Armenians of Karabakh and their Russian "allies" who are supposed to be there to ensure their safety received a stark warning from Azerbaijan on Tuesday, September 19. All throughout the day, bombardments targeted Armenian armed forces' positions in Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist enclave that has escaped Baku's control for 32 years.
There have been numerous images circulated by the Azerbaijan Ministry of Defense showing "surgical" strikes on radar stations, ammunition depots and anti-aircraft systems provided by Russia to Nagorno-Karabakh's army. On the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the ministry showed a strike on the Armenian "P-18" radar station captured by a prowling weapon (probably the Israeli Harop drone), while pointing out that "Russian peacekeepers are temporarily stationed there."
An earlier statement from Baku reports that "the command of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation and the leadership of the Turkish-Russian Observatory have been informed of the activities carried out." This was in order to prevent an incident involving Russian soldiers that have been deployed there since the ceasefire agreement that ended the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War on November 10, 2020. Although just under 2,000 Russian soldiers are supposed to protect the Armenians in the territory, they have been notoriously unable to stop the numerous military skirmishes that have occurred over the past three years, as well as Baku's nine-month blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.
As part of its "anti-terrorist operation," the Azerbaijani army conducted a bombing campaign on September 19 in response to the "provocation of illegal Armenian armed formations" within the territory. Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian separatist authorities aren't recognized anywhere, not even by Yerevan, which supports them.
Two separate incidents in the early hours of this morning are cited by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense in a statement issued earlier today, as the spark for the bombing campaign. According to reports, two civilians employed by the national road agency were killed after their vehicle hit a mine on the Fuzuli–Shusha road, and four servicemen were killed in a similar incident at an unspecified location. "Armenian reconnaissance and sabotage groups" laid the deadly mines, according to Baku.
As a way of preventing an international outcry, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense reaffirmed in the same press release that the "civilian population and civilian facilities are not targeted by the Azerbaijan Armed Forces, only legitimate military targets are neutralized."
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