Azerbaijan launches military operation in Karabakh

The defense ministry of the Republic of Azerbaijan announced that the country's army has started its military operation to restore constitutional order in the Karabakh region. 

Local media has also reported that Baku has closed its air space to Armenia and is targeting the center of the region.

The Azeri officials say they have notified the Russian peacekeepers and Turkey before launching the operation.

Baku also says that the purpose of this military operation is to expel Armenian armed groups from the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan and destroy Armenia's military infrastructure in the region. The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan claimed that as a result of the provocative actions of Armenian armed groups, two Azerbaijani soldiers were injured.

Meanwhile, the Armenian defense ministry says the country's military positions and forces have been targeted since the beginning of the conflict.

The two neighbors, Azerbaijan and Armenia, have gone to war twice over Karabakh, first in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union and again in 2020.

Since December, Azerbaijan has mounted a de facto blockade of the only route into the enclave from Armenia, known as the Lachin Corridor.

On Tuesday, the defense ministry in Baku accused Armenian forces of "systematic shelling" of army positions and said it had responded by launching the ongoing military operation. 

Armenia's defense ministry said the claims of Armenian fire did not correspond with reality. 

Urging the two sides to stop the bloodshed, Russia has expressed its concern over intensifying the conflict and has announced that it is in contact with Baku and Yerevan.

Turkish defense minister in a telephone conversation with his Azeri counter has expressed his country's support for Baku.