2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh
Between 19 and 20 September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive against the self-declared breakaway state of Artsakh, a move seen as a violation of the ceasefire agreement signed in the aftermath of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020. The offensive took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is de jure a part of Azerbaijan, and was a de facto independent republic. The stated goal of the offensive was the complete disarmament and unconditional surrender of Artsakh, as well as the withdrawal of all ethnic Armenian soldiers present in the region. The offensive occurred in the midst of an escalating crisis caused by Azerbaijan blockading Artsakh, which has resulted in significant scarcities of essential supplies such as food, medicine, and other goods in the affected region.
| Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh | |||||||||
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| Part of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict | |||||||||
Military situation in Nagorno-Karabakh on 20 September 2023 Areas captured by Azerbaijan during the offensive
Areas of internationally recognised territory of Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh proper that were de facto under the control of Artsakh | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Azerbaijan | Artsakh | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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| Units involved | |||||||||
| Artsakh Defence Army | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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192 servicemen killed 511 servicemen wounded |
200+ servicemen killed 400+ servicemen wounded | ||||||||
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27 Armenian and 1 Azerbaijani civilian killed 5 Russian peacekeepers killed by Azerbaijan 100,617 ethnic Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh as of 3 October 2023 | |||||||||
One day after the offensive started on 20 September, a ceasefire agreement described as a written agreement for the surrender of Artsakh was reached at the mediation of the Russian peacekeeping contingent where it was agreed that the Artsakh Defence Army, the armed forces of Artsakh would be disarmed. Ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan were nonetheless reported by both Artsakhi residents and officials until early October. On 28 September, the president of Artsakh, Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree to dissolve all state institutions by 1 January 2024, bringing the existence of the breakaway state to an end.
The offensive and subsequent surrender resulted in a flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, in which nearly the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh fled the region for neighboring countries, primarily Armenia. Human rights organizations and experts in genocide prevention issued multiple alerts that the region's Armenian population was at risk or actively being subjected to ethnic cleansing and genocide, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity. Luis Moreno Ocampo, the inaugural prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, has classified the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians as a second Armenian genocide, and opined that the inaction of the international community encouraged Azerbaijan to act with impunity.