 Kelbajar lays outside the contested enclave of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, but within Nagorno-Karabakh geographic region of Azerbaijan, that Armenian and Azerbaijani forces had been fighting over for five years.The offensive was the first time Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh had advanced beyond the boundaries of the enclave.Kelbajar rayon, located between Armenia and the western border of former NKAO, was composed of several dozen villages and its provincial capital, also named Kelbajar.