As WW3 fears grow now Armenia and Azerbaijan are ‘on brink of full-scale war’ | World | News
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has warned Azerbaijan is planning a “full-scale war” as tensions between the two countries rise to a head.
The two countries have traded accusations over a border skirmish that left at least four Armenian soldiers dead and another wounded.
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry denounced what it described as a “provocation” by Azerbaijani troops who fired on Armenian forces across the border in the eastern Syunik region early on Tuesday.
“Our analysis shows that Azerbaijan wants to launch military action in some parts of the border with the prospect of turning military escalation into a full-scale war against Armenia,” Pashinyan is reported to have said at a government meeting.
Armenia urged Azerbaijan to refrain from “destabilising actions”. Azerbaijan’s State Border Service said it had fired on an Armenian post in retaliation for Armenian shelling of Azerbaijani positions that wounded one Azerbaijani service member the previous day.
“Any provocations by the Armenian side aimed at escalating tensions along the Azerbaijan-Armenia border will now be met with even more serious and decisive measures,” the State Border Service said in a statement.
“The military-political leadership of Armenia bears full responsibility for these developments.” Armenia and Azerbaijan have a long history of land disputes.
Azerbaijan regained parts of Karabakh in a six-week war in 2020. It then launched a blitz in September that routed the separatist forces in one day and forced them to lay down arms. More than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the region in the following days, leaving it nearly deserted.
With political momentum from the successful military operation, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev last week won another term with 92 percent of the vote in a snap election.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have pledged to work toward signing a peace treaty, but no visible progress has been made, and tensions have continued to soar amid mutual distrust.
This latest threat of two more counties engaging in a full-blown war comes as a host of countries around the world ramp up their military spending with fears growing that World War Three is closer to breaking out that at any point in decades.
Figures from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) show that global defence spending has skyrocketed over the past 12 months.
An analysis by the think tank said total military spending from ammunition to nuclear weapons has risen by nine percent since February 2023, reaching a massive £1.7 trillion. And, just this week, Britain deployed tanks on a practice mission to prepare in the event of an attack on a NATO member.
