The Armenian defense ministry has shared video footage of what it claims to be a shoot down of an Azerbaijani Hermes 900 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on July 14.
The defense ministry did not provide additional details on where exactly the Israeli-built UAV was flying at the moment of shoot down. It is also unclear whether the drone was downed by an aircraft or a surface to air missile system.
According to reports, Armenian officials said that Azerbaijan launched UAV attacks on the city Berd in the Tuvush province, after which one of the drones was destroyed.
Azerbaijani military officials denied the loss of an UAV, claiming that, in fact, an Armenian drone had been destroyed.
The shoot down is among the series of events in the escalating tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which saw at least 15 people killed on both sides on July 14. Clashes in the border regions started on July 12. Heavy artillery has also been used in what appears to be one of the most intense hostilities between the two countries in four years.
Azerbaijan’s Major-General Polad Hashimov is among the killed officers in the latest skirmish of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which has been ongoing since 1988.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged “an immediate end to the fighting and called on all involved to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation and refrain from provocative rhetoric.”
