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MIDDLE EAST

Middle East Arms Sales Up By a Massive 87%, Mostly US-Supplied

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both party to the international offensive in Yemen, together make up around 28 percent of the US global arms sale.

(Peoples Dispatch) A recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on global weapons sales revealed that arms sales to countries in the Middle East/West Asia have increased by a whopping 87 percent between 2009-13 and 2014-18.

The report, which was released on March 11, also stated that the United States retains its position as the world’s largest arms exporter. The U.S. arms exports grew by 29 percent between 2009-13 and 2014-18, while its share of the total global exports increased from 30 percent to 36 percent.

Among the key reasons, cited by the report, behind these increases is the ongoing ‘Iran threat narrative’ in the region, which lead to the U.S. providing a large number of arms to its allies. It also cited the ongoing war against Yemen since March 2015 to be one of the reasons, along with the Saudi-UAE blockade of Qatar by air, sea and land since 2017, which has led to a steep decline in relations between those countries.

The report stated that the U.S., along with the United Kingdom and France, is the major supplier of weapons to the Saudi Arabia-led international coalition offensive in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates together make up around 28 percent of the U.S. global arms sale. This brings out the fact that the U.S. and other western countries are playing a crucial role in the international coalition bombing campaign in Yemen, which many experts call war crimes.

According to Aude Fleurant, director of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Program, “It [the U.S.] exported arms to at least 98 countries in the past five years; these deliveries often included advanced weapons such as combat aircraft, short-range cruise and ballistic missiles, and large numbers of guided bombs.” The report highlighted the fact that the gap between the two top arms exporting countries increased, with US arms exports recorded to be 75 percent higher than Russia’s in 2014-18, compared to being 12 percent higher in 2009-13. Majority of the U.S. arms exports, 52 percent, were headed towards the Middle East in 2014-18.

SIPRI Global arms sales
Global share of major arms exports by the 10 largest exporters, 2014-2018 (Source: SIPRI)

Global arms sales witnessed an increase of eight percent in 2014-18 compared to 2009-13 and 23 percent compared to 2004-2008. The five largest weapons exporters for a five-year period were reported to be the U.S. (36 percent), Russia (21 percent), France (6.8 percent), Germany (6.4 percent) and China (5.2 percent), collectively accounting for almost 75 percent of the total volume of arms exports in 2014-18.

The increase in arms sales to the Middle East resulted in the region accounting for 35 percent of the global arms imports in 2014-18. Saudi Arabia emerged as the world’s largest arms importer, with a 192 percent increase in 2014-18, and a 12 percent share of the total arms imports in the world.

Other Middle Eastern countries also saw massive increases in arms imports, including Egypt (an increase of 206 percent), Qatar (225 percent), Iraq (139 percent) and Israel (354 percent), with the notable exception of Syria, which saw an 87 percent fall in its arms imports. Iran, by comparison, accounted for only 0.9 percent of arms imports in 2014-18. Iran is under a United Nations arms embargo since 2010 that is supposed to last until 2020.


Featured Image: 27 March 2011. Rounyn: A child collects bullets from the ground in Rounyn, a village located about 15 km north of Shangil Tobaya, North Darfur. Most of the population in Rounyn recently fled to camps for displaced people due to the clashes between the Government and the armed movements. Photo by Albert Gonzalez Farran / UNAMID
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1 Comment

  1. Kurt March 30, 2019

    How many congressmen are invested in military contractors? Where does the money go from the sale of the weapons the American people pay to have manufactured?
    Why is it that the members of the UN security council, “who is supposed to be promoting peace in this world” are the largest arms dealers on this planet?
    This is the Deep state that we keep hearing about. Its international money. When you get down to the ultimate weapon, ” its money, and greed. Money is why no Democracy can stay a Democracy. Because the people who have lots and lots of money buy greedy, corrupt politicians. After they own enough if them they run the government, not the people!
    Money is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, and the investment bankers control it. Does this not make them responsible for all of the carnage on Earth?
    Of course it does.
    If humanity is going to survive another 100 years. We must disarm the bankers. Otherwise we are surely doomed to nuclear holocaust.
    These greedy money grubbing bastaeds have not a care either for humanity, or the environment. They are the worst plague humanity has ever suffered, and their getting worse.
    If we don’t take away their banks and money
    and create a benign civilization we will perish.

    Reply

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