Thanks, Rick. Rozeff.
1) Nagorno-Karabakh reports local battles in the north and the south
2) Karabakh reports downing enemy aircraft
3) Armenia downs more Turkish, Israeli drones: Defense Ministry
4) Armenia calls for wider ban on drone technology sales to Turkey
5) Karabakh army displays remains another downed Azeri drone (PHOTO)
6) Azerbaijan using aviation, artillery in northern flank of Karabakh: Armenian defense ministry
7) Real-war conditions: Iran launches large-scale air defense exercise
8) Armenian prime minister in interview with Iranian press: We are in midst of pre-planned large-scale war which is threat to entire region
1)
https://news.am/eng/news/609039.html
News.am
October 21, 2020
Karabakh defense army: There are local battles in northern, southern directions of frontline
The situation in the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)-Azerbaijani conflict zone was relatively stable and tense during the night.
The Artsakh Defense Army informed Armenian News-NEWS.am on Wednesday morning that exchange of fire and artillery battles continued in some areas.
At dawn, once again violating the humanitarian ceasefire agreements, the adversary forces fired on the civilian infrastructures of the town of Martakert and the surrounding villages.
There are currently local battles in the northern and southern directions of the frontline.
One adversary warplane was shot down in the southern direction by the air defense units of the Defense Army.
The operative and tactical situation is under the control of the Artsakh Defense Army units.
https://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/286837/
PanArmenian.net
October 21, 2020
Karabakh reports local battles in the north and the south
PanARMENIAN.Net – Local battles are currently taking place in the northern and southern directions of the front line, the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army reported Wednesday, October 21 morning.
The Karabakh troops shot down an Azeri plane in the morning and now continue controlling the situation along the frontline.
The situation was relatively calm, but stable overnight, but the Azerbaijani forces target the town of Martakert and several villages at dawn.
Azerbaijan, with help from Turkey and Syrian and Libyan mercenaries deployed by Ankara, started a war against Karabakh (Artsakh) in the morning of September 27. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military. Foreign and local journalists too have been injured in Azeri shelling of towns and villages.
Donations can be made to Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, which has launched a fundraising campaign to support humanitarian efforts in Karabakh.
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2) https://news.am/eng/news/609022.html
News.am
October 21, 2020
Armenia MOD spokesperson: Artsakh army shot down adversary warplane
The air defense units of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Defense Army have shot down an adversary warplane in the southern direction at around 8:30am. Shushan Stepanyan, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, on Wednesday morning noted about this on Facebook.
“The situation is relatively stable and tense,” she added.
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Armenian Weekly
October 20, 2020
Armenia Downs More Turkish, Israeli Drones, as Azeri Forces Retreat from Arax River Region (PHOTOS)
YEREVAN – Armenian Ministry of Defense spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan announced on Tuesday morning that Armenian forces had expelled Azeri units from the Khudaferin Reservoir, an artificial lake capped by a dam across the Arax River between the Iranian and Artsakh borders. Azeri troops first reached the dam on Sunday, taking advantage of a freshly-declared ceasefire to dash some 15 miles down river to snap flag-raising photos near the historically significant 13th-century Khudaferin bridge.
This announcement came only minutes after the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense posted footage of Azerbaijani troops hoisting the Azeri crescented-tricolor in central Kovsakan. The town, which lay abandoned since its Azerbaijani inhabitants fled the fighting in the first war in 1994, eventually became home to Syrian-Armenian farmers fleeing the Syrian Civil War in 2013. The farmers were safely evacuated from the region. Stepanyan’s announced counter-attack suggests that a large flanking maneuver has managed to push Azeri troops entirely out of the region surrounding the Khudaferin Reservoir, likely trapping some in small pockets along the Artsakh River.
Footage from the flag-raising ceremony in Kovsakan as well as a claim by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that the town had been “liberated” were soundly dismissed by Ministry of Defense (MoD) representative Artrsun Hovhannisyan. In his daily press briefing on Tuesday evening, Hovhannisyan once again warned viewers not to rely on map-tracking Azerbaijani military advances based solely on geolocating Azerbaijani flag-waving videos. Due to the topography of the region, Hovhannisyan explained that Azeri commando units take advantage of breaks in the Armenian defenses to infiltrate behind the lines for flag-raising photo ops designed for domestic consumption in their country, where media freedom and access to information are heavily restricted. “The proliferation of diversionary actions by Azerbaijan is in no way indicative of any battlefield success or advances by their troops,” Hovhannisyan said, adding that Armenia’s Armed Forces remain in full operational control over the battlespace.
