For three decades multiple violations of the ceasefire occurred, the most serious being the four-day 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In August 2019, in a declaration in favour of unification, the Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan stated "Artsakh is Armenia, full stop". From 12 to 16 July 2020, skirmishes occurred on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, mainly in the Tavush province of Armenia and the Tovuz district of Azerbaijan. The skirmishes were conducted mainly through artillery and drones, without infantry, and were of varying intensity, injuring many, and killing at least 17 military and one civilian. Among Azerbaijani military casualties were high-ranking officers, including Major General Polad Hashimov and Colonel Ilgar Mirzayev. Hashimov was buried alongside Mirzayev on 15 July in the Second Alley of Honor in Baku. Azerbaijan's minister of defence, Zakir Hasanov, chief of general staff, Najmaddin Sadigov, and, the mayor of Baku, Eldar Azizov, attended the funeral. On the same day, President Ilham Aliyev had a telephone conversation with Hashimov's mother, expressing his deep condolences to her. A street was named after Hashimov in his native Vandam, in Gabala District. A park named after Polad Hashimov was opened in the Osmangazi district of Bursa, Turkey on 28 October. Both Hashimov and Mirzayev were declared National Heroes of Azerbaijan in December 2020.