Al Ittihad stages dramatic comeback to defeat Al Kholood 4-3 in thriller    55 Saudi companies take part in Baghdad International Fair    10,295 illegal residents deported in a week    Nazaha arrests 158 ministry employees over corruption charges    Health minister: 40% fall in mortality rates caused by chronic diseases since 2017    Arab ministerial meeting in Cairo rejects displacement of Palestinians    Venezuela frees six detained Americans after Trump envoy meets with Maduro    Saudi Arabia's non-oil exports with Gulf countries soar 43% to SR9.4 billion in November    Fitch affirms Saudi Arabia's Credit Rating at 'A+' with a Stable Outlook    Saudi foreign minister and US Secretary of State discuss bilateral relations and regional developments    Small plane crashes into buildings in northeast Philadelphia, sparking fires and injuries    Trump imposes tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China, escalating trade tensions    Saudi Arabia mandates national attire for male secondary school students    Al Nassr signs Colombian striker Jhon Durán from Aston Villa    Al Hilal returns to winning ways with a dominant 4-0 victory over Al Okhdood    Al Ahli signs Brazilian winger Galeno from Porto on a long-term deal    Saudi composer Nasser Al-Saleh passes away at 63    Saudi drama icon Mohammed Al-Towayan passes away at 79    Singer and actress Marianne Faithfull dies at 78    Saudi Arabia launches inaugural Art Week Riyadh on April 6-13    Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan 'out of danger' after attack at home in Mumbai    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Azerbaijan demands Nagorno-Karabakh surrender
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 20 - 09 - 2023

Azerbaijan has launched "anti-terror" operations in Nagorno-Karabakh, and said it will not stop until ethnic-Armenian separatists surrender.
Tensions in the South Caucasus have been high for months around the breakaway enclave, recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan and Armenia last went to war three years ago.
Baku ordered "illegal Armenian military formations" to hand over arms and dissolve their "illegal regime".
Azerbaijan and Armenia first went to war in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. Then in 2020 Azerbaijan recaptured areas in and around Nagorno-Karabakh before a truce was agreed and monitored by Russian peacekeepers.
Ethnic Armenians in Karabakh appealed on Tuesday for a ceasefire and for talks to start. But it was clear from the Azerbaijani ultimatum that Baku's aim was to complete its conquest of the mountainous enclave.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of starting a ground operation aimed at "ethnic cleansing".
But hundreds of Armenian protesters, frustrated by their country's response, clashed with police outside parliament in Yerevan, condemning their leader as a traitor and calling on him to resign.
Azerbaijan said talks could start in the town of Yevlakh, some 100km (60km) north of the Karabakh regional capital of Khankendi, called Stepanakert by ethnic Armenians.
Since the end of 2020, 3,000 Russians have monitored the fragile truce but Moscow's attention has been diverted by its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
An estimated 120,000 ethnic Armenians live in the mountainous enclave. Russia said its soldiers had moved almost 500 civilians from the most at-risk areas, while separatists said they had helped move a total of 7,000.
For the past nine months, Azerbaijan has imposed an effective blockade on the only route into the enclave from Armenia, known as the Lachin Corridor.
Azerbaijan said it had launched its operation in response to the deaths of six people, including four police officers, in two landmine explosions on Tuesday morning.
Air raid sirens then rang out and the sound of artillery and gunfire could be heard in Karabakh's main city. Residential buildings were damaged and journalist Siranush Sargsyan described seeing a building next door being hit.
Karabakh officials said five people had been killed and dozens more wounded, including women and children.
defense officials in the breakaway region said the Azerbaijani military had "violated the ceasefire along the entire line of contact with missile-artillery strikes". Other Karabakh representatives spoke of a "large-scale military offensive" although later reports said that the intensity of fire had decreased.
The Azerbaijan defense ministry insisted it was not targeting civilians or civilian buildings, and that "only legitimate military targets are being incapacitated by the use of high-precision weapons".
It accused Armenian forces of "systematic shelling" of its army positions and said it had responded by launching "local, anti-terrorist activities... to disarm and secure the withdrawal of formations of Armenia's armed forces from our territories".
In a brief televised address, Armenia's prime minister rejected claims that his military was involved.
Russia's foreign ministry said it had been warned of the Azerbaijani offensive only minutes in advance and urged both countries to respect a ceasefire signed after the war in 2020. The EU's regional special representative, Toivo Klaar, said there was "urgent need for immediate ceasefire".
Both Russia's Foreign Ministry and the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, called for Aliyev to cease military action in the area immediately.
South Caucasus commentator Laurence Broers said on Tuesday the Armenian population in Karabakh had been weakened by the blockade and the Azerbaijan operation had been launched "seemingly to retake Armenian-populated Karabakh in its entirety".
Nikol Pashinyan said recently that Russia was "spontaneously leaving the region". Azerbaijan has meanwhile had strong support from its ally Turkey.
Hikmet Hajiyev, special adviser to Azerbaijan's President Aliyev, called on the separatist ethnic-Armenian administration to "dissolve itself".
"Azerbaijan has always said we are ready to provide rights and security of Karabakh Armenians under the constitution," he told BBC News.
Azerbaijan had denied building up troop numbers in the region. On Monday, it allowed aid from the International Committee of the Red Cross into Karabakh on two roads, one via the Lachin Corridor from Armenia and the other on Azerbaijan's Aghdam road.
Before Tuesday's offensive began there had been hopes that tensions might subside.
The Azerbaijan defense ministry released images of a vehicle which it said were destroyed by a land mine, but ethnic Armenian officials said it was Azerbaijan's military that had violated the ceasefire. — BBC


Clic here to read the story from its source.