Captured by Azeri forces during the war, Armenian forces recaptured the village on October 30, 1991.

L-39s, along with older L-29s, were used extensively in ground attack missions by Azeri forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh War .

The stretched out Azeri forces deployed through the region allowed them to advance twenty-nine kilometers, reaching the Tartar River on March 31.

Many of the Azeri forces were ill-prepared for the attack as Melkonian noted when pointing out to their lack of equipment.

As a result of this, Azeri forces began to suffer heavy losses.

Kelbajar was outside the boundaries of the contested enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh that Armenian and Azeri forces had been fighting over for five years.

Azeri forces were unable to halt advances made by Armenian armor units and nearly all died defending the area.

However, as the Armenian forces reacted, the bloodiest clashes of the war ensued and the Azeri forces were soundly defeated.

The Armenians claimed that the attack was in response to cross-border shelling of Armenian villages by Azeri forces from Nakhchivan.

He believed that, if Azeri forces succeeded in deporting Armenians from Karabagh, they would advance on Zangezur and other regions of Armenia.