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New Border Clash Deadly Between Armenia, Azerbaijan

By Tsarizm Staff | July 12, 2020

New Border Clash Deadly Between Armenia, Azerbaijan
Nagorno-Karabakh War
Image by Bourrichon [1]

A violent border clash broke out over the weekend between long-term belligerents Armenia and Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus. The two nations have been fighting over the border region of Nagorno-Karabakh since the early 90s and the fall of the Soviet Union.

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said on July 12 that two of its soldiers were killed after Armenian forces attacked its positions, reported RFERL.

The ministry said in a statement that Armenia’s “offensive” from its northern Tavush region was met with a “counterstrike.” 

“Two Azerbaijani servicemen were killed and five more wounded,” the statement added.

“At 12:30 local time (11:30 Moscow time) today, due to unknown reasons, the Azerbaijani troops moving in an UAZ car tried to violated Armenia’s state border in the direction of the Tavush region. After a warning from the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani soldiers left their car and retreated to their positions. After that, Azerbaijani troops once again tried to seize the Armenian positions, opening artillery fire at them,” the ministry said, reported Russian state news agency TASS.

According to the ministry, Azerbaijani troops retreated following retaliatory fire, sustaining losses. “There were no losses among Armenian servicemen,” it added.

The clash was far from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region which makes this skirmish unique and troublesome..

The July 12 clashes came days after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev raised the possibility of a new war with Armenia and denounced stalled peace talks, reported RFERL.

This piece originally appeared on Tsarizm.com [4] and is used by permission.