Exactly a year ago, on September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan's Patriotic War began. On that day, Armenia's occupying forces subjected the positions of the armed forces of Azerbaijan along the front line and the adjacent populated areas in Azerbaijan to intensive fire with the use of large-calibre weapons, artillery and mortars. Baku decided to launch a counter-offensive operation to ensure the safety of the civilian population. Vestnik Kavkaza offers its readers to follow the events of the 44 days of Azerbaijan's Patriotic War as they were covered a year ago.
The fifteenth day of the war, October 11, began with a tragedy: at night Ganja was hit by several medium-range missiles launched from the territory of Armenia, one of them hit an apartment building. The missile killed ten people, injured 34 people, and destroyed three buildings. Soon, photos of this war crime were published, it turned out that the target of the strikes was Victory Park. Early in the morning, medium-range missiles were fired at the city of Mingachevir, which is 100 km away from the front.
It became known that under the guise of humanitarian aid, "Smerch" rockets were being delivered to Armenia. Simultaneously with the terrorist attack in Ganja, the occupation troops made an attempt to return to the lands liberated from them, but were thrown back by the liberation Azerbaijani army. The foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey had an urgent phone conversation after the terrorist attack in Ganja.
In the afternoon, Azerbaijan provided detailed evidence of the terrorist attack in Ganja, Baku stressed that it considers this missile strike as an act of genocide. It was proposed to introduce international sanctions against Armenia. Yerevan's puppet regime started talking about the need for Armenia to recognize the sovereignty of the fake regime in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan.
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, who had returned to Yerevan the day before after negotiations in Moscow, was going to fly to Russia again. Pope Francis called for a truce, without commenting on the terrorist attack in Ganja.
Video footage of the liberated village of Dashkesan in the Jebrail region and the liberated village of Horadiz in the Fizuli region were published. Civilian media representatives visited the liberated Talysh for the first time. The occupying troops of Armenia paid with heavy losses for the first day of violation of the ceasefire regime.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev described the terrorist attack in Ganja as another manifestation of Armenian fascism. First Vice President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva called on the international community to condemn the war crimes of Armenia.
In the afternoon, Armenia sent a drone to Mingachevir, it was shot down by the air defense of Azerbaijan. The shelling of the front-line settlements of Azerbaijan continued all day.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that both Baku and Yerevan are important for Russia. Armenian fighters were spotted at the Russian military base in Gyumri. Western media have witnessed the facts of Armenia's missile attack on Ganja.
In the evening, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry officially informed the OSCE Minsk Group about the terrorist act in Ganja, which did not react to this war crime. Baku emphasized that the Armenian troops are purposefully attacking the civilian population of Azerbaijan, while the Azerbaijani army is firing only at military targets. Saudi Arabia again supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
Thus, on the fifteenth day of the war, Armenia committed a grave war crime by shooting down medium-range missiles at the peaceful city of Ganja, which is remote from the war zone and had no military targets. The terrorist attack did not help the occupation forces of Armenia to stop the advance of the Azerbaijani liberation army in the south, towards Fizuli and Zangilan, only exacerbating the position of Yerevan as an aggressor and war criminal.
