On the eve of the first anniversary of the Nagorno-Karabakh war (September 27, 2020), the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Elham Aliyev, in an interview, gave new details of the so-called “Iron Fist” operation against Armenia.
“On the first day of the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, stating that Armenia was launching an offensive,” he told Russia’s National Defense: “That memorable day began with this news: The Minister of Defense informed me that our positions on the border and some towns had been attacked by artillery from Armenia. It was decided to give a sufficient and necessary answer, and so we entered the war, which seemed inevitable.”
Aliyev added: “On the same day we were able to break the first line of the enemy defense and then we only advanced for the whole 44 days!”
The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan also said about the process of war management: Every day I had meetings with the Minister of Defense, the State Border Service, the Ministry of Interior, the State Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service. In these meetings, we reviewed the situation of the day, identified shortcomings, and developed and approved plans for the next day. So there was a very active daily work going on, and in many cases our actions and operations came as a surprise to the enemy.
Extensive use of Zionist drones
Asked by the Russian National Defense about the widespread use of drones in the Nagorno-Karabakh war, he said that no drone had been used on such a scale to date.
Elham Aliyev added: “Until the Second Karabakh War, drones were not used anywhere on such a scale and with such efficiency. We started buying UAVs a long time ago – more than 10 years ago. These weapons were made by Israel. We dominated them and used them in short-lived wars in April 2016. This was a surprise for the Armenian side.