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"Sniper War" Escalates Along Armenian-Azerbaijani Line Of Contact

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  • "Sniper War" Escalates Along Armenian-Azerbaijani Line Of Contact

    "SNIPER WAR" ESCALATES ALONG ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI LINE OF CONTACT
    by Lilit Gevorgyan

    Global Insight
    November 28, 2011

    An Azerbaijani Defence Ministry spokesperson, Teymur Abdullayev,
    yesterday (28 November) confirmed that Armenian forces last week killed
    an Azerbaijani soldier near the Line of Contact of the breakaway
    Armenian-populated region of Nagorno Karabakh. Abdullayev denied,
    however, that seven Azerbaijani soldiers had been killed by the
    Armenian forces, as reported in Armenian press. He confirmed that
    the conscript, 19-year-old Elmar Samad Habibzade, was killed on
    26 November.

    The death of the soldier follows an earlier statement made
    by Armenia's Defence Ministry saying that, "since Azerbaijan's
    political and military leadership does not care about the lives of
    its own soldiers, we have to remind Azerbaijan's population that as
    was the case before, the Armenian side's response to the death of
    every Armenian soldier will be disproportionate". The statement was
    made after two Armenian 19-year-old conscripts, Armen Simonyan and
    Mihran Markaryan, were killed during the weekend of 19-20 November by
    Azerbaijani snipers. Armenia's defence minister, Seyran Ohanyan, told
    Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty that both the Nagrono Karabakh Defence
    Army as well as Republic of Armenia Defence forces are considering
    measures that will force Azerbaijan to refrain from sniper fire.

    Armenian Defence Ministry sources stated that 42 Azerbaijani troops
    have been killed on the Karabakh Line of Contact and along Armenia's
    long border with Azerbaijan so far this year. Azerbaijan has not
    issued the number of casualties it has sustained from the on-going
    "sniper war" between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh.

    Significance:Although technically frozen since 1994 when a ceasefire
    agreement was brokered by international mediators, in recent years the
    Nagorno Karabakh conflict has become increasingly active, with steadily
    rising casualty figures on both sides. The so-called "sniper war" is
    set to escalate as international mediators are unable to provide any
    security guarantees or force the parties to withdraw snipers. Although
    both sides blame each other for violating the ceasefire first, it
    appears that a new round of hostilities is not in Armenian forces'
    interests, having already secured their victory.

    Conversely, the Azerbaijani army has seen an overhaul thanks to
    energy export-generated state income, while the country's president,
    Ilham Aliyev, regularly threatens to open a new war to bring reclaim
    the breakaway region. In the absence of international peacekeepers
    and in light the international mediators' inability to influence the
    actions of the military, the "sniper wars" could serve as a prelude
    to opening a new war in the region.

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