Israel exports arms to Azerbaijan

A new investigation by Israeli daily Haaretz has revealed that the Israeli regime is exporting billions of dollars worth of arms to Azerbaijan in exchange for the former Soviet republic supplying oil to Tel Aviv and allowing access to Iran. Haaretz reported that since 2016, at least 92 cargo flights operated by Azerbaijan's Silk Way Airlines have landed at Israel's Ovda Air Force Base, the only airfield in the occupied territories through which explosives are transported.

In October 2013, the head of Israel's Civil Aviation Authority signed an exemption permitting Silk Way planes to fly shipments of explosives deemed dangerous from Ovda to a military airfield on the outskirts of the Azerbaijani capital, the report said. The data, she added, shows an increasing pace of flights to Baku, particularly in mid-2016, late 2020 and late 2021, coinciding with fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Haaretz also cited foreign media reports that Azerbaijan has allowed the Israeli spy agency Mossad to set up a field office in Azerbaijan to monitor what is happening in neighboring Iran and has even prepared an airfield to help the occupying power should it become one Attack against Iranian nuclear facilities decided. It also highlighted official reports from Azerbaijan that Israel has sold Azerbaijan the most advanced weapons in recent years, including ballistic missiles, electronic warfare systems, kamikaze drones and more.

"Azerbaijan's ties with Israel are discreet but close," wrote Rob Garverick, head of the US embassy's political and economic department in Baku, in a 2009 cable released as part of the Wikileaks documents. Each side “finds it easy to identify with the geopolitical difficulties of the other, and both view Iran as an existential security threat. Israel's world-class defense industry, with its relaxed attitude towards its customer base, is a perfect fit for Azerbaijan's significant defense needs, which remain largely unmet by the United States, Europe and Russia for various reasons related to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.”