In Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian volunteers discover the war

Armenian volunteers prepare to go to the front near Hadrut, in Nagorno-Karabakh.

September 29, 2020 (illustration).

AP Photo / Karen Mirzoyan

Text by: Anissa El Jabri Follow

2 min

This is the strength of Armenia and its diaspora: the resumption of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh immediately triggered an international mobilization.

On the ground there are experienced fighters but also international volunteers.

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From our special correspondent in Stepanakaert,

Dark circles under the eyes, tight jaws, we met them in uniform in the streets of Stepanakaert, the capital of

, back from a few days on the front after an express training.

Coming from Lebanon, Syria or Latin America, these thirty-something

from the first hours of the resumption of fighting.

Some had never held a weapon.

On condition of anonymity, these volunteers recount the days and nights spent lying in a ditch with an assault rifle, hearing suicide drones pass over their heads.

" 

 ," one of them said.

To hide so as not to be killed, to run in the middle of the night without knowing where you are stepping, who is dead who is alive.

These young adutes who until now led an ordinary life of executive or entrepreneur are discovering the raw and brutal reality of war.

Exhausted, sometimes shocked, some walked down from the front line a few dozen kilometers from the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh.

They were immediately replaced by other volunteers who could hardly be seen in Stepanakaert, speeding by in a military truck towards the front.

Since the start of the conflict, so many of them have been registered that some are still waiting in Yerevan to be called in to support those who are fighting.

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