Firefighters work among the ruins of a house, which is said was hit by Azeri shelling during recent border clashes with Azerbaijan, in the settlement of Sotk, Armenia, on Sept. 14. Photo: Karen Minasyan/AFP via Getty Images
Nearly two days of clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan came to an end late Wednesday with the introduction of a ceasefire between the two countries.
Driving the news: The fighting raised fears of another war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, the site of a decades-long dispute.
- Armen Grigoryan, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, announced in televised remarks early Thursday that the ceasefire had entered into effect hours earlier at 8 p.m. local time, AP reported.
The big picture: At least 176 Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers were killed since since Azerbaijan launched a large-scale attack on Armenia early Tuesday morning. Both sides had blamed each other for the start of the hostilities.
- "As of 11 a.m., no significant incidents have been registered" along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border zone, the Armenian Ministry of Defense tweeted Thursday, confirming the ceasefire continued to hold.
- An earlier ceasefire brokered by Russia on Tuesday had quickly dissolved.
- The two-day episode marked the largest flare up in hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan since 2020, when the two engaged in a six week war in Nagorno-Karabakh