Civilians from six towns in Nagorno-Karabakh were evacuated following the launch of a large-scale military operation by Azerbaijan in the region, Armenian separatist authorities in the enclave announced, according to AFP.
Soldier from Azerbaijan in Nagorno KarabakhPhoto: Alexey Kudenko / Sputnik / Profimedia
“The civilian population of six localities in Artsakh (the name given to Karabakh by the Armenians) has been evacuated,” announced on X (formerly Twitter) Gegham Stepanian, a rights defender in the separatist region.
Protests in Yerevan
Clashes broke out in Yerevan on Tuesday evening between policemen protecting the Armenian government headquarters and demonstrators, following the military operation launched by Azerbaijan against Armenian separatists in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, according to images from the Armenian media.
The police cordon, towards which bottles were thrown, resisted during the evening a crowd of demonstrators who pressed it to enter the building. Earlier, the demonstrators demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, criticizing him for not defending Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan launched a military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday, three years after the previous war there, demanding the “total and unconditional” withdrawal of its Armenian enemy from this decades-long disputed region with Armenia, reports Reuters.
Armenian diplomats said it was a “large-scale aggression” aimed at “ethnic cleansing”. They also said that Russia, the guarantor of a ceasefire that dates back to 2020 and has peacekeeping forces on the ground, should “stop Azeri aggression”.
the news is updated
