Is Israeli defence minister’s Azerbaijan visit coincidence or new prospects for cooperation?

Azerbaijan and Israel have been key regional players, especially via cooperation in the military sphere, and the South Caucasus state is making important steps to enhance this cooperation. Against this background, Israeli Minister of Defence Benny Gantz paid a visit this week to Baku to discuss further military cooperation.

Gantz discussed changes in the Middle East region and talked about Israel’s reconciliation with Türkiye in a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The Israeli defence minister tweeted “I emphasized the importance of maintaining and deepening ties between our countries and the importance of continuing to work towards regional and global peace and stability.”

Although the trip was not pre-announced, it followed significant investment by Baku in Israeli arms. Azerbaijan, for its part, may offer Israel strategic purchase of defence products. Hopefully, this visit will open up new prospects for the development of cooperation in the military sector.

However, this is not the first visit of the Israeli defence minister to Azerbaijan. When one of his predecessors, Avigdor Lieberman, paid an official visit to the Muslim-majority country in 2016, he supported the position of Azerbaijan in the former Karabakh conflict, calling it "absolutely justified".

To recall, Israel provided huge support both political and military to Baku during the 44-day Patriotic War of Azerbaijan for the liberation of its territories in Karabakh from Armenian occupation.

Top arms supplier

For half a decade, Israel has been the primary arms and top-technology supplier to Azerbaijan, despite the position of supranational organisations urging to lower the flames in the Armenian-Azerbaijani collision over the latter’s Karabakh region. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Elbit, Rafael, and other defence companies reportedly exported their products to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan had purchased several billion dollars’ worth of weaponry and military technology from its Middle Eastern ally, including the Harop “suicide drone”, that uses radio waves to determine an enemy and easily destroy it. Israel accounted for 27 per cent of Azerbaijan’s major arms imports from 2011–2020, according to the SIPRI.

Azerbaijani authorities confirmed the use of Israeli-made “suicide” drones in its 44-day war in the autumn of 2020, with Armenia in the Karabakh region, the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan. The Harop loitering munitions, known also as a “kamikaze drone,” have had a great impact on giving the Azerbaijani army a clear edge over Armenia’s troops on the battlefields. Azerbaijani forces were also seen deploying the Israeli-made LORA operational-tactical missile system during the war.

From 2016–2020, Israel accounted for 69 per cent of Azerbaijan’s major arms imports — a number that represents 17 per cent of Israel’s arms exports for that same period.

Among the weapons supplied to Azerbaijan by Israel we can list the following: B-300 Anti-tank guided missile (Reusable launcher of limited issue), Spike ER2 Anti-tank guided missile, Spike Anti-tank guided missile, Submachine gun IMI Uzi, Assault rifle IWI Tavor X95, Assault rifle IWI Tavor TAR-21, Long machine gun IWI Negev, M26A2 Hand grenade, IDF M48 Stun grenade and etc.

Azerbaijan and Israel are expanding defence cooperation with the establishment of the all-new joint venture Caspian Meteor. This company was set up in March 2021 by Israeli defence company Meteor Aerospace and Azerbaijan’s Caspian Ship Building Company.

Caspian Meteor was designed to churn out advanced hi-tech defence solutions to meet the needs of the Azerbaijani military. The new company will utilize the world-class defence expertise of Israel and the sophisticated field-related infrastructure of Azerbaijan. 

The joint venture is a new chapter of cooperation with the Israeli defence companies for Caspian Ship Building Company whose portfolio already includes the region’s largest joint program with Israeli companies for building military vessels in a shipyard near the capital Baku.

For its part, Azerbaijan has been selling oil to Israel. About 40 per cent of Israeli oil imports, which amounts to 40 million barrels annually or 1.5 billion dollars, spawn from Azerbaijan. Israeli EAPC pipeline company plans a shipment of Azerbaijani oil, pumped to Turkey through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, via tankers from Turkey to Ashkelon – Israel’s Mediterranean port.

The recent intensity in bilateral relations is yet to be further developed as proved by the visit of senior Azerbaijani officials to Tel-Aviv in May of this year, roughly on the day of the inauguration of the new embassy of the United States in Jerusalem, with the purpose of promoting new ways of economic, business, and commercial ties.

Iran’s rising concern

Israel's desire to deepen ties with Azerbaijan is about more than trade. Israel also considers Azerbaijan’s proximity to Iran an important strategic asset in the event Israel opts for military action against Iran. So, military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israeli causes concern for Iran, since Tehran see this relationship as a threat to its security.

The official Iranian narrative is that Baku has given Israel ample operational freedom to use Azerbaijani soil to stage operations deep inside Iran. However, Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that Baku does not and will not provide its territory for any activities directed against Iran, and Azerbaijani-Israeli cooperation is not targeted against the Islamic Republic.

In May 2021, amid regional tensions with Iran, reports emerged on Azerbaijan buying Iron Dome missile defence batteries from Israel. Then in October 2021, Azerbaijan reportedly considered buying Israel’s Arrow-3 missile defence system. Neither Israeli authorities nor Israeli defence firms commented on the news.

Following the liberation of several districts from the Armenian occupation in the autumn of 2020, Iran frequently accused Azerbaijan of "allowing foreign forces to be present in the region". In early October of 2021, Iran launched a large-scale military exercise near its border with Azerbaijan which was reportedly meant as a message to its arch-enemy Israel.

However, President Aliyev described Iran's allegations about the presence of the Israeli forces in the country's territories as “baseless”. The president’s response came after some Iranian government officials had voiced their concern about the alleged presence of Israelis along the border between Iran and Azerbaijan.

In a meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in July, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned that Israel's presence in any region would create insecurity and reiterated that Iranian officials are "sensitive about the country's security, especially the presence of the Zionist regime in the region". In return, Bayramov said that “Azerbaijan will never allow any third country to take action against the Islamic Republic of Iran from its territories".

Although the rising cooperation and partnership between Israel and Azerbaijan are used for groundless assumptions of other regional players, the two nations have been enjoying mutual trust and collaboration and seemingly they will follow on the same path for many years to come …

Alakbar Hasanov