-10:55 PM: The governor of Tavush reports that the residents of Tavush have more or less returned to their normal daily routines. Repair works have begun on damaged infrastructure, specially one water line.
As we reported previously, a tentative ceasefire requested by Azerbaijan on July 16th has continues to hold. The previous night passed with relative calm. Fire exchange on the Tavush front was limited to infantry firearms and no notable use of artillery. There was also relative stability in all of the other fronts in Artsakh, Nakhichevan, and Gegharkunik.
There were no additional injuries or fatalities reported overnight on the front. Overall the Armenian Armed Forces have suffered four casualties, 36 injuries, and six damaged military vehicles. Of the 36 injuries, 16 have required no medical assistance. The situation with one critical injury is now in stable condition.
In the various settlements in Tavush, damage has been sustained by 24 houses, one wine factory, one cognac factory, one kindergarten, one water line, one gas line, four vehicles, and one police checkpoint, where two police officers have sustained injury. Additional one civilian, 48 year old Aramayis Hovakimyan has sustained injury. The medical update on him is positive and his life is not in danger.
The Azerbaijani side has not provided official updates of its losses or even admission of the failed attempted incursion by its Yashma elite forces, where at least ten members of the special forces were immediately eliminated in the neutral zone alone. Armenia has had to largely rely on visual confirmation of enemy bodies and losses of hardware.
-8:02 PM: Shushan Stepanyan, the spokeswoman of the Armenian Armed Forces reports of Azerbaijani retrieval of three tanks destroyed by the Armenian side.
-The Defense Ministry reports that at 2:00 PM on a unspecified military base, conscript Alik Manukyan (born 2000) was found with a gunshot wound, and was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The incident is under investigation. May he rest in peace.
-6:38 AM: An Israeli Orbiter-3 reconnaissance UAV of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces was shot down on the northeastern front of the Arsakh frontline.
Following threats from the highest level of the Turkish government towards Armenia, The Russian Ministry of Defense announced snap, large scale military exercises in the southwest of the country code named “Caucasus 2020”. The Russian Ministry of Defense insisted that the snap exercises are not related to the events in Tavush.
Former spokesman of the Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhannisyan told reporters that a large number of Armenian forces are to participate in Russian military drills on the 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri. He said he cannot comment on the relationship between those exercises and the events in Tavush.
Hovhannisyan also reports that there will be no disruptions on the regularly scheduled transition of the discharge of those completing service, and those starting service.
Armenian media shared photos of an Israeli Skystriker armed UAV which is in the hands of the Armenian Armed Forces. It is one of a dozen enemy drones destroyed in the past five days. Earlier, the shooting of a 30 million dollar Israeli Hermes 900 was reported by the Armenian Armed Forces, the first time ever the Hermes 900 was shot down in combat.
Razm.info, citing Davit Galastyan, shares two separate videos released by the Azerbaijani Minister of Defense showing missile strikes. However, both videos are actually of the same strike on a civilian humanitarian vehicle of the Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations- a war crime- taken from different angles. Razm.info once again warns the reader to not follow or rely on Azerbaijani media. (a country ranked 168th out of 180 in the world in media freedom. Armenia by comparison ranks 61st)
Razm.info additionally warns of a fake twitter page purportedly belonging to Shushan Stepanyan intended for disinformation. It reminds the reader that there is only one official twitter page of the MoD spokeswoman.
We would advise the reader to limit their information sources for instant updates to the Ministry of Defense, its official spokesperson (especially for English speakers), and to Razm.info and its official Telegram page.
We will soon have a full report on the Anvakh military post and its importance to the Armenian Armed Forces. The local authorities along with several non-profits are supporting the local population in returning to their regular lives via construction and financial support. Our security team is monitoring the situation closely and will update the reader whenever there are new developments.