The long-standing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated last month, and the two countries suffered their worst losses in four years. Between July 12 and 16, at least 16 service members from the two sides were killed: four Armenian soldiers and 12 Azerbaijanis, including a major general. (A fifth Armenian soldier died from his wounds later that month.) The fighting was the latest significant incident in a conflict that has continued without resolution since the fall of the Soviet Union.
July’s clashes, however, stood out in a number of ways. They occurred not along the oft-contested Nagorno-Karabakh front line but along the borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan proper, far to the north near the border with Georgia, in an area full of critical civilian infrastructure. Both sides deployed new technology, in particular drones.
