Watch the video: Azerbaijan launches major attack on Armenian exclave Nagorno-Karabakh.
After weeks of increasing tensions, Azerbaijan has launched a military offensive against the Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is also claimed by Armenia. The Defense Ministry in Baku said on Tuesday that it was an operation against terrorists. The aim is to ensure the disarmament and withdrawal of formations of the Armenian armed forces and to neutralize their military infrastructure. Armenia called in Russian peacekeepers to help. The European Union called for a halt to hostilities and declared its willingness to mediate in the conflict. The open confrontation follows a months-long war of nerves over Nagorno-Karabakh. In the exclave, which is predominantly inhabited by Armenians, the situation of the population deteriorated noticeably after activists, with the approval of the Azerbaijani government, blocked the only road connection to Armenia. Armenia has been fighting with Azerbaijan over the Caucasus region for decades. According to international opinion, Nagorno-Karabakh, which is predominantly inhabited by Armenians, belongs to Azerbaijan, from which it broke away in 1991.