Fighting continues in the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and at a time when the two sides exchange accusations, Russia says it is studying an Iranian proposal to end the fighting, indicating that it will continue to work with Turkey to prevent the expansion of the military confrontation.

Today, Tuesday, Azerbaijan announced that the Armenian forces, which targeted residential areas, suffered great losses in lives and equipment, during the clashes that erupted overnight on different axes of the front.

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense stated in a statement that clashes continued intensively on the axes of Agdera, Khujawand, Fazuli, Qubadli and Zangilan.

It indicated that the Armenian forces had to withdraw from some areas on the front line, after suffering losses in lives and equipment.

The war has been continuing in the Karabakh region for more than 6 weeks (European)

Remarks .. denied

Azerbaijan said that its positions on the border with Armenia were bombed by mortars and small arms, and that the city of Fizuli, located between Karabakh and Iran, and the surrounding villages, were bombed.

On the other hand, a spokeswoman for the Armenian Ministry of Defense, Shushan Stepanyan, denied the reports of the Vizuli bombing.

An official with this ministry said that fighting was continuing in the eastern part of Karabakh province.

For his part, the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan, Kamran Aliyev, said - in an interview with Reuters - that the forces of the advancing country found Fizuli empty.

This comes at a time when the Karabakh region army said that 1,177 of its soldiers have been killed since the outbreak of clashes on 27 September.

Azerbaijan does not announce its military losses, while Russia estimated the death toll from both sides at 5,000.

The war between Armenia and Azerbaijan caused human and material losses (Getty Images)

Tension and fears

For more than a month, tension has prevailed in the Karabakh region, amid a large-scale war between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the southern Caucasus, where Ankara and Moscow compete.

Under international law, the Nagorno Karabakh region is part of Azerbaijan, but the Armenians - who make up the vast majority of its population - reject Baku rule.

The region has been running its own affairs with the support of Armenia since it split from Azerbaijan during a conflict that erupted when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Lavrov: Moscow will continue to work with Turkey to prevent the (French) military confrontation from widening

Proposal and endeavors

Politically, Russia said it is studying an Iranian proposal to end the conflict in Karabakh after the failure of 3 ceasefire agreements in the fighting, which entered its sixth week.

Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko as saying that Tehran's proposal was presented by his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi during his visit to Moscow last week, but he did not give any details.

Russian news agencies reported last week that Iran had proposed to play a prominent role in peace negotiations in which the countries of the region would participate, and said that Russia would be one of them.

In a related context, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that his country will continue to work with Turkey to prevent the expansion of the military confrontation in the Karabakh region.

Khamenei: The territories that Armenia captured from Azerbaijan must be returned (European)

Khamenei's position

For his part, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared that the lands that Armenia controlled from Azerbaijan "must be returned", explaining his country's position on the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh.

"Unfortunately, this ongoing war at our doors between two neighboring countries, Armenia and Azerbaijan (...) threatens the security of the region. This must stop as soon as possible," Khamenei said in a televised speech.

"Of course, the lands captured by Armenia must be returned and liberated. It is a basic condition. These lands belong to Azerbaijan, which has an absolute right over it," he added.

In early October, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared that "occupation is totally unacceptable" and that "everyone should respect the territorial integrity of states" without explicitly calling for Armenia to withdraw from the territories it occupies.