⁍ A U.S.-backed ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh was in jeopardy on Monday as Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces renewed fighting.

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⁍ Both sides accused each other of breaking a truce agreed hours earlier in Washington.

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⁍ The latest fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh is the worst in the South Caucasus since the 1990s.

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– A ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenian forces in the separatist enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh came to an end just minutes after it came into force Sunday morning—and the two sides are accusing each other of breaking it. Azerbaijan’s defense ministry says Armenian forces shelled two villages in the Terter and Lachin regions, located at opposite ends of the ceasefire zone, Reuters reports. The president of Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian enclave says Azeri forces resumed attacks along the entire line of contact in the second half of the day. The latest fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous part of Azerbaijan populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians, erupted on Sept. 27 and is the worst in the South Caucasus since the 1990s. Two Russian-brokered ceasefires have failed to hold. World powers want to prevent a wider war that might draw in Turkey, which voices strong support for Azerbaijan, and Russia, which has a defense pact with Armenia. The conflict, close to pipelines that carry Azeri oil and gas to international markets, has also strained relations between Ankara and its NATO allies. Azerbaijan says that 41 civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh and 974 servicemen have been killed in the conflict. The office of Nagorno-Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman says 90,000 residents, or 60% of the enclave’s population, have fled their homes for locations elsewhere in Nagorno-Karabakh or Armenia.