Azerbaijan downs two UAVs belonging to Armenia

By Azernews

By Aisha Jabbarova

The Air Defense units of the Azerbaijani Air Force have destroyed two tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) belonging to Armenia, the Defence Ministry’s press service reported on July 21.

The ministry said that Armenian armed forces, using UAVs, attempted to carry out a reconnaissance flight over the positions of the units of Azerbaijan Army in the direction of the Agdam district of the front at 00.30 am, and over the positions in the direction of the Tovuz region of the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border at 08.45 am in the morning.

Another tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) "X-55" belonging to Armenia was downed on July 16.

The cross-border clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia started on July 12 noon after Armenian troops fired artillery at Azerbaijani military post in Tovuz region. 

Azerbaijan lost 12 servicemen, including an army general, during cross-border clashes from July 12 till July 16. Armenian forces have also been shelling civilians in villages in Tovuz. An Azerbaijani civilian in Tovuz’s Aghdam village was killed as a result of artillery shelling by the Armenian armed forces on July 14. 

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region, which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Since 1994, hostilities between the two countries have persisted despite the temporary cease-fire agreement. Usually, Armenian forces violate cease-fire regime on the line of contact. But recently Armenia has increased military aggression on the border.