(Berlin) – Armenian military forces carried out unlawfully indiscriminate rocket and missile strikes on Azerbaijan during the hostilities from September to November 2020. Armenian or allied Nagorno-Karabakh forces repeatedly fired widely banned cluster munitions in attacks on populated areas in Azerbaijan during the six-week war over Nagorno-Karabakh. The use of cluster munitions violates the laws of war due to the weapons’ inherently indiscriminate nature.
During on-site investigations in Azerbaijan in November, Human Rights Watch documented 11 incidents in which Armenian forces used ballistic missiles, unguided artillery rockets, and large-caliber artillery projectiles that hit populated areas in apparent indiscriminate attacks. In at least four other cases, munitions struck civilians or civilian objects in areas where there were no apparent military targets. Human Rights Watch researchers documented four attacks with cluster munitions in three of the country’s districts. They killed at least seven civilians, including two children, and wounded close to 20, including two children.
During a visit in Azerbaijan in November 2020,
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