I Was Sleeping in the Living Room with My Small Child, I Screamed in Fear: What Happened in Artsakh

In the Red Market community of Artsakh, the gunfire that erupted today, February 11, at dawn, was the most intense in recent months. Although Azerbaijanis have periodically targeted the settlement over the last year, and locals have somewhat learned to live under the sound of gunfire, today’s incident has heightened their anxiety as the shots were clearer and more targeted this time.

“Since mid-March, gunfire has been heard here every day, but we hadn’t experienced gunfire like this last night. We send our children to school with fear, but what can we do, we send them,” said Aray Gabrielyan, a resident of Red Market, in a conversation with NEWS.am. Her home was damaged by Azerbaijani gunfire at dawn.

Aray Gabrielyan’s house is two kilometers away from the Azerbaijani positions, and the flag set up at the Azerbaijani position is visible from her window. Most likely, from this visible position, the Azerbaijanis targeted the Gabrielyan family's home today. The family has three minor children aged 7, 8, and 9. Gunfire erupted at dawn around 5:50 a.m. as Aray was sleeping in the living room with her youngest daughter. A bullet shattered the window and fell into the living room.

“The gunfire lasted for two to three minutes. I was sleeping in the living room with my small child. I woke up to the sound of gunshots, screamed in fear, and my child also woke up from that sound. They hit our window, broke the glass, and the bullet fell under the sofa which was one meter away from us,” Aray Gabrielyan recounted, noting that she and her child are unharmed.

Following today’s gunfire, Gegham Stepanyan, the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, visited Red Market. In our conversation, he mentioned that the mood among the locals in the village is calm. “The people living under intense gunfire have already adapted to this situation. Today, the children went to school; classes were not postponed,” Gegham Stepanyan stated.

Azerbaijanis regularly open fire towards the Red Market settlement, also targeting the civilian population. On January 10, Azerbaijani forces fired at a kindergarten, causing a vehicle located in the kindergarten area to catch fire. Earlier, it was reported that gunfire erupted around 5:50 a.m. from Azerbaijani positions located near the neighborhoods of the Red Market and Taghavard communities in the Martakert region of Artsakh, targeting residential buildings.