Caucasus

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Armenia’s parliament approved a law Friday that would allow employers to fire workers who refuse to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative test result.

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenian officials and Azerbaijan on Saturday accused each other of breaching a peace deal that ended six weeks of fierce fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan’s leader threatened to crush Armenian forces with an “iron fist.”

MOSCOW (AP) — The president of Azerbaijan is promising that Christian churches will be protected when the strongly Muslim country takes possession of areas formerly controlled by Armenians.

KALBAJAR, Azerbaijan (AP) — In a bitter farewell to his home of 21 years, Garo Dadevusyan wrenched off its metal roof and prepared to set the stone house on fire. Thick smoke poured from houses that his neighbours had already torched before fleeing this ethnic Armenian village about to come under Azerbaijani control.

The Prime Minister of Armenia has warned the European Union on Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasing aggression, saying that it “should expect Turkey near Vienna” in a “not so distant future”.

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Azerbaijan on Sunday accused Armenia of attacking large cities overnight in violation of the cease-fire deal brokered by Russia that seeks to end the worst outbreak of hostilities in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region.

MOSCOW (AP) — With Russia’s mediation, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting at noon Saturday following two weeks of heavy fighting that marked the worst outbreak of hostilities in the separatist region in more than a quarter-century.

BEIRUT (AP) — For the past two weeks, Raffi Ghazarian has been glued to the TV at home and at work watching news about the fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. If it goes on, the 50-year-old Lebanese of Armenian descent says he´s ready to leave everything and volunteer to defend his ancestral land.

Armenian public radio published video footage on Thursday allegedly depicting an imam in Syria recruiting mercenaries to fight for Azerbaijan against Armenia in its ongoing conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran, warned his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in a phone call Tuesday to keep “terror groups” out of the nation’s conflict with Armenia, a concern as reports mount of Azeri ally Turkey importing Syrian mercenaries to the battle theater.

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian said on Wednesday that the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Caucasus mountains could become “another Syria” if the international community does not take action.

MOSCOW (AP) – Four gunmen attacked a Russian Orthodox church in the mostly Muslim Russian province of Chechnya on Saturday but were killed by security forces in a clash that also left two policemen and a churchgoer dead. The attack underscored security challenges in Russia as it prepares to host the World Cup next month.

A senior Muslim cleric in Russia has suggested that universal female genital mutilation (FGM) would be a positive development, after a rights group released a report denouncing the practice earlier this week.

Seventeen people have been arrested as of Tuesday in connection with the triple suicide-bomber terrorist attack at Ataturk Airport, Istanbul’s international airport, last week. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that more attacks will continue if the “Caucasus countries” do not put an end to jihadi recruiting.

Eight years ago, Hillary Clinton watched as Barack Obama crushed her dreams, then used her body as a stepping stone to the presidency. Now, she has determined that she will become Obama. Hillary rightfully should have won the 2008 primaries

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Naryn-Kala fortress in Dagestan, in which shots were fired at a tour group, killing one and wounding 11 others.

The leader of al-Qaeda linked group al-Nusra Front is encouraging jihadists in the Caucasus to attack Russia. His call follows similar condemnation of Russia from rival jihadi group the Islamic State (ISIS) and a number of Saudi clerics.

Contents: Russia opens a dangerous new chapter in Syria and the Mideast; ‘Putin’s Plan’ for Russia and Syria; How is Vladimir Putin different from Ronald Reagan?; Choosing the lesser of two evils

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov announced this week that over 2,200 Russians are currently fighting with the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) terrorist group. The jihadists are spread out in Syria and Iraq.