to the Armenian–Azerbaijani state border outside Nagorno-Karabakh, with the 2012, 2014 and 2018 border clashes being prominent. Tovuz District, the site of the main skirmishes, lies opposite to Armenia's Tavush Province, in Azerbaijan's northwestern and borderline territories, along the routes of the Baku–Tbilisi–Akhalkalaki–Kars railway, Baku–Supsa Pipeline, Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan oil pipeline, South Caucasus Pipeline, and the Southern Gas Corridor. The Southern Gas Corridor is a major pipeline that carries natural gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey and Europe through Georgia, located 78 kilometers west of the town of Tovuz. Timeline 12 July The exact cause of the initial skirmishes has been unclear. At 16:08, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence reported that starting from the afternoon "units of the Armenian Armed Forces, grossly violating the ceasefire on the direction of the Tovuz region of the Azerbaijani–Armenian state border, fired on our positions using artillery mounts". According to Azerbaijani Meydan TV reporter, Habib Muntazir, artillery fire was also conducted from Goranboy District, but this was not confirmed. In December 2020, the former president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan declared that the Armenian Armed Forces have provoked the clashes by attacking on Azerbaijani territory. In June 2021, the other ex-president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan made similar statements, also adding that "simply drove Azerbaijan into a corner, and Azerbaijan certainly had to do something", referring to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War. Then, at 16:55, Shushan Stepanyan, press secretary of the Armenian Minister of Defence David Tonoyan posted a written statement on her Facebook account. According to Stepanyan, at around 12:30, the servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces attempted to cross the state border of Armenia in a UAZ vehicle for unknown reasons. After the warning of the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani servicemen left their vehicle and returned to their position. At 13:45, the servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces repeated the attempt to occupy the border position of the Armenian Armed Forces, now using artillery fire, but were pressured by the Armenian side, being thrown back. According to Stepanyan, the vehicle previously controlled by the Azerbaijani servicemen was destroyed shortly after. After that, at 17:20, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence gave a statement about the incident. According to the statement, "as a result of adequate measures taken, the enemy was hit and he was repulsed with losses". In response to statements by Stepanyan regarding the UAZ allegations, the Azerbaijani side stated that "if the Azerbaijani Army wanted to cross