War Update for October 10, 2020
Hours before Armenian-Azerbaijani “humanitarian” cease-fire was to take hold at noon on October 10, Azerbaijani forces launched a ground attack on Hadrut in southern Karabakh and UAV attacks on Kapan area in southern Armenia, the Armenian Defense Ministry reported. Artsakh ombudsman reported that Azerbaijani forces who entered one of the houses in Hadrut, killed a woman and her disabled son. According to the Army, an Azerbaijani group in Hadrut was surrounded, but fighting there was reported throughout the day.
At the same time, there was a hiatus in fighting in other areas. Stepanakert was quiet for most of the day, but missile attacks resumed after 11 o’clock in the evening. District centers of Hadrut and Martuni were also shelled. Overnight, Azerbaijani sources meantime reported missile attacks against Ganja and Mingechaur, but the Defense Army denied it was involved and said that aside from operation to squeeze Azerbaijani forces out of Hadrut, its forces respected the cease-fire.
As of October 10, the Defense Army confirmed the deaths of 416 of its servicemen, 249 of them 18 to 20 years old. Azerbaijan continued to keep its casualties tally secret. In its latest estimate, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated 1,450 Turkish Syrian mercenaries relocated to Azerbaijan, of whom 107 were killed in Karabakh fighting and hundreds wounded. More video evidence (warning: graphic images) emerged of the Turkish Syrian mercenaries’ involvement in the fighting in the south of Karabakh in recent weeks.