STEPANAKERT, Azerbaijan: Armenian and Azerbaijani forces exchanged rocket fire as fighting intensified over Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday, with the breakaway region’s capital and Azerbaijan’s second-largest city bombarded.
Yerevan said Nagorno-Karabakh’s main city Stepanakert, which has been under artillery fire since Friday, was hit again on Sunday and AFP journalists said there were regular explosions and smoke rising in parts of the city.
Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said Ganja, a city of more than 330,000 in western Azerbaijan, was also “under fire” while separatist forces claimed to have destroyed an air base there.
The two sides accused each other of targeting civilian areas, as the conflict appeared to be widening a week after heavy fighting broke out in the decades-old dispute over Karabakh.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have resisted international calls for a cease-fire and clashes have intensified in recent days, with both sides claiming victories on the front and saying they are inflicting heavy losses.
Sirens were sounding and explosions were heard at regular intervals in Stepanakert, where residents were taking shelter including several families in the basement of a church.
Armenia’s foreign ministry said Stepanakert and the town of Martakert were under rocket attack and accused Azerbaijani forces of “the deliberate targeting of the civilian population.”
It said the air force was also involved. Drones could be heard flying over Stepanakert.
Azerbaijan said Ganja was under fire, including from areas outside of Karabakh.
“Armenian forces struck Ganja with rockets from Armenian territory,” said Hikmet Hajjiyev, an adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
He said Armenian forces had also used heavy artillery and rockets against the towns of Terter and Goradiz in Azerbaijan.
Karabakh’s separatist forces said they had targeted and destroyed an air base in Ganja, while the region’s leader, Arayik Harutyunyan, warned that it would now consider “military facilities in Azerbaijan’s big cities” as legitimate targets.
“I call on the residents of these cities to immediately leave,” Harutyunyan said in a post on Facebook.
Azerbaijan claims to have made gains in Karabakh in recent days, with its defense ministry saying that 14 settlements have been taken as well as a strategically important plateau.
In an address to the country on Saturday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Armenians were facing a “decisive moment” and called for the nation to come together.
Armenia on Saturday announced the deaths of 51 more separatist fighters, taking the number of reported fatalities on both sides above 240, including more than 30 civilians.
Russia, the United States and France — whose leaders co-chair a mediation group that has failed to bring about a political resolution to the conflict — have called for an immediate halt to the fighting.
Armenia has said it is “ready to engage” with mediators but Azerbaijan — which considers Karabakh under Armenian occupation — has said Armenian forces must fully withdraw before a cease-fire can be brokered.
Karabakh’s declaration of independence from Azerbaijan during the collapse of the Soviet Union sparked a war in the early 1990s that claimed 30,000 lives.
Talks to resolve the conflict have made little progress since a 1994 cease-fire agreement.
The breakaway province is not acknowledged as independent by any country — including Armenia — and Karabakh said Saturday that international recognition was “the only way toward peace and security in the region.”
Yerevan has accused Turkey of dispatching mercenaries from Syria and Libya to the fighting — an allegation confirmed and denounced by Russia and France.
Cities under fire as Armenia-Azerbaijan fighting intensifies
https://arab.news/nawaf
Cities under fire as Armenia-Azerbaijan fighting intensifies
- Yerevan said Nagorno-Karabakh’s main city Stepanakert was hit again on Sunday
- Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said Ganja, in western Azerbaijan, was also 'under fire'
94 million need cataract surgery, but access lacking: WHO
- Of the 94 million affected, fewer than 20 percent are blind, while the rest suffer from impaired vision
GENEVA: More than 94 million people suffer from cataracts, but half of them do not have access to the surgery needed to fix it, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
Cataracts — the clouding of the eye’s lens that causes blurred vision and can lead to blindness — are on the rise as populations get older, with age being the main risk factor.
“Cataract surgery — a simple, 15-minute procedure — is one of the most cost-effective medical procedures, providing immediate and lasting restoration of sight,” the WHO said.
It is one of the most frequently performed surgeries undertaken in high-income countries.
However, “half of the world’s population in need of cataract surgery don’t have access to it,” said Stuart Keel, the UN health agency’s technical lead for eye care.
The situation is worst in the WHO’s Africa region, where three in four people needing cataract surgery remain untreated.
In Kenya, at the current rate, 77 percent of people needing cataract surgery are likely to die with their cataract blindness or vision impairment, said Keel.
Across all regions, women consistently experience lower access to care than men.
Of the 94 million affected, fewer than 20 percent are blind, while the rest suffer from impaired vision.
- 2030 vision -
The WHO said that over the past two decades, global cataract surgery coverage had increased by 15 percent.
In 2021, WHO member states set a target of a 30-percent increase by 2030.
However, current modelling predicts that cataract surgery coverage will rise by only about 8.4 percent this decade.
To close the gap, the WHO urged countries to integrate eye examinations into primary health care and invest in the required surgical equipment.
States should also expand the eye-care workforce, training surgeons in a standardised manner and then distributing them throughout the country, notably outside major cities.
The WHO was on Wednesday launching new guidance for countries on how to provide quality cataract surgery services.
It will also issue guidance to help support workforce development.
Keel said the main issue was capacity and financing.
“We do need money invested to get rid of this backlog, which is nearly 100 million people,” he told a press conference.
While age is the primary risk factor for cataracts, others include prolonged UV-B light exposure, tobacco use, prolonged corticosteroid use and diabetes.
Keel urged people to keep up regular eye checks as they get older, with most problems able to be either prevented or diagnosed and treated.
The cost of the new lens that goes inside the eye can be under $100.
However, out-of-pocket costs can be higher when not covered by health insurance.
“Cataract surgery is one of the most powerful tools we have to restore vision and transform lives,” said Devora Kestel, head of the WHO’s noncommunicable diseases and mental health department.
“When people regain their sight, they regain independence, dignity, and opportunity.”
