Armenia continues to take consistent steps in the fight against international terrorism, cooperating with all interested partners. In this regard, the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement, addressing the fact of the capture by the Artsakh Defense Army of foreign armed terrorists involved by Azerbaijan in military operations against Artsakh.
“On 1 November, during combat operations, units of the Artsakh Defense Army captured a second foreign armed terrorist involved by Azerbaijan in military operations against Artsakh, who identified himself as Yusuf Alabed al Haji, a resident of the village of Ziyadia in the Jisr al-Shughur district of Syria’s Idlib province. We note that on 30 October, the Artsakh Defense Army had captured another armed terrorist, who identified himself as Mehrab Muhammad Al Shkhayr, from the Syrian city of Hama.
The Armenian side has repeatedly raised the issue of Turkey’s recruitment, transfer to the region and deployment of foreign armed terrorists and jihadists from various “hot spots” of the Middle East, particularly from areas of Syria under its control and from Libya, for the purpose of committing atrocities against the people of Artsakh. The aforementioned fact is now not only confirmed by the special services of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries, our many partners and the international community, but also by the direct testimonies of the terrorists themselves.
In their testimonies, the aforementioned terrorists provided detailed information about their recruitment process, the expected monthly payments for the fight against the “giavur” (infidels), the “bounties” for beheading each “infidel”, as well as the terrorist plans they were to carry out. The transfer of jihadists to the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict reveals the aim of the Turkish-Azerbaijani leadership to give the conflict an interreligious character.
This is a completely new manifestation of the spread of terrorism, when foreign armed terrorists and jihadists from the Middle East are deployed in a conflict zone located on OSCE territory, which is a serious threat to international and regional security and stability.
Armenia will continue to take consistent steps in the fight against international terrorism, cooperating with all interested partners,” the MFA statement said.
