Azerbaijan says it prevented reconnaissance flights of Armenian quadcopter in Kalbajar

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijan said on Wednesday that it prevented reconnaissance flights of a quadcopter of the Armenian Armed Forces in the western Kalbajar district.

A statement by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that units of the Armenian Armed Forces attempted to carry out reconnaissance flights with a quadcopter near the Istibulag settlement of Kalbajar.

“Thanks to the vigilance of the Azerbaijan Army Units, the UAV was forced to retreat, and sabotage was suppressed,” the statement added.

On Monday, Azerbaijan’s State Border Service said that one of its soldiers was injured due to shots fired by Armenian forces toward the country's southwestern Zangilan district on Monday.

The following day, Baku said it carried out a "revenge operation" in response, destroying the combat post from where its servicemen were fired upon.

According to Armenia’s Defense Ministry, four of its servicemen were killed and another injured.

Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Azerbaijan liberated most of the region during the war in the fall of 2020, which ended with a Russian-brokered peace agreement, opening the door to normalization.

Baku initiated an anti-terrorism operation in Karabakh last September to establish constitutional order, after which illegal separatist forces in the region surrendered.