Armenian military officials also unveiled wreckage from two separate Turkish-manufactured Bayraktar TB2 Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) which had been shot down along with at least four other Israeli drones over the previous day. At least one Israeli-manufactured Harop Loitering munition was recovered in Iran under unclear circumstances. The optics pod—L3 WESCAM CMX-15D model—from one of the Turkish drones was recovered intact. It included a serial number indicating that it had been manufactured by WESCAM in Ontario-Canada, a subsidiary of L3Harris Technologies in June of 2020 and fitted to the UCAV in September 2020, having operated for a total of 31 hours. The MoD claims that this discovery definitively confirms that Turkey has been reexporting Canadian military technology in violation of Canadian law. Ottawa had earlier provoked Ankara’s ire when it called for a temporary halt on exports when military analysts first linked footage from the battlefields in Artsakh to the Bayraktar late last month. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on the rest of the NATO alliance to follow Canada’s example and ban further exports of military technology to Turkey.
The successful shoot-down of two Bayraktars caused a considerable stir both in Armenia and among military observers. The advanced Turkish UCAVs pressed their advantage in altitude and range to inflict significant damage on Armenian air defenses and armor in the early days of the fighting. On Tuesday, Armenia’s MoD revealed that it had shot down “at least a dozen” Bayraktars, but those two were the first to be recovered in Armenian-held territory. One analyst suggested that the Armenian army had become better at targeting more technically complex drones.
France is starting to answer growing international calls to recognize the independence of Artsakh. The town of Vienne just joined two other French municipalities in a formal recognition, while Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo strongly hinted that her municipal government was planning to follow suit. Meanwhile, Senator Valerie Boyer presented a bill to the French Senate recognizing the independence of the Republic of Artsakh.
Back in Yerevan, women from Artsakh, whose husbands were still on the front, protested in front of several European embassies, demanding that they put pressure on Baku and Ankara to cease their invasion. Others continued to collect food and money for soldiers and displaced families, while volunteers sewed sleeping bags, camouflage netting and other equipment destined for the front.
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4) https://massispost.com/2020/10/armenia-calls-for-wider-ban-on-drone-technology-sales-to-turkey/
Massis Post
October 20, 2020
Armenia Calls for Wider Ban on Drone Technology Sales to Turkey
YEREVAN — Armenia on Tuesday urged more Western nations to suspend the export of drone technology to Turkey as it publicized evidence of Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used by Azerbaijan in the ongoing war over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian Defense Ministry released photographs of fragments of a Turkish-made combat drone Bayraktar TB2 shot down by Karabakh Armenian forces on Monday.
The ministry spokeswoman, Shushan Stepanyan, said one of the photos depicts the drone’s largely intact imaging and targeting system manufactured by a Canadian-based firm, L3Harris Wescam.
“It was manufactured by the Canadian company Wescam in June 2020 and installed on Bayraktar TB2 in September 2020,” she said.
The Canadian government temporarily banned the sale of such equipment to Turkey October 5 just over a week after the outbreak of the worst hostilities i
The move was hailed by Yerevan but criticized by Ankara. It followed a statement by Canadian arms control group Project Ploughshares saying that video of air strikes carried out by Azerbaijani army drones indicates that they are equipped with imaging and targeting systems manufactured by L3Harris Wescam.
A Turkish company manufacturing Bayraktar reportedly also buys components from other Western countries.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claimed that Karabakh’s Armenian-backed Defense Army has shot down about a dozen such UAVs so far.
“None of the destroyed drones fell on territory controlled by the Defense Army [until Monday.] We now seem to finally possess fragments of Bayraktar,” he wrote on Facebook.
Pashinyan described the publicized photos as further proof of Turkey’s “direct involvement” in the war. “Based on this fact, those countries that supply Turkey with necessary parts of Bayraktar should follow Canada’s example and suspend further supplies,” he said.
Armenia has also accused Turkey of deploying Turkish military personnel and Syrian mercenaries to Azerbaijan ahead of the war. The Turkish and Azerbaijani governments deny that.
Baku has admitted heavily using Turkish as well as Israeli drones against Armenian targets. But it insists that they belong to and are operated by the Azerbaijani army.
According to exports data cited by the Reuters news agency, Turkey’s military exports to Azerbaijan have risen six-fold this year, with sales of drones and other military equipment rising to $77 million last month alone. Most of the purchased drones, rocket launchers, ammunition and other weapons were delivered after July.
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5) https://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/286824/
PanArmenian.net
October 20, 2020
Karabakh army displays remains one more Bayraktar drone (PHOTO)
The Nagorno-Karabakh army has destroyed one more Bayraktar drone belonging to the Azerbaijani military, which has crashed on Armenian soil.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Tuesday, October 20 that since the beginning of hostilities, the Karabakh troops have down a dozen of the Turkish drones, but the first one to crash not in Azerbaijan’s territory was on Monday, October 19.
“I wonder how many Bayraktars they (the Azerbaijanis – Ed.) have,” Armenian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan captioned photos of the newly-downed UAV on Tuesday.
The new pictures published by Stepanyan feature unexploded MAM laser-guided smart missiles produced by Turkish defence industry manufacturer ROKETSAN.
