{"id":1025,"date":"2016-04-05T00:52:22","date_gmt":"2016-04-04T21:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=1025"},"modified":"2016-04-05T00:59:54","modified_gmt":"2016-04-04T21:59:54","slug":"armenia-azerbaijan-conflict-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=1025","title":{"rendered":"Armenia Azerbaijan Conflict Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Wreckage of Azerbaijani Mi-24 that was shot down by Armenia<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Armenia\u2019s government has release footage showing the wreckage of a Azerbaijani Mi-24 gunship that was shot down by its forces in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-yHa6Vi68PY\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A long-simmering, violent feud in Eurasia is now on pause &#8212; at least according to one of the dueling countries.<\/p>\n<p>Azerbaijan announced a unilateral ceasefire in its conflict with Armenia, a territorial riff that has been brewing for years but recently turned deadly.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement Sunday came a day after dozens of soldiers from both countries were killed, Azerbaijani state media reported.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1026\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1026\" class=\"wp-image-1026 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-1-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"Armenia\/Azerbaijan conflict Map\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-1-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-1.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1026\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Armenia\/Azerbaijan conflict Map<\/p><\/div>\n<p>But moments later, the Armenian News Agency said Azerbaijan was still attacking with missile artillery systems.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As a result of the rival&#8217;s bombardment, houses, trees, as well as gas pipelines feeding the city (of Martakert) have been damaged, Armenpress reported.<\/p>\n<p>Martakert is in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region at the center of the Azerbaijan-Armenian dispute. The region is occupied by Armenian forces but surrounded and claimed by Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n<p>Azerbaijan said it reached a unilateral ceasefire decision &#8220;to stop counter-attacks and retaliatory action against the enemy in the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan&#8221; after international calls and the country&#8217;s efforts to pursue a &#8220;peaceful policy,&#8221; the Azerbaijan state news agency Azertac reported.<\/p>\n<p>But Azerbaijan said it will respond to any continued &#8220;provocations&#8221; with &#8220;offensive operations in order to destroy the enemy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Recent wave of violence<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1028\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1028\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1028\" src=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-2.jpg\" alt=\"Armenia\/Azerbaijan conflict\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-2.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-2-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1028\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Armenia\/Azerbaijan conflict<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Over the past three days, Azerbaijani Mi-24 helicopter carrying out airstrikes on Armenian military positions was shot down, and a mine blast damaged a tank, according to Azertac.<\/p>\n<p>The Azerbaijani state news agency also said six Armenian tanks and 15 artillery pieces were destroyed, while over &#8220;100 enemy soldiers were killed and injured.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Armenpress news agency, meanwhile, said 18 troops were killed and 35 wounded &#8220;because of the provocative actions made by the Azerbaijani armed forces along the entire length of contact line with the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1029 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-6.jpg\" alt=\"Armenia\/Azerbaijan conflict \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-6.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-6-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>U.S. weighs in<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The U.S. State Department condemned the acts of violence, &#8220;which have resulted in a number of reported casualties, including civilians.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We urge the sides to show restraint, avoid further escalation, and strictly adhere to the ceasefire,&#8221; the State Department said &#8220;We reiterate that there is no military solution to the conflict.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It called for both sides to start negotiations.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-8.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1030 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-8.jpg\" alt=\"Armenia\/Azerbaijan conflict \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-8.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-8-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Who&#8217;s to blame?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Each country blamed the other for the fresh hostilities.<\/p>\n<p>Armenia said &#8220;the adversary&#8221; undertook &#8220;offensive actions,&#8221; trying to &#8220;infiltrate deep into the defensive lines of the (Armenian army) and seize tactical positions using tanks, artillery and air force,&#8221; according to a Defense Ministry statement.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1031\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1031\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1031\" src=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-3.jpg\" alt=\"Remains of a downed Azerbaijani forces helicopter lies in a field in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region, on Saturday, April 2, 2016. In a statement, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said 12 of its soldiers &quot;became shards&quot; (Muslim martyrs) and said one of its helicopters was shot down. At least 30 soldiers and a boy were reported killed as heavy fighting erupted Saturday between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. (AP Photo)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"711\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-3.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-3-300x208.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1031\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Remains of a downed Azerbaijani forces helicopter lies in a field in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region, on Saturday, April 2, 2016. In a statement, Azerbaijan&#8217;s Defense Ministry said 12 of its soldiers &#8220;became shards&#8221; (Muslim martyrs) and said one of its helicopters was shot down. At least 30 soldiers and a boy were reported killed as heavy fighting erupted Saturday between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. (AP Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The &#8220;enemy retreated&#8221; after Armenian forces responded, with the Defense Ministry noting that &#8220;military operations are ongoing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Azerbaijani authorities are to be held fully accountable for the unprecedented escalation of tensions along the Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan contact line,&#8221; the Armenian Defense Ministry said.<\/p>\n<p>The Azerbaijani government, by contrast, characterized the Armenian forces as the aggressor.<\/p>\n<p>Hikmat Hajiyev, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, accused Armenia of intentionally and &#8220;intensively&#8221; shelling &#8220;settlements near the front line, where civilians closely live.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said the Armenians &#8220;killed and injured several civilians,&#8221; in addition to firing on Azerbaijani troops.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As an aggressive country, Armenia bears responsibility (for) the current situation,&#8221; Hajiyev said, the Azertac news agency reported.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1032\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1032\" class=\"wp-image-1032 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-4.jpg\" alt=\"Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-4\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-4.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-4-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1032\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Armenian servicemen fire an artillery shell towards Azeri forces from the town of Martakert on Sunday.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #993300;\">How this all started<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>More than two decades ago, the two former Soviet republics fought a fierce war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.<\/p>\n<p>Azerbaijan gained formal independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991 after initially declaring its national sovereignty in 1988. Since then, it has been locked in a territorial dispute with ethnic Armenian separatists.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1033\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-7.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1033\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1033\" src=\"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-7.jpg\" alt=\"Azerbaijan says 12 of its soldiers killed in fighting\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-7.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Azerbaijan-Armenia-conflict-03-April-2013-7-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1033\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Azerbaijan says 12 of its soldiers killed in fighting<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Ax murderer&#8217;s pardon stirs fears of war<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>A six-year conflict from 1988 to 1994 saw separatists, backed by troops from Armenia, and Azerbaijani forces fight over the Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhichevan regions in southwest Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n<p>In 1994, a ceasefire was reached. But by then, the separatists, who are seeking full independence from Azerbaijan, had taken control of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding provinces.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s been less violence of late, though the area remains volatile.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\">CNN&#8217;s Greg Botelho, Yousuf Basil and Jessica King contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>(Copyright 2016 by <a style=\"color: #808080;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/\">CNN NewSource<\/a>. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Source:<\/strong> By Gul Tuysuz, Holly Yan and Joshua Berlinger, CNN (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/04\/03\/asia\/azerbaijan-armenia-violence\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.cnn.com<\/a>), Sun April 3, 2016<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wreckage of Azerbaijani Mi-24 that was shot down by Armenia Armenia\u2019s government has release footage showing the wreckage of a Azerbaijani Mi-24 gunship that was shot down by its forces in the enclave of&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,173,7,31,28,6,26,21,18],"tags":[1033,765,1040,1035,144,1038,1037,1036,1039,1034],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1025"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1036,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions\/1036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}