Azerbaijan Claims It Assassinated Defense Minister Of Nagorno-Karabakh, While Armenia Captures Syrian Militants In Combat Zone (Videos, Map)South Front

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The US-sponsored ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh collapsed. So, Armenia and Azerbaijan continue pound each other and make victorious statements.

On October 27, Azerbaijani sources released the video allegedly showing the assassination of Lieutenant General Jalal Harutyunyan in a drone strikes in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijani sources claim that he was killed. These reports were denied by the Armenian side.

“This is the second time the Azerbaijani press has been spreading false information about Jalal Harutyunyan – he allegedly died. I must say right away that nothing threatens Mr. Harutyunyan’s life, and the wound he received in one of the combat positions, fortunately, is not serious, and very soon he will return to the army,” Vahram Poghosyan, a spokesperson of the Republic of Artsakh Pesident, said.

Nonetheless, the Karabakh leadership appointed Mikael Arzumanyan a new defense minister of the self-proclaimed republic. While Armenian sources say that Harutyunyan will soon return to the army, this move indicates that the situation is more complicated that they want to admit.

On October 27 evening, the Armenian Defense Ministry released a map showing their version of the situation in the contested region. Even according to this map, Armenian forces lost almost the entire south of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani forces are close to the Lachin corridor, a vital supply route from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. An interesting fact is that the Armenians still claim that the town of Hadrut is in their hands. According to them, small ‘enemy units’ reach the town, make photos and then run away.

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Al-Hadath TV also released a video showing Turkish-backed Syrian militants captured during the clashes. Now, there are not only visual evidence confirming the presence of members of Turkish-backed militant groups in the conflict zone, but also Syrian militants captured by Armenian forces there.

2/2 Details from tweet 1/2 pic.twitter.com/ptQ7Z2jOrN

— 301?? (@301_AD) October 27, 2020

Despite the claims of Azerbaijan that it supports the ceasefire, its forces continue their advance in the region. Their main goal is Lachin. In fact, they have been already shelling the supply route with rocket launchers and artillery. The distance of 12-14km in which they are located allows to do this. Armenian forces try to push Azerbaijani troops back, but they have achieved little progress in this.

Armenian forces strike the advancing Azerbaijani troops:

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also made another address to the nation confirming that the war continues.

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According to Azerbaijan, Armenian forces regularly shells settlements and towns behind the front line killing civilians. Baku reported on October 27 that at least four civilians were killed and 10 wounded in Armenian strikes on Goranboy, Tartar, and Barda.

Experts that monitor the situation in the Armenian internal politics say that in recent days the Soros-grown team of Pashinyan has recently changed its rhetoric towards the pro-Russian agenda. As an example, the press secretary of the prime minister Mane Gevorgyan reportedly wrote a letter to Vladimir Solovyov (a prominent Russian TV host and showman) insisting that she did not participate in the burning of the Russian flag near the Russian embassy in Yerevan in 2015, but was just present in that area then. The pro-Western, anti-Russian demonstration took there after a deserter from the Russian military unit deployed in Gyumri killed an Armenian family. The criminal, Vladimir Permyakov, was detained by a Russian FSB border guard unit during an attempt to cross the Armenian-Turkish border. He got a life sentence in Russia. Then, this incident was actively exploited by pro-Western forces in Armenia to fuel anti-Russian hysteria. Later, the very same forces led by Pashinyan seized power in the country as a result of the coup in 2018.

In the next two years, the Pashinyan government contributed a lot of efforts to undermine the relations with Russia and turned Armenia into a de-facto anti-Russian state. This created undermined the Armenian regional security and created conditions for the Azerbaijani-Turkish advance in Karabakh. Now, the Pashinyan government tries to rescue itself by employing some ‘pro-Russian rhetoric’. It even reportedly asked second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan to participate in negotiations with Russia as a part of the Armenian delegation. It should be noted that the persecution of Kocharyan that led to his arrest in June 2019 was among the first steps of Pashinyan after he seized power. Kocharyan was released from the prison just in late June 2020. Despite these moves in the face of a full military defeat in Karabakh, the core ideology of the Pashinyan government remains same (anti-Russian, pro-Western and NATO-oriented). Therefore, even if Moscow rescues Armenia in Karabkah, the current Armenian leadership will continue providing the same anti-Russian policy.

After the month of the war, the Turkish-Azerbaijani bloc continues keeping the initiative in the conflict and exploiting its advantage in air power, artillery, military equipment and manpower. The coming days will likely show either Ankara and Baku are able to deliver a devastating blow to Armenian forces in Karabakh in the nearest future or not. If Armenian forces repel the attack on Lachin, they will get an opportunity to survive till the moment when the ‘international community’ finally makes some real step to pressure Turkey and Azerbaijan enough to force them to stop the ongoing advance. If this does not happen, the outcome of the war seems to be predetermined.