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.
On the ninth day, October 5, at about midnight, photos of the Armenian Armed Forces' missile attack against the city of Mingachevir, located 100 km from the front, were published. In the morning, Russia again expressed its readiness to help settle the conflict. Meanwhile, the Armenian occupation forces continued artillery strikes on Azerbaijani cities, the death toll among civilians rose to 24 people.
Due to the advance of the Azerbaijani army deep into the occupation zone, foreign journalists left Khankendi. Also, local residents, occupiers and illegal settlers began to leave Khankendi. The Armenian Defense Ministry recognized a significant de-occupation of the Azerbaijani land in the south.
At about 11:00, the Armenian Armed Forces launched missile strikes on Barda, the missiles were aimed at the children's hospital. At the same time, videos from Talysh villages liberated two days earlier were published. Iran announced the preparation of its own plan to settle the conflict.
Soon after 12:00, the Armenian Armed Forces hit Ganja with medium-range missiles for the second time, now the target was the city's central market. Lacking the personnel of the occupation forces, Yerevan began distributing weapons to Armenian journalists. Residents of Terter said they would not leave the city because of the shelling.
At about 14:00, the Kremlin explained why President Vladimir Putin still had not held a single telephone conversation with President Ilham Aliyev, although he had been in regular contact with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the past few days. An hour later, it became known about the arrival of a certain "special plane" to Yerevan from Russia. The Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan published data on rocket attacks on the regions of the republic neighboring with Baku. U.S. diplomat Matthew Bryza stressed that Armenia's attacks on the Azerbaijani cities were not legal.
In an interview with TRT Haber, Ilham Aliyev expressed hope that after the end of the war, the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples will be able to make peace. At about 15:00, the Armenian Armed Forces fired at Beylagan and Agjabedi. The Azerbaijan Liberation Army, among other things, eliminated the invaders' multiple launch rocket systems.
Shortly after 17:00, Nikol Pashinyan declared military mobilization of all citizens demobilized during the year. The term "tactical retreat" was added to the vocabulary of the occupiers. The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan presented photographs of captured and liquidated equipment of the invaders.
Another rocket attack by Armenian troops on Ganja was made at about 19:00, residents of two villages were killed under shelling in the Agdam region. Soon after, it became known that three more villages of the Jebrail region were liberated rom the occupation.
The OSCE Minsk Group at the level of the foreign ministers of the co-chairing countries has officially called for an end to hostilities. After that, a telephone conversation took place between the foreign ministers of Russia and Azerbaijan, and Nikol Pashinyan called Vladimir Putin once again.
Thus, on the ninth day of the war, the Azerbaijani army was consolidated in the liberated lands in the Terter region and the Jebrail region. The administrative center of the occupation zone, the city of Khankedi, became rapidly empty due to the advance of Azerbaijani troops in the south. The Armenian Armed Forces conducted rocket attacks all day at the remote settlements of Azerbaijan, now no longer trying to explain these strikes by "military targets".
