Brokered by the US this time, a third ceasefire was agreed upon on Monday, at 08:00 AM local time, between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This ceasefire too was violated after only 45 minutes from its implementation time. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump hurried to twitter saying: “Congratulations to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who just agreed to adhere to a ceasefire, effective at midnight. Many lives will be saved. Proud of my team @SecPompeo & Steve Biegun & @WHNSC for getting the deal done!” and went on rallying for the upcoming elections, demeaning Biden and tweeting “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” On Tuesday morning, the South-east border of the Republic of Armenia, shared with Iran, was shelled with combat UAVs; one of which fell inside Armenia's territory. “Having regularly adopted the policy of violating ceasefires,” Armenia's Ministry of Defence stated that “it will have to strike back in response, in the direction of Azerbaijani forces.” Pompeo called Pashinyan and Aliyev separately and pressed them to abide by their commitments. Last week, Washington hosted Armenia's and Azerbaijan's foreign ministers and “facilitated intense negotiations between the top diplomats”, as described by the State Department. This is the third ceasefire agreement since war erupted between the two countries. The first was brokered by Russia, and the second by France. *A version of this article appears in print in the 29 October, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