Canada-made Wescam CMX 15D Gimbal Turret cameras are used in the Turkish drones. After the first reports emerged of Bayraktar UAVs being used in Karabakh, Canada halted military export permits to Turkey.
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6) https://news.am/eng/news/608856.html
News.am
October 20, 2020
Armenia MOD spokesperson: Adversary using aviation, artillery in northern flank of Artsakh
The adversary uses aviation and artillery in the northern flank of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Shushan Stepanyan, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, on Tuesday morning stated about this on Facebook.
“Intense heavy battles continue in the southern direction.
“[Artsakh] DA [Defense Army] units are taking appropriate measures to stop the adversary’s attack,” Stepanyan added.
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7) https://news.am/eng/news/609080.html
News.am
October 21, 2020
Iran launches large-scale air defense exercise
Iran’s Air Defense units have launched a large-scale military exercise covering more than half of the country’s territories, Tasnim News Agency reported.
Air defense units from the Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps took part in the joint air defense exercise.
Organizers say the drill is aimed at boosting the combat-readiness and consolidating the air defense capabilities of the Armed Forces in simulated real-war conditions.
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8) https://news.am/eng/news/609078.html
News.am
October 21, 2020
> Armenia PM: We are in midst of pre-planned large-scale war which is threat to entire region
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan gave an interview to the Iranian IRNA news agency, which is presented below.
IRNA – The President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, has stated his readiness to play a constructive role in resolving the dispute between the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan. What is your response to this proposal and what practical initiative do you think Iran can mediate?
Nikol Pashinyan – You know that the Minsk Group is the only internationally recognized framework to deal with the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. As an important regional stakeholder, Iran has a key role to play in this respect. I think this role should now be focused on putting an end to hostilities. We will welcome any constructive step by Iran to bring peace and stability to the region.
IRNA – You have repeatedly warned of the presence of foreign forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Did you share this concern in the phone talks held with President Rouhani?
Nikol Pashinyan – Yes, it has been proven internationally that terrorist mercenaries have been transported from Syria to the region by Turkey to attend military operations, and this is a serious threat to the region, as a whole.
Unfortunately, the regional countries did not take this fact seriously, but there is no doubt that the presence of foreign terrorists is fraught with grave consequences that we will see in the future. I do believe that all countries in the region should treat the matter more seriously.
IRNA – There are specific fears in Iran that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could turn into a full-blown protracted war, with global powers intervening in the region in addition to foreign troops. What are your suggestions and solutions for addressing these concerns and getting the issue back to the table of negotiations?
Nikol Pashinyan – Azerbaijan is making an extensive use of Israeli drones, and this fact proves that foreign powers are intervening in the region in various ways. No foreign intervention is admissible except for the role played by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs. However, so far they have not been able influence the developments in the conflict zone, and we have what we have at this point of time. They have statements and voiced their position, which failed to have a real impact on the developments.
IRNA – You have repeatedly stated that the current escalation had been planned for a long time. Is there any evidence to prove this? What prospects did those preparations outline for the future of the conflict?
Nikol Pashinyan – One and a half months before the flare-up, the Republic of Azerbaijan held a joint military exercise with Turkey, and some Turkish troops remained in Azerbaijan after the exercise was over. In addition, Turkey recruited Syrian terrorists and transported them to Azerbaijan with the aim of getting them involved in the planned hostilities.
If the aggression had not been planned beforehand, there would have been no reason to move troops from Syria to the Republic of Azerbaijan. Today, the presence of terrorists in the conflict zone is an established fact as evidenced by numerous authentic documents published on this topic. All these documents testify that the war was planned in advance. We are in the midst of a pre-planned large-scale war, which is a threat to the entire region.
IRNA – What do you think is preventing the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, and why did hostilities continue after the Moscow meeting and the agreement reached on Saturday night?
Nikol Pashinyan – It is obvious that Turkey is trying to undermine the ceasefire, as it has set far-reaching goals. Turkey is not only targeting Nagorno-Karabakh, but it also seeks to impose its presence in the South Caucasus. Here, I should underscore that this is part of Turkey’s imperialistic policy, which seeks to expand its influence to the east, north, and southeast of Nagorno-Karabakh, and this directly affects all regional countries. This fact needs serious consideration, and the regional stakeholders should state their position in this respect.
IRNA – As you nay know, mortars from the conflict zone have hit Iran several times and many UAVs have entered the Iranian skies during this time. Iranian officials have repeatedly warned thereof the parties to the conflict. What is your solution to prevent this?
Nikol Pashinyan – I am sorry, if any was the fault of the Armenian side. I do not have accurate information on all such instances, but I assure you that we will make every effort to ensure that no harm is done to friendly Iran and things like that do not happen again. The Armenian side will do its utmost to prevent any recurrence of similar incidents, and I can assure you that we will be more vigilant on this issue.
