YEREVAN. - Tough battles are underway in the northern and southern directions of Karabakh and Azerbaijani army fronts, in which, however, the initiative is "in the hands" of the Armenian side, and [thus] the success of the Azerbaijani side is entirely out of the question, Spokesperson for the Armenian Defense Ministry, Artsrun Hovhannisyan, wrote on his Facebook page.

"We continue suppressing the actions of the adversary, dictating the conditions in many directions of the front. I would like to reiterate that the battles are still continuing in some directions of the front, since the adversary has accumulated large forces there," he said.

The situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone dramatically escalated on Saturday night. From regular shootings and frequent sabotage-reconnaissance attempts, Azerbaijan has now moved to large-scale attack all along the Line of Contact, using a variety of weaponry as well as artillery, armored vehicles, and air force. Both sides have suffered losses.