STORY: In the small Armenian village of Khnatsakh, locals like Karo Andranyan say the sound of Azerbaijani troops firing from across the border is a nightly occurance.
"At nighttime, everything is very tense. Look, 100, 150 meters from here: their position, and our houses. Every evening, at around 10 p.m., the first shots begin. Every two to three hours they start up again. It's very tense, because at home we have the children, the little ones, and the elderly. It puts us on edge. What are we supposed to do?"
The bullets regularly hit houses, though no one has been hurt so far, the villagers say.
Azerbaijan denies the shooting and has accused Armenian troops of violating the ceasefire.
Rising tensions are increasing the risk of new clashes between the two countries as they approach a critical juncture in a tortuous peace process, two experts told Reuters.
They have fought two major wars in the past 40 years, destabilizing the Caucasus.
The region carries major oil and gas pipelines toward Europe, and is strategically important to Russia, Iran and Turkey.
In March, the two sides said they had agreed the outline of a peace treaty that could be signed in 2026, raising hopes of reconciliation.
The draft envisions the two sides demarcating their shared border, and requires Armenia to amend its constitution before Azerbaijan ratifies the deal.
But since then, reports of ceasefire violations have surged, following months of relative quiet, something both sides denied.
Armenia's southernmost province of Syunik is at the heart of the dispute and is where most violations are reported.
Azerbaijan wants Armenia to provide a corridor through the area to its exclave of Nakhchivan in the west.
But that could risk shutting off its access to a vital trade route with Iran.
Director of Regional Center for Democracy and Security think tank Tigran Grigoryan says the dispute could be the spark for future military escalation.
"As you know, Armenia has two open borders, one with Georgia, and the other one with Iran. And this keeps the country going. And if Armenia loses its border with Iran, that would be a catastrophe."
At Armenia's southernmost tip sits the historic town of Meghri, the gateway to Iran.
The town of 4,000 has seen daily life overshadowed by tensions with Baku, deputy mayor Bagrat Zakaryan says.
He says there is a feeling of fear amongst locals of another Azerbaijani attack.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a congressional hearing last month there was a "real risk" of war between the two.
He said that the U.S. wanted Azerbaijan "to agree to a peace agreement that does not cause them to invade a neighboring country, Armenia."
