Fresh hostilities on border of Azerbaijan, Armenia

BAKU, Sept 13 (Reuters/AP): Armenia said on Tuesday that at least 49 of its soldiers had been killed in clashes along the border with Azerbaijan after a sharp escalation in hostilities that prompted big powers to call for restraint.
Armenia said that several towns near the border with Azerbaijan, including Jermuk, Goris and Kapan, were being shelled in the early hours of Tuesday, and said it had responded to what it called a "large-scale provocation" by the Azerbaijan.
Baku said it was attacked by Armenia.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of attacking Armenian towns because it did not want to negotiate over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave that is inside Azerbaijan but mainly populated by ethnic Armenians.
"The intensity of hostilities has decreased but attacks on one or two fronts from Azerbaijan continue," Pashinyan said in a speech to parliament, according to Russian media.
He said the Azerbaijani action followed his recent European Union-brokered talks in Brussels with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that revealed what he described as Azerbaijan's uncompromising stand.
Pashinyan called Russian President Vladimir Putin overnight and also had phone calls with French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Charles Michel, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the hostilities.
The Armenian government said that the country will officially ask Russia for assistance under a friendship treaty between the countries and also appeal to the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-dominated security alliance of ex-Soviet nations that includes Armenia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from comment on Yerevan's request, but added that Putin was "taking every effort to help de-escalate tensions."
Russia's Foreign Ministry urged both parties "to refrain from further escalation and show restraint" and voiced hope that a cease-fire brokered by Moscow this morning will hold.
The latest escalation of decades-old hostilities between the two south Caucasus countries has fuelled fears that a second full-fledged war could break out in the post-Soviet world in addition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Azerbaijan, which accused Armenia of carrying intelligence activity along the border and moving weapons, said its military positions came under attack by Armenia. Azerbaijani media reported that a ceasefire agreement had been broken almost immediately after being enforced early on Tuesday.
"As we have long made clear, there can be no military solution to the conflict," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. "We urge an end to any military hostilities immediately."
Russia, which operates a military base in Armenia, is a key power broker in the region and an ally of Yerevan through the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, while Turkey backs Azerbaijan.
The defence ministers of Armenia and Russia spoke on Tuesday morning and agreed to take steps to stabilise the situation on the border, while Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held a call with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov and called for Armenia to "cease its provocations."
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, also urged Pashinyan to prevent further escalation.