Jonathan Steele in Moscow

DEFYING a United Nations security council call to withdraw from occupied territory, Armenian forces yesterday seized another Azerbaijani town and pushed on towards the frontier of Iran. Their onslaught will cut off a huge swath of Azeri land and prompt another refugee exodus if they go all the way to the border.

The latest advance, after four months of continuous attacks on Azerbaijan by tanks and artillery, was strongly criticised in a statement read out by Madeleine Albright, the US chairman of the security council. It called for an “immediate, full and unconditional” withdrawal from the Fizuli district, Kelbajar, Agdam and other newly-occupied areas of Azerbaijan, and for an end to the supply of weapons.

But the statement did not identify Armenia as the aggressor. Despite much evidence to the contrary, the Armenian government claims the fighting is being conducted purely by local Armenians from the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The UN statement “urged the Armenian government to use all its influence” to secure a withdrawal.

An Azeri defence ministry statement yesterday said that Armenian forces captured Jebrail on Wednesday night after four days of fighting. The town of Fizuli was still in Azeri hands but Armenian forces had gone round it to the east and south-east. Armoured columns were pushing towards the village of Goradis and were only six miles from the Iranian border.

Other Armenian forces were moving south from Lachin and had captured five villages.

Attacks were also being launched due east of Kafan in Armenia. Armenia’s strategy appears to be to seize the entire area south, north and west of Nagorno-Karabakh with the aim of annexing it.

The Azerbaijani defence ministry yesterday denied reports from Armenia that Azeri planes had bombed the Armenian town of Kafan on Wednesday. It described the reports as “disinformation designed to distract world attention from Armenian aggression”.

Publication date 08/20/1993

Courtesy of Karabagh Truths platform