Iran urges warring sides in Nagorno-Karabakh region to respect int’l humanitarian law

Iran’s Embassy in Baku called on the warring sides in the Nagorno-Karabakh region to respect international humanitarian law following the death of many civilians during a recent flare-up between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed region.

In a statement on Sunday, the embassy also condemned any violation of the rights of “innocent people” as well as the destruction and damage to civil places and facilities, according to IRNA. 

More than 30 civilians have so far lost their lives in the heaviest fighting in decades between the two neighbors over the disputed region, according to AFP.

Baku and Yerevan have for decades been locked in a simmering conflict over the ethnic Armenian province that broke away from Azerbaijan in a bitterly fought war in the 1990s.

The fighting, erupted last Sunday, has also affected Iranian civilians living in the cities bordering the region.

Several rockets fired by the warring sides have landed in Iran’s northwestern villages in recent days, which have wounded a 6-year-old child and inflicted damage to several residential buildings.

Iran has“seriously” warned Armenia and Azerbaijan about the violation of its territory.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Saturday said that Iran is seriously monitoring the movements at its border areas, stressing that any violation of the Iranian soil by any warring side would be “intolerable”.

On Sunday, members of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee paid a visit to the country’s border areas near the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The committee’s spokesman Abolfazl Amoee said the lawmakers’ visit is aimed at preparing a report on the developments in the region and the impact of the war between Yerevan and Baku on Iran’s border areas.