The Armenian Weekly. Armenian forces in Artsakh repelled several attempted Azerbaijani armored incursions on Thursday evening and Friday, the Armenian Ministry of Defense reports. A video released on Twitter by the Armenian MoD purportedly shows a column of destroyed Azeri armored vehicles including a T-72 main battle tank, two BMP-2s and several Israeli-manufactured SandCat MRAPs surrounded by scattered bodies of Azerbaijani soldiers. The video was geo-located to the gorge south of Berdzor, which Armenian MoD spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan has nicknamed “Death Valley.”
“Hell gorge”: an eliminated azerbaijani unit with large number of equipment and manpower #gyorbagyor pic.twitter.com/JL2Ogm1V8v
— Shushan Stepanyan (@ShStepanyan) November 6, 2020
Several other videos depicting destroyed Azerbaijani armor and casualties near Berdzor and the eastern town of Martuni have also surfaced, purporting to show the effectiveness of a multilayered Armenian defense of key points along the Artsakh front. These videos along with other reports and media surfacing online of Azeri recon units being eliminated by sniper fire or mortar teams, as well as “hundreds” of Azeri bodies scattered around the valleys suggest that Armenian forces have engaged in a strategy of proactive defense, designed to ambush and knock out small Azeri units heading for Shushi before they can reach and establish staging areas to threaten the city.
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In his nightly press briefing, military official Artsrun Hovhannisyan announced that over the course of two days of fighting in Shushi, Azeri assaults were decisively repulsed in every direction through the coordinated use of precise artillery fire and marksmanship. Some of the local militia—raised from the surrounding areas—also employed their native knowledge of the regional topography to help hunt down Azeri stragglers. “If May 8, 1992 in Armenian history was marked as Shushi Liberation Day, then these past few days will be recorded as the days of defending Shushi,” stressed Hovhannisyan.
Hovhannisyan also said that the ongoing “sweep-up operation” had cleared the Berdzor highway of any immediate threat yesterday, but the vital highway remains temporarily closed to civilian traffic until Azeri projectiles are pushed back far enough out of range.
Despite constant shelling of both Shushi and the capital Stepanakert, as well as the threat of being cut off from supply routes to Armenia, the prospects of a successful Azeri assault on the ancient fortress city remain bleak according to military analyst Richard Giragosian. “Azerbaijan’s decision to try and seize for the symbolic city of Shushi is motivated primarily by domestic political pressure, rather than sound military logic,” the Director of the Regional Studies Center told the Armenian Weekly. He described the Azerbaijani military as being dangerously overextended, undersupplied and vulnerable to the very real threat of Armenian counterattack. Giragosian also spoke highly of the city’s defensive capabilities, commanded by Karabakh War veteran and one-time Armenian Defense Minister General Seyran Ohanyan.
Armenia’s ability to respond has already been demonstrated with limited counter-attacks retaking commanding positions in the Zangelan area as well as the 8,130 foot high Mount Dizapayt, seven miles west of Hadrut, thus threatening Azerbaijani supply lines. Armenian military officials also say the Defense Army shot down yet another Azeri UAV late Friday morning.
The rocket hit a residential house, killing 3 civilians. pic.twitter.com/KZ6G32DQCZ
— Shushan Stepanyan (@ShStepanyan) November 6, 2020
Overnight in Stepanakert, Armenian officials say rocket attacks destroyed a home, killing three residents—an elderly woman and her two grandchildren—adding to the increasing death toll among the peaceful civilian population. “The international community turns a blind eye to the situation here, to the humanitarian catastrophe in Artsakh and to the war crimes perpetrated by Azerbaijan, by Turkey and by terrorists,” said Artsakh Ombudsman Artak Beglaryan in a video message among the mounds of rubble on Friday. Beglaryan says over 50 people have died so far and more than 150 people have been wounded. The office of the Artsakh Ombudsman also reported that Azerbaijan shelled the archaeological camp in Tigranakert—another example of its deliberate strikes on culturally significant locations.
My new video message & introduction on the #Azerbaijan today’s strike on a house in #Stepanakert killing an elderly women & her 2 grandchildren.
Azerbaijan & #Turkey continue #WarCrimes & targeting civilian areas of #Artsakh/#Karabakh.#DontBeBlind pic.twitter.com/o2cj7MVCK2— Artak Beglaryan (@Artak_Beglaryan) November 6, 2020
Meanwhile Anna Hakobyan, wife of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, announced that her squadron of volunteer women fighters has completed 10 days of training and is ready to be deployed. The squadron is named Erato after the Armenian queen of the Artaxiad Dynasty.
(Photo: Anna Hakobyan/Facebook, November 6, 2020)