By Trend

An article covering the latest developments within the Nagorno Karabakh conflict has been published by the International Policy Digest web portal, Trend reports.

In an article named “Armenia Needs to Withdraw for Lasting Peace in Nagorno-Karabakh” the author writes that even after a ceasefire was announced a week ago, Armenia’s shelling of civilian areas has continued, with a ballistic missile attack on Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second-largest city, flattening a residential building on Saturday night.

“This situation cannot be allowed to continue, not least because it threatens to spill over into a wider regional. Already there are reports that Armenia has recruited Kurdish fighters and mercenaries from Iraq and Syria, and transferred them to Nagorno-Karabakh to provide training to Armenian forces. This is a dangerous escalation of the conflict, that would inflict battle-hardened militants on to a civilian population,” the author wrote.

The author also noted that in contrast, Azerbaijan has responded with restraint to Armenian aggression.

“Armenia has been trying to force this escalation, by attacking civilian targets within Azerbaijan that are of no military value. These include Ganja, a city 60 kilometers away from the conflict zone, the central Azerbaijani city of Mingachevir, which hosts the country’s largest hydroelectric power station, as well as the towns of Beylagan, Barda, and Terter,” the article said.

Bring up numerous military provocations of Armenia against Azerbaijan, the author also writes that it is clear that Armenia has been planning military action in the past few months while the West has been distracted by the COVID pandemic.

“With hundreds of casualties in the past two weeks, it is important that both sides respect the ceasefire and sit down for the “substantive” negotiations that are needed to end this conflict,” the author wrote.