Another house as well as a cultural center in Khnatsakh already came under fire last month. Two villagers who did not want to be identified told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service said the latest gunshots fired from Azerbaijani army positions were more intense than usual and damaged two or three rooftops.
“We felt that they were firing not into the air but at the village,” said one of them. “If they hit three roofs in a single night, it’s obvious that they target the village itself.”
The Armenian Defense Ministry said, meanwhile, that the gunfire damaged one house roof in Khnatsakh on Wednesday night. It urged the Azerbaijani side to investigate the incident and come up with “public clarifications.”
Gunshots that were also heard by people living in the nearby village of Khoznavar. Residents of the two communities in Armenia’s Syunik province have reported nightly gunfire from Azerbaijani army positions for more than a month.
It began days after Azerbaijan started accusing Armenian troops of violating the ceasefire regime on a regular basis. The accusations denied by the Armenian military followed official announcements on March 13 that the two conflicting sides have bridged their differences on the text of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.
The Azerbaijani leadership has made clear that it will not sign the treaty without securing more Armenian concessions. Armenian opposition figures and pundits have suggested that the truce violations are aimed at forcing Yerevan to make those concessions or preparing the ground for a large-scale military attack on Armenia.
“We primarily fear for our children,” said one woman from Khnatsakh. “This has been going on for 50 days. We don’t know what our government thinks of this.”
“We’re scared of leaving our homes,” said another local resident.
Two Armenian government ministers visited Khnatsakh and Khoznavar and spent a night there last week in an apparent bid to reassure the local population. An official statement on the visit made no mention of the ceasefire violations.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s office told Factor.am on Wednesday that Yerevan and Baku have exchanged information about those violations. The office said the Armenian side has also investigated Azerbaijani claims and already presented its finding to Baku. It did not disclose them.