HRW reported that "during their offensive against Aghdam, Karabakh Armenian forces committed several violations of the rules of war, including hostage-taking, indiscriminate fire, and the forcible displacement of civilians".

[4] With collapse of the USSR and the beginning of the Karabakh war, as a result of the division of the property of the Soviet Armed Forces, in addition to military equipment, ammunition depots also came under the control of Azerbaijan, including the 49th Arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate in the city of Aghdam.

[5] The leadership of the Azerbaijani army concentrated a large amount of artillery in Aghdam, which was used in the shelling[6] of Askeran, Martakert and Martuni regions of Nagorno-Karabakh.

[7] "In early March [1992], Armenian forces began intense shelling of towns located along the eastern border, separating Nagorno-Karabakh from the rest of Azerbaijan.

In June 1993, the rebellious Azerbaijani colonel Surat Huseynov marched his troops on Baku, leaving the Karabakh front vulnerable in the ensuing political crisis.