Lebanese officers visit breakaway Karabakh

Muxalifat, Baku
12 Feb 05

Excerpt from report by Etina Yusifli in Azerbaijani newspaper Muxalifat
on 12 February headlined “Lebanese officers training Karabakh Armenians
to fight” and subheaded “A spy satellite of US Central Intelligence
Agency is monitoring Nagornyy Karabakh”

The armed forces of Nagornyy Karabakh have been on high alert
since 2 February. On 2 February the army command in Xankandi
[Stepanakert] ordered the strengthening of fortifications along the
front-line with Azerbaijan and the checking of mine fields and defence
installations. Nagornyy Karabakh’s air defence forces have also been
put on alert.

Armenian army officers Musheg Hovanesyan from the third army corps
in Vanadzor and Maj Andranik Gulyan and Col Suren Nikolosyan from
the fifth cops in Nubarashen have been in Xankandi since 2 February.

A Lebanese army delegation is also visiting Nagornyy Karabakh. The
delegation includes two officers, reports say. The delegation, which
first visited Yerevan and then Xankandi, is familiarizing itself with
“the military build-up and the current state of Nagornyy Karabakh’s
defence army”.

According to different sources, the main aim of the delegation is to
make sure that Karabakh Armenians could study at Beirut’s military
academy.

[Passage omitted: speculation on other issues that may be discussed]

Note: According to military expert Naim Quliyev, Armenia bought
76 tanks, 89 armoured personnel carriers, 102 infantry fighting
vehicles, six fighters, three bombers and a fighter-bomber jet as
well as 117 artillery guns and 67 rocket artillery guns from Belarus
and Moldavia in 2002-03. This is in violation of the Flank Agreement
to the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE)Treaty.

[Passage omitted: expert claims Russia paid for arms, reported details]