Azerbaijan Says 4 Killed in Recent Karabakh Clashes

A view shows a burnt tank near Hadrut town, which recently came under the control of Azerbaijan's troops, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, November 25, 2020. (Reuters)
A view shows a burnt tank near Hadrut town, which recently came under the control of Azerbaijan's troops, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, November 25, 2020. (Reuters)
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Azerbaijan Says 4 Killed in Recent Karabakh Clashes

A view shows a burnt tank near Hadrut town, which recently came under the control of Azerbaijan's troops, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, November 25, 2020. (Reuters)
A view shows a burnt tank near Hadrut town, which recently came under the control of Azerbaijan's troops, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, November 25, 2020. (Reuters)

Four Azeri servicemen have been killed in recent weeks in clashes in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said on Sunday, in the first report of casualties since a Russian-brokered ceasefire accord.

Separately, authorities in Armenia said six of their servicemen had been wounded in what they described as an Azeri military offensive but did not say when.

The Baku government said the clashes, which also left two Azeri servicemen wounded, had taken place in an area which fell under its control when the fighting ended on Nov. 10 and swathes of territory in Nagorno-Karabakh previously controlled by ethnic Armenians were handed over to Azerbaijan

Meanwhile, Yerevan insisted that Armenian forces had repelled attempted intrusions into territories supposed to remain under the control of the rebel province’s government, namely the Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd villages.

“The provocations of Azerbaijan continued today in the direction of the villages of Mets Shen and Hin Shen in the Hadrut region,” Armenia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russian peacekeepers deployed in the conflict area have reported no major clashes but said at the weekend there had been one incident of a ceasefire violation.



Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Party Leaves Government over Conscription Bill

 Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers from the government attends a session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers from the government attends a session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)
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Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Party Leaves Government over Conscription Bill

 Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers from the government attends a session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers from the government attends a session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)

One of Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism, said it was quitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition due to a long-running dispute over failure to draft a bill to exempt yeshiva students from military service.

Six of the remaining seven members of UTJ, which is comprised of the Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael factions, wrote letters of resignation. Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of UTJ, had resigned a month ago.

That would leave Netanyahu with a razor thin majority of 61 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, or parliament.

It was not clear whether Shas, another ultra-Orthodox party, would follow suit.

Degel Hatorah said in a statement that after conferring with its head rabbis, "and following repeated violations by the government to its commitments to ensure the status of holy yeshiva students who diligently engage in their studies ... (its MKs) have announced their resignation from the coalition and the government."

Ultra-Orthodox parties have argued that a bill to exempt yeshiva students was a key promise in their agreement to join the coalition in late 2022.

A spokesperson for Goldknopf confirmed that in all, seven UTJ Knesset members are leaving the government.

Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers have long threatened to leave the coalition over the conscription bill.

Some religious parties in Netanyahu's coalition are seeking exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military service that is mandatory in Israel, while other lawmakers want to scrap any such exemptions altogether.

The ultra-Orthodox have long been exempt from military service, which applies to most other young Israelis, but last year the Supreme Court ordered the defense ministry to end that practice and start conscripting seminary students.

Netanyahu had been pushing hard to resolve a deadlock in his coalition over a new military conscription bill, which has led to the present crisis.

The exemption, in place for decades and which over the years has spared an increasingly large number of people, has become a heated topic in Israel with the military still embroiled in a war in Gaza.