The army was rearmed and operation plans were revised.
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| [Baku, Azerbaijan] |
The second Karabakh conflict began a year ago, on September 27, 2020. It lasted 44 days and ended with Azerbaijan's triumph and Armenia's loss. In an interview with the National Defense magazine, Azerbaijan's President, Ilham Aliyev, discussed what contributed to the country's victory.
"The strategy for conducting hostilities in the nation... for all situations has been established for a long time," Aliyev says. “Of course, in light of new realities and Azerbaijan's new capabilities, especially technical ones, adjustments to this plan were made on a regular basis, and each time these changes were authorized by me personally,” the president added.
According to Aliyev, the country's mobilization was completed in a short period of time. “Another army corps has been established. Furthermore, in a short period of time: the mobilization of this corps' soldiers took just two days. The corps' soldiers were given all of the required weaponry and military equipment, according to Aliyev.
According to him, the country's economic independence and huge investments in infrastructure and military organization were key factors in its triumph.
The breaking through of the enemy's initial line of defense on the first day, according to Aliyev, was one of the most significant events of the 44-day battle. “It would have been considerably more difficult for us in the future if we hadn't succeeded to break past the enemy's line of defense on the first day,” he added.
He also mentioned the conquest of the Soltanly and Amirvarli villages. “There was a fortified region that was really powerful. We had to engage in highly intensive warfare for several days in order to break the enemy's resistance. In some areas, the enemy laid down their guns and fled the battlefield - they acknowledged to having 10,000 deserters - but in others, they fought to the last end, ” Aliyev added.
“During the first stage of hostilities, the Armenian side made blunders when they tried to counterattack, which was utterly foolish from a military standpoint,” he said of the Armenian soldiers' defeat. Instead of reinforcing their fortifications, they launched a counter-offensive and were utterly annihilated.
The president declared, "The Shusha operation is the pinnacle of our triumph." "Of course, the conquest of Shushi broke the adversary's back, and the enemy essentially surrendered after that."
Drones are particularly important in the Karabakh conflict, according to Aliyev. “Unmanned aerial vehicles had never been utilized on such a large scale or with such efficiency until the second Karabakh war,” he added.
Azerbaijan began acquiring drones more than 10 years ago, according to him. The Harop loitering munitions, as well as the Sky Striker and Orbiter drones, were all Israeli-made weapons of mass devastation.
Azerbaijan was the first foreign customer of the Bayraktar TB2 drones, which "proven to be highly successful both in terms of reconnaissance and in terms of delivering accurate strikes," according to the Turkish military-industrial complex.
According to the president, Bayraktar TB2 was utilized practically every day. “Harop was used to strike strategic objectives and major military targets, whereas Bayraktar TB2 was used to hit armored vehicles and other targets. However, because lingering ammo is a one-time use weapon, we were quite selective in selecting targets for the strike in which Harop was employed, ”Aliyev explained the employment of shock drones in detail.
According to him, Bayraktar TB2 assisted in the conduct of hostilities, the support of the assault, the taking of new locations, and the minimization of casualties.
“We destroyed and took as trophies 366 tanks throughout the battle, as well as a large number of other armored vehicles and artillery pieces,” Aliyev added. - The enemy was so scared of Bayraktar TB2 that several of the seized tanks were not even used in battle. Because they were scared of Bayraktar TB2, Armenian personnel went to various places, then jumped out of the tanks and dispersed... Naturally, the Armenian military troops were scared, and their willpower was subdued. As a result, as I already stated, several tanks were simply tossed by them.