" using "saboteurs" who planted landmines,[35][36][37][38] an allegation the government spread during the days following the invasion[39] and also echoed by Azerbaijan's ally Turkey.[39][40] Various journalists, politicians, and political analysts scrutinized these allegations and considered them unfounded or unverifiable.[41][42][43][44][45][46][47]
The fighting ended with Azerbaijani troops taking control of strategic positions deep inside Armenia, with at least 7600 civilians displaced from Armenian provinces.[48][49][50][51][6][13][52] Russia said on 13 September that it had brokered a ceasefire, but both sides confirmed it was broken minutes after coming into effect.[53][54][55] On 14 September, Armenia and Azerbaijan brokered a new ceasefire.[56][57] Armenia requested that the CSTO provide military support; however, the military alliance refused to provide support.[58] The clashes erupted shortly after Russia suffered serious setbacks in the Kharkiv counteroffensive during the invasion of Ukraine, weakening its force projection in the Caucasus.[59][60]
Following a meeting between leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia at the invitation of the President of France, and the President of the European Council,[61] an EU civilian monitoring mission consisting of forty people was deployed on the Armenian side of the border (Azerbaijan did not grant access to its side)[62] and an OSCE assessment mission will be sent to Armenia.[63]