Statement of EMDS condemning attacks to civilian settlements by Armenian armed forces

On September 27, new clashes broke out in the line of contact in the Nagorno Karabakh and surrounding territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenian armed forces after the ceasefire was violated. Notably, the current clashes are first of its kind for its insensitivity and the long period of continuation since the ceasefire sides reached in 1994 and already cost thousands of personnel and damages to civilians.

According to official numbers, Armenian armed forces targeted civilian objects and population in more than 20 districts of Azerbaijan using heavy artillery strikes, missiles and large-calibre machine guns. As a result, 69 civilians died, 322 people wounded whereas 2430 residential building and homes alongside 415 civilian objects have been damaged and rendered useless.

EMDS strongly condemns the Armenian armed forces for targeting the civilian settlements outside the conflict zone and regards the attacks as a gross violation of the principles of inadmissibility of targeting non-military, civilian objects in the international humanitarian law.  Based on expert reviews, EMDS, regretfully notes that Armenian armed forces targeted densely populated civilian settlement by using banned cluster munitions and ballistic missiles and other weapons with insufficient precision.

For the full statement, download the file here