NAIROBI, October 6. /TASS/. The escalation of hostilities in Ethiopia’s Tigray region raises the risk of a direct armed conflict between Ethopia and Eritrea, Magnus Taylor, the Deputy Director of the Horn of Africa project at the International Crisis Group, was quoted as saying by the Africanews portal.

"The fact that Ethiopia and Eritrea are coming up against each other now suggests the regional picture is looking worse and you could see a kind of more broader escalation that goes beyond Tigray," Taylor said.

In his view, the escalation of the current standoff into a broader regional conflict would be "a worst-case scenario."

Taylor added that the retreat of the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) as a result of an offensive by Ethiopian federal forces may mean plans to shift from attempts to hold territory to insurgent warfare. In early October, Ethiopian troops established control over Tigray’s capital Mekelle.

Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea deteriorated in recent months as Addis Ababa accused Asmara of supporting TPLF jointly with Sudan and Egypt - a claim that the three countries strongly rejected. In early October, Ethiopia closed its embassy in Asmara, with Eritrea subsequently announcing that diplomatic ties with its neighbor have been severed.

The Ethiopian government’s remarks about the need to secure reliable access to the Red Sea coast remain an additional source of tension. Earlier, Eritrea’s authorities accused Ethiopia of plotting to put these plans into practice by seizing the port of Assab. Addis Ababa maintains that it plans to resolve the issue peacefully.

Ethiopia lost access to the sea in 1993 after Eritrea declared independence following a referendum. Eritrea was formerly an Italian colony and later a British protectorate. In 1952, it was incorporated into Ethiopia as an autonomous region, but in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie dissolved the federation and annexed the territory.