22 years since Karabakh blockade was broken

PanARMENIAN.Net - After liberation of Shushi, Armenian forces had a new goal - to cleave the Road of Life at the shortest section between Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia, since Karabakh was under conditions of severe economic blockade.

Electricity and gas supplies were halted. Ammunition, food and medicine were delivered from Armenia by civil aviation, the flight becoming possible after liberation of Khojalu, where the only airport in Karabakh was located.

On May 13, 1992, Armenian forces continued concentrating near Zarasly settlement located between Shushi and Lachin. The communication with Lachin was cut off, while its hospital, school and building of local administration were destructed.

On May 15, Armenian detachments attacked upland Gulablu settlement of Aghdam region. Azerbaijani troops, which had numerical and positional advantages, repelled the attack. The enemy’s army fired at civilians of Stepanakert and other Armenian settlements from high levels of Gulablu.

On May 17, Armenian forces rebuffed the Azerbaijani army’s attack on Shushi.

According to the NKR defense army, fire exchange took place in Lachin between the Azerbaijani armed detachments and local Kurds. However, as soon as traffic through a bypass road from Berdzor to Goris region was resumed, the Azerbaijani detachments started urgently leaving Lachin.

On May 18, then Armenian Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsyan told the parliament in Armenia that the road linking Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia is open. A representative of the Azerbaijani defense ministry admitted the fall of Lachin later on May 18.

Berdzor, the center of Kashatagh region with a population of 9800, continues to serve as the Road of Life connecting Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.