New fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan threatens to reignite 30-year-old conflict

Armenia claimed to have destroyed two helicopters, three drones and three tanks, saying this was in response to the attack launched by Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan officials said they were mounting a counteroffensive and claimed only one helicopter had been shot down with no loss of life. Azerbaijan said it had destroyed 12 Armenian air defense systems.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was on the phone with both sides Sunday urging an end to fighting, according to spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Moscow has close ties with both sides.

“In view of the escalating situation around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Lavrov is conducting intensive contacts in a bid to encourage the sides to cease fire and begin negotiations to stabilize the situation,” Zakharova told reporters on Sunday.

The Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the continuing large-scale hostilities and called for an immediate cease-fire.

European Union high representative on foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, said the escalation threatened regional security. He called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities, de-escalation and strict adherence to the cease-fire.”

The conflict originally broke out shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union when Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a majority Armenian population, broke away and declared independence, triggering a war that killed at least 20,000 and saw a million people flee their homes.

A cease-fire was declared in 1994 but the region remains volatile with regular conflicts along the border. Decades of peace talks mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have failed to resolve the conflict.

Firing and skirmishes on the border are common: The International Crisis Group, which tracks the crisis, reported near 300 incidents since 2015.

Tensions flared again in July when at least 16 soldiers were killed in skirmishes on the front line between Armenia and Azerbaijan, known as the Line of Contact.

At the time, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry accused Armenia of shelling its front-line positions at the Tovuz section of the border near Georgia. Armenia countered that it was Azerbaijan conducting cross-border attacks.

Authorities in the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region Sunday said Azerbaijan had shelled the capital Stepanakert and nearby settlements. Baku, which sees the region as its territory, accused Armenia of doing the shelling.

Samvel Babayan, a security official in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, said about 10 of the region’s soldiers were killed in the fighting, Interfax news agency reported. 

Vahram Poghosyan, spokesman for the region, also said the situation on the border with Azerbaijan was now “under control,” the agency reported.

Earlier, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry claimed to have taken control of several villages in Nagorno-Karabakh, a claimed rejected by Armenian officials.

Turkey, which has cultural and economic ties with Azerbaijan, has voiced strong support for Azerbaijan since the July clashes, offering to upgrade its defense capabilities. It held joint military exercises with Azerbaijan last month.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar was quick to blame Armenia for the crisis Sunday, in a statement posted on Twitter, warning that Armenia’s actions would “set the region on fire.”

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on the global community to prevent Turkey from intervening in the crisis, warning this would have “catastrophic conseqences” for the region.

Kareem Fahim in Istanbul contributed to this report.