US calls for Azerbaijan to halt Karabakh attack

Washington called on Azerbaijan to halt the military action it launched into Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday, while Russia urged both sides in the conflict to stop the bloodshed in the mountainous and disputed region.
After months of rising tensions in the Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan sent troops backed by artillery strikes into the region in an attempt to bring the breakaway region to heel.
Karabakh is internationally recognised as Azerbaijani territory, but part of it is run by separatist Armenian authorities who say it is their ancestral homeland.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held calls with both Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, urging Baku to de-escalate the situation.