Azerbaijani army foils Armenia's another provocative attack

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

The Armenian armed forces breached the truce in several directions on frontline for 80 times over the last 48 hours, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry reported on February 23. The Armenians were given a fitting rebuff.

Azerbaijani armed forces have once again foiled an Armenian sabotage group's attempt to attack the positions of Azerbaijani army on February 21, according to the ministry.

"The units of the Azerbaijani armed forces exercised vigilance to uncover and prevent the sabotage," the Defense Ministry said.

"Following a heavy gunfight, the Armenian units were forced to retreat, suffering loses,” the ministry added.

The sabotage attack unfortunately left a soldier of the Azerbaijani armed forces dead. Private Javadov Zalimkhan fell victim to fires by Armenian group during the shootout.

The Ministry accused the brass and political leadership of Armenia of all the provocations committed on the frontline. "We will take more severe and decisive actions, the blood of martyrs will be avenged," the Ministry added.

Azerbaijani authorities are taking more intensive steps to strengthen the army each year given the continuous danger from the Armenian side.

Armenia's rejection to pull its troops out of the occupied Azerbaijani territories despite the UN resolutions has given a birth to the option of armed resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The protracted conflict in Karabakh is the fruit of Armenia's military invasion in Azerbaijan's internationally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions in early 1990s.

As a result of bloody warfare, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory is under Armenia's occupation for over two decades, as well as over a million Azerbaijanis live in refuge towns and camps following their coercive displacement by Armenia.

Armenia will see Azerbaijani army's power this year, Uzeyir Jafarov, a military expert said commenting on the recent skirmishes on the frontline.

"Aggressor Armenia will face more moral and material losses in future," Jafarov noted.

Armenia is carrying out provocative actions in the territories bordering Azerbaijan's Tovuz, Gazakh and Aghstafa regions without gaining any concrete results as Azerbaijan has never cherished a territorial claim towards Armenia.

Jafarov believes that Armenia is now trying to depose the conflict zone from Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh territory to the border with Azerbaijan in an effort to see Collective Security Treaty Organization's assistance in any armed brawl.

Armenia is member of the CSTO, a Russia-initiated military union of seven countries. General statute of the CSTO envisages an armed assistance to its member-state during an invasion to its internationally recognized territory by the third state.

Jafarov said the possibility of large-scale operations on the line of contact in future should not be excluded at present.

"Azerbaijan is able to restore its sovereignty over the occupied lands in a short period of time. Each Azerbaijani soldier has taken the restoration of the territorial integrity as his duty and is waiting for the order from the supreme commander in chief," he noted.