Azerbaijan said that a number of its areas near the border with Georgia were bombed from within Armenia, while the forces of the so-called Nagorno Karabakh Republic said that the Azerbaijani forces bombed residential areas within the disputed region, while diplomatic efforts from neighboring countries are increasing for a ceasefire between the two sides.
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense said that the town of Tovuz, on the border with Georgia, and the cities of Gadabay, Dashkisen and Qabadli, were bombed from inside the Armenian lands, specifically from the towns of Bird, Gambark and Vardins this morning, and the ministry also mentioned that the "Agha Badi" region is under heavy Armenian bombing.
Earlier yesterday, Baku said that the Armenian side targeted residential areas in the villages and towns of the city of Barda, near Karabakh, using the Smerch missile system, killing 4 people, including children, and wounding dozens of women and children.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry statement stated that Armenia "publishes false statements about the Azerbaijani army targeting civilians in Karabakh, while it is taking the initiative to kill civilians and target their villages."
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that Armenia "is anticipating the Geneva negotiations with this bloody crime. If this indicates anything, it indicates its unwillingness to any peaceful solution to the crisis."
Women from the town of Azeri near Karabakh province mourning their death due to Armenian missile strikes (Anatolia)
Residential areas
On the other hand, the Ministry of Defense in the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh - which is not recognized internationally - said that the Azerbaijani army continued to bomb residential areas in Karabakh, specifically in the town of Martoni, and the villages in the upper sub-region of the Askeran region, but clarified that the last night had known a relatively stable situation. In areas of confrontation.
The ministry said that local battles in some directions of the front line are still ongoing.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stressed in a speech to the Armenian people that "war must be a priority for all Armenians until victory is achieved."
Pashinyan said that the world "now realizes that Azerbaijan and Turkey are the two aggressors," stressing that Baku is not ready for a political settlement of the conflict in the region, and that "is what legitimizes the right of the Armenian people to fight."
Earlier, a spokeswoman for the Armenian Ministry of Defense said that Azerbaijan used drones to attack border sites near the country's southern border with Iran, which was denied by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense.
This escalation by both sides of the conflict comes after the rapid collapse of the third humanitarian truce agreed upon between Baku and Yerevan, following the mediation of the United States, and the truce was supposed to take effect from Monday morning.
Armenian soldiers in the capital Yerevan carry the body of their comrade who was killed in the fighting in the Karabakh region (Getty Images)
Iranian delegate
On the other hand, Abbas Araghchi, Iranian Assistant Foreign Minister and Special Envoy for Iran to resolve the Karabakh crisis, arrived in the Azerbaijani capital Baku within a regional tour that includes Yerevan, Moscow and Ankara, to push for an Iranian initiative to resolve the conflict in the Karabakh region.
Araghchi said that his tour aims to present his country's proposal with the aim of reaching a permanent solution to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and achieving security and stability in the region. The Iranian official added that the proposal provides for an end to the occupation of Azerbaijani lands, stressing that ending the occupation is an important component of this proposal, and pointed out that The proposal also stipulates respect for the rights of minorities, the need to stop the fighting, and the launch of political dialogue.
Turkey and Russia
In a related context, the Al-Jazeera correspondent in Ankara reported, citing sources in the Turkish Foreign Ministry, that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had a phone call with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ceyhun Bayramov, during which he discussed recent field developments in the Karabakh region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed, in a phone call yesterday with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his concern about the expansion of the involvement of what he described as terrorists from the Middle East in the conflict in Karabakh.
A Kremlin statement added that Putin informed Erdogan of his contacts with the Armenian and Azeri leadership, and the steps being taken in order to achieve the truce and stop the escalation as soon as possible.
The director of the Al-Jazeera office in Ankara, Omar Khashram, said that Ankara supports any political settlement of the conflict that guarantees the restoration of Azerbaijan's lands occupied by Armenia, and the return of the displaced Azeris to their homes in the region, whose number is estimated at one million.
In the same context, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called yesterday the Prime Minister of Armenia and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, and called on them to abide by their pledges to stop combat operations and to seek a diplomatic solution to the conflict in the Karabakh region.