Armenian MoD reports Azerbaijani shelling of Goris and Jermuk, Baku claims 'responding to sabotage'

Azerbaijan’s armed forces are shelling Armenia’s towns of Goris and Jermuk, Armenian MoD reports.

“On 13 September, at 00:05, units of theAzerbaijani Armed Forces began to fire intensively at the Armenian positions from artillery and large-calibre firearms in the direction of Goris, Sotk and Jermuk. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces also use unmanned aerial vehicles,” the agency says.

Goris and Jermuk are towns with 20 and 8 thousand residents respectively. They are not part of Nagorno-Karabakh and are internationally recognised to be Armenian. Sotk is a small border-straddling locality.

Locals have reported to News.am that there is shelling near the lake Sev. There is evidence of Azerbaijani drones flying over Armenia’s territory, too. Anna Grigorian, an MP, also says Azerbaijan has attacked the town of Kapan.

There are numerous videos being shared on social media. Armenia’s MoD calls on its citizens not to post videos of their military equipment moving towards the border.

Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry has posted a statement accusing Armenia of “large-scale sabotage”. “At night on September 12, units of the Armenian armed forces committed large-scale sabotage in Dashkasan, Kalbajar and Lachin directions of the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border.

Subversive groups of the armed forces of Armenia used the mountainous relief of the area and existing valley gaps in the darkness of the day to mine the areas between the positions of the units of the Azerbaijani Army and the supply roads in different directions,” reads the statement. Azerbaijan has already reported casualties on both sides.

Azerbaijan and Armenia last had a full-scale war between each other in 2020, resulting in Azerbaijan recapturing most of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed region internationally recognised as Azeri territory.

Armenia’s region of Syunik where the combat takes place is internationally recognised to be part of Armenia. It divides mainland Azerbaijan from its Nakhichevan enclave which borders Turkey, Azerbaijan’s main ally.

Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels are reporting that the personnel of Russia’s military base in Armenia’s Gyumri have been alarmed, although there is no official confirmation to this.