Garush Hambardzumyan

Armenian military soldier

The July 2020 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes began on 12 July 2020 between the Armenian Armed Forces and Azerbaijani Armed Forces.Initial clashes occurred near Movses in Tavush Province of Armenia, and Ağdam in Tovuz District of Azerbaijan at the Armenian–Azerbaijani state border.

Both sides accused each other reigniting the conflict, which erupted near the Ganja gap, a strategic route that serves as an energy and transport corridor for Azerbaijan.

According to ex-presidents of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, the skirmishes were provoked by Armenia, and Russian minister of foreign affairs Sergey Lavrov stated that "a trigger of sorts was the geographical factor: Armenia’s decision to restore an old border checkpoint, located in 15km distance from Azerbaijan’s export pipelines, caused strong concerns on one side and unwarranted response from the other".

According to Stefan Meister, the head of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s office for the South Caucasus, the escalation was caused by the Azerbaijani side entering the Armenian territory to which the Armenians reacted immediately.

The International Crisis Group states that the violence erupted after an Azerbaijani military vehicle drove close to the border with Armenia near the Armenian village of Movses.

The skirmishes continued on 13 July and continued with varying intensity, injuring many, and killing at least 17 military and one civilian.

Among Azerbaijani military casualties were one major general, one colonel and two majors.The government of Armenia also reported the deaths of one major, one captain and two sergeants.

The skirmishes were conducted mainly through artillery and drones, without infantry.Hostilities between the two sides resumed on 27 September 2020, this time in Nagorno-Karabakh and not in the same areas as the July clashes.

This ultimately escalated to the scale of full-on warfare, resulting in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.