By Anush Mkrtchian
JERMUK, Armenia (Azatutyun.am) — A group of foreign ambassadors and other diplomats visited on Friday, September 16, the largest of the Armenian border settlements shelled by the Azerbaijani army during this week’s deadly clashes with Armenian forces.
The Yerevan-based diplomats, among them US Ambassador Lynne Tracy, toured Jermuk, Armenia’s most famous spa town 170 kilometers southeast of the capital, and inspected damage to its civilian infrastructure during a trip organized by the Armenian military. Journalists were allowed to accompany them.
Jermuk was close to one of the epicenters of heavy fighting that broke out at several sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on Monday night. The vast majority of its residents, notably children and women, were evacuated or fled their homes on their own amid cross-border artillery fire. Civilian access to the largely deserted town remains strictly limited for security reasons.
Local government officials said that the Azerbaijani shelling damaged a spa resort, three guest houses, a children’s playground, an administrative building and a cable car line. The cable car director told reporters that about a dozen shells landed on the facility and seriously damaged it.
Just outside Jermuk, the tail of an unexploded rocket fired by Azerbaijani forces stuck out by the main road leading out of the town.
