Armenia says Karabakh forces quit town as U.S.-backed ceasefire appears to fail

Armenia acknowledged overnight that Nagorno-Karabakh forces had withdrawn from a strategic town between the enclave and the Iranian border, an apparent military gain for Azerbaijan as a new U.S.-brokered ceasefire failed to end a month of fighting.

Azerbaijan, an ally of Turkey, has been trying since to recapture Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region populated and ruled by ethnic Armenians. The worst fighting in decades in the area has killed hundreds of people and risks sucking Turkey and Russia into a regional conflict.

Armenian defence ministry official Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in a news conference late on Monday that ethnic Armenian forces had given up the settlement of Gubadli south of the enclave “to avoid unnecessary losses”, but the situation was “not critical”.

Azerbaijan’s military gains could make a diplomatic solution more difficult. It and Turkey reject any proposed solution that allows Armenians to remain in control of the enclave. Armenia says it will not withdraw from territory it views as part of its historic homeland, where the population needs protection.

The two countries agreed to a ceasefire on Sunday when their foreign ministers separately met U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington.