Karabakh Fighting Rages Frightening Civilians for their Life

On Monday, clashes between the forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia were fuming up over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, leaving civilians fear for their lives as the two parties shelled major cities. 

Firefights along the frontline with Stepanakert, the regional capital, under hefty artillery fire were reported by the separatist forces in Karabakh, an ethnic territory of Armenia that got away from Azerbaijan in the 1990s. 

Armenian forces were reported to have been shelling three of the towns by the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan. The forces also attacked Azerbaijan’s second-largest city Ganja on Sunday. 

With massive artillery fire continuing on the urban areas, concerns for the mass civilian casualties have risen. The fierce fighting has already left more than 240 dead whereas the numbers seem to escalate more in the future. 

The clashes broke out on September 27, after the decade-old conflict over Karabakh was reignited between the two ex-Soviet neighbors, with the threat of dragging in the regional powers like Turkey and Russia. 

None of the sides is ready to back out despite all the international calls for long-stuck negotiations and ceasefire. 

A city populated with some 50,000 in the very heart of the mountainous region, Stepanakert has been enduring immense artillery fire which began on Friday. Some of the residents have been filling into underground shelters while many others leaving. 

The shelling in Stepanakert had resumed at 6:30am (0230 GMT), with four shells hitting the city at first, reported the Separatist’s Foreign Ministry. 

The Ministry claimed that Azerbaijan had used cluster munitions. They also released a video footage, as a proof, showing repeated burst of heavy shelling and the wreckage from the damaged buildings. 

On the other hand, Azerbaijan claimed that Armenian forces shelled the towns of Barda, Beylagan, and Terter. 

Both the sides have reported 244 people dead, with 42 being civilians, since the eruption of the combat. However, the real numbers are expected to be much higher as the two claimed to have caused heavy military casualties. 

On Sunday, The International Committee of the Red Cross condemned the reports regarding all the indiscriminate shelling, the alleged illegitimate attacks, and the use of explosive artillery in cities, towns, and other inhabited areas. 

On Sunday two civilians were killed by shelling on the southern town of Beylagan, said Azerbaijan. 

Each of the two parties has been blaming the other for aiming civilian areas. 

Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev, while addressing the nation fiercely declared all his conditions that could help stop the fight which is near to impossible to be accepted by Armenia. 

Some of the conditions were for the Armenian forces to leave the disputed territories in deeds, and not in just words, apologize to the people of Azerbaijan and acknowledge the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.