The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is believed to be exacerbated if major countries like Russia and Turkey enter.

A lingering smoldering territorial dispute in the Caucasus is raging in recent days with the participation of tanks, helicopters, artillery and infantry troops from Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region broke out over the weekend with rising casualties in both Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Nagorno-Karabakh is located deep in the territory of southwestern Azerbaijan, but the majority of the population is of Armenian origin.

Armenia actively supported the separatist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh, even allegedly to have deployed military forces there.

Despite the ceasefire agreement reached in 1994 and many subsequent peace negotiations, conflicts still broke out here sporadically, including the fierce clash in 2016. The two countries have since then.

However, the conflict between these two Caucasus states is at risk of spreading, as it involves a geopolitical factor, with the participation of the "giants" in the region.

Armenia is currently a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), along with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The CSTOs are a Russian-led military alliance, similar to NATO, in which the bloc is responsible for protecting the security of any member who is attacked by foreign countries.

On September 28, a national security adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement condemning Armenia.

Russia and Turkey have supported opposing factions in the civil war in Libya and Syria.

The case of Armenia accusing Turkish fighters of downing the country has raised concerns about the specter of proxy war in the region.

"Bringing weapons into the territory of a former Soviet Union country was not an act of comfort to Russia," said Dmitry Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov said on September 28 that Russia is seeking to resolve the conflict and that "we do not want to talk about military options at the moment".

Over the years, great powers, especially Russia, which supplies military weapons to both sides and has helped lead an international peace effort called the Minsk Process, have intervened to prevent conflict between

However, due to fragmentation by the Covid-19 pandemic and the political situation in Belarus, however, international mediators missed the warning signs of conflict regarding the Nagorno region, analysts say.

"All signals indicate the conflict is on the verge of escalating," said Olesya Vartanyan, a senior analyst for the Caucasus region at the Global Crisis Group, in a phone interview.

The limited measures put in place against the Covid-19 thwarted attempts at shuttle diplomacy.

Both Azerbaijan and Armenia ordered general mobilization.

The cause of the fighting that broke out on September 27 is still debated.

The disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani army issued a statement asserting their aim was to change the status quo by re-imposing control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The Azerbaijan State news agency quoted General Mayis Barkhudarov as saying that the army would "fight to the last drop of blood to completely destroy the enemy and win".

Both sides give a fairly high number of enemy casualties.

Analysts in the region are increasingly concerned about the risk of other countries being dragged into conflict, albeit a small possibility.

The war in Nagorno-Karabakh that ended in 1994 with the armistice was one of the most fierce conflicts in the post-Soviet era.

Fighting broke out in the midst of UN Secretary-General António Guterres calling for the global ceasefire to focus on efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

Guterres on September 27 urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to stop fighting immediately and "return to meaningful negotiations" under the Misnk Process.

"We are talking about an ongoing conflict and we call for a ceasefire, so that meaningful dialogue is restored without delay without any preconditions," he said.