Azerbaijan's defence ministry said on Tuesday that 50 military personnel died during overnight clashes with Armenia in the heaviest fighting between them since their 2020 war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Azerbaijan had announced earlier that it had completed its military objectives on the border with Armenia.
“Provocations committed by Armenian forces at the border have been averted and all necessary objectives were fulfilled,” President Ilham Aliyev's office said in a statement following his meeting with the military leadership.
The conflict followed a ceasefire struck by Azerbaijan and Armenia on Monday after fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh began again.
The pact fell apart within minutes, Azerbaijani media said.
The agreement came into force at 9am local time, according to media reports and a Reuters source.
Defence ministries in Baku and Yerevan did not elaborate on their casualties.
Russia called on both nations to stop hostilities and observe a ceasefire agreement, expressing “extreme concern” over renewed fighting.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had brokered the ceasefire and it expected both sides to honour the agreement.
“We express our extreme concern over the sharp aggravation of the situation in areas of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We call on the sides to refrain from further escalation of the situation, exercise restraint and strictly observe the ceasefire.”
Iran also appealed for restraint from its neighbours on Tuesday.
Tehran called for “restraint and the peaceful resolution of disputes between the two countries, and expresses its concern over the escalation of tensions,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed deep concern over the escalation and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in calls to both sides, Washington said on Tuesday.
Mr Blinken spoke overnight with Mr Aliyev “to express deep concern over military action along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, including shelling in Armenia”, the State Department said.
In another call with Armenia's prime minister, he “stressed the need for disengagement of military forces and assured Prime Minister Pashinyan that the United States would push for an immediate halt to fighting and a peace settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan”.
Turkey supports Azerbaijan
Turkey said on Tuesday it will continue to back Azerbaijan and called on Armenia to “cease its provocations”.
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar held talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Zakir Hasanov, the ministry said.
“He emphasised that Turkey has always stood by brotherly Azerbaijan and will continue to stand by it in its just causes,” it said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he had also discussed the situation with Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.
“Armenia should cease its provocations and focus on peace negotiations and co-operation with Azerbaijan,” he said on Twitter after the talks.
Turkish and Azerbaijani forces have held joint military drills since the 2020 conflict to improve their combat interoperability.
'Aggressive actions'
On Tuesday, Mr Pashinyan talked with the French and Russian presidents and the US secretary of state after “provocative, aggressive actions” by Azerbaijan, his office said.
In his phone calls, Mr Pashinyan “emphasised the importance of adequate reaction from the international community”.
“Azerbaijani forces continue using artillery, trench mortars, and drones … striking military and civilian infrastructure. The enemy is trying to advance [into Armenian territory],” Armenia's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said its forces were responding to Armenian provocation and denied claims that they were hitting civilian infrastructure.
“Azerbaijani armed forces are undertaking limited and targeted steps, neutralising Armenian firing positions,” it said.
Armenia said that Azerbaijani forces “launched intensive shelling, with artillery and large-calibre firearms, against Armenian military positions in the direction of the cities of Goris, Sotk, and Jermuk” shortly after midnight.
But Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry accused Armenia of “large-scale subversive acts” near the districts of Dashkesan, Kelbajar and Lachin on the border. It added that its army positions “came under fire, including from trench mortars”.
The US called for an end to the conflict on Monday night, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying it was “deeply concerned” about the situation, including “reported strikes against settlements and civilian infrastructure” in Armenia.
“As we have long made clear, there can be no military solution to the conflict,” Mr Blinken said. “We urge an end to any military hostilities immediately.”
Two wars fought
Last week, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of killing one of its soldiers in a border shoot-out.
In August, Azerbaijan said it had lost a soldier, while the Karabakh army said two of its troops had been killed and more than a dozen injured.
The neighbours fought two wars — in the 1990s and in 2020 — over the region, Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated enclave.
More than 6,500 people were killed in six weeks of fighting in the autumn of 2020. That ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire.
Under the deal, Armenia ceded parts of territory it had controlled for decades and Moscow sent about 2,000 peacekeepers to monitor the truce.
During EU-mediated talks in Brussels in May and April, Mr Aliyev and Mr Pashinyan agreed to “advance discussions” on a peace treaty.
Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The ensuing conflict killed about 30,000 people.
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Director: Navdeep Singh
Stars: Saif Ali Khan, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Zoya Hussain
Rating: 2/5
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
The biog
Favourite book: You Are the Placebo – Making your mind matter, by Dr Joe Dispenza
Hobby: Running and watching Welsh rugby
Travel destination: Cyprus in the summer
Life goals: To be an aspirational and passionate University educator, enjoy life, be healthy and be the best dad possible.
Florida: The critical Sunshine State
Though mostly conservative, Florida is usually always “close” in presidential elections. In most elections, the candidate that wins the Sunshine State almost always wins the election, as evidenced in 2016 when Trump took Florida, a state which has not had a democratic governor since 1991.
Joe Biden’s campaign has spent $100 million there to turn things around, understandable given the state’s crucial 29 electoral votes.
In 2016, Mr Trump’s democratic rival Hillary Clinton paid frequent visits to Florida though analysts concluded that she failed to appeal towards middle-class voters, whom Barack Obama won over in the previous election.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
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