(CNN) President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has said Armenia and its military forces "need to leave our territory, and then, the war will stop and then the conflict will come to an end." In an interview with Al Jazeera, President Aliyev went on to say that once the war is over "maybe some time later people of Azerbaijan and Armenia can again live together, in peace." Aliyev, however, gave no indication that a cessation of hostilities would end anytime soon, adding: "I think Armenian government overestimated their so-called importance on global arena, overestimated the possible international support to them and made very serious mistakes provoking us, attacking us and now they are suffering the very serious defeat." Long-simmering tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan have flared up in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region in recent days , with both sides accusing each other of attacking civilians amid reports of casualties. The neighboring countries have long been at odds over the mountainous territory -- which is situated within the borders of Azerbaijan -- and fought a war over it that ended in 1994.

Source: CNN October 03, 2020 15:56 UTC