Tensions on Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan appeared to have eased on Wednesday after three days of heavy fighting that left at least 15 soldiers dead.
The Armenian Defense Ministry reported throughout the day that there are no serious ceasefire violations at a section of the border between Armenia’s northern Tavush province and the Tovuz district in Azerbaijan, the scene of the clashes.
A ministry spokeswoman, Shushan Stepanian, said at around 9 p.m. local time that the situation there remains “calm.” There were only “sporadic gunshots” fired from Azerbaijani army positions, she said.
“At the moment the truce is largely observed on the border,” Stepanian wrote on Facebook earlier in the day.
There were also no repots of fresh Azerbaijani shelling of the local town of Berd and nearby Tavush villages located closer to the frontier. The Armenian military reported on Tuesday Azerbaijani drone attacks on “civilian infrastructure” in Berd.
“Berd was hit yesterday but there has been no shooting today,” a middle-aged resident of the town told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
“There is some tension but no panic here,” said another local man. “Everyone is going about their business.”
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry also did not report serious ceasefire violations. Citing Azerbaijan’s human rights ombudsperson, the Trend news agency claimed that a border village in Tovuz again came under Armenian fire on Wednesday. It said that nobody was hurt as a result.
The Armenian Defense Ministry strongly denied the claim.
Eleven Azerbaijani servicemen, including an army general, and four Armenian soldiers were killed in the clashes that broke out in disputed circumstances on Sunday. The fighting marked the worst escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since 2016.
The conflicting parties blame each other for the flare-up along their volatile border. They have released videos of their forces purportedly striking enemy positions with artillery and drone fire.
The Armenian side also publicized on Tuesday what it described as footage of a sophisticated Hermes 900 drone of the Azerbaijani armed forces shot down by an Armenian surface-to-air rocket. Hermes 900 is manufactured by an Israeli company, Elbit Systems.
Artsrun Hovannisian, another Defense Ministry representative, claimed that Armenian anti-aircraft units shot down a dozen Azerbaijani unmanned aerial vehicles during the three-day hostilities.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was reported to say on Wednesday that his troops dealt a “crushing blow” to the Armenians during “revenge operations” ordered by him.
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