Tel Aviv: Israel is further strengthening its relations with Azerbaijan which shares border with Iran. Geographically, this makes it very important in the overall Israeli defence assessment.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog will arrive in Azerbaijan May 29 as the guest of Azeri president Ilham Aliyev. The two presidents will discuss strategic relations, and will participate in a special event marking Israel’s 75 years of statehood.
Israeli defence sources told Raksha Anirveda that relations with Azerbaijan offers Israel some potential benefits, including the deployment of sensors on Azeri soil or using its long border with Iran to enable better penetration of special units into Iran. Azerbaijan could also, in theory, offer up its airspace for Israeli jets to enter Iranian territory if needed.
Defence ties between the two nations are not new, with Azerbaijan a reliable client for Israeli-made weapons systems through the years. Israel is a major supplier of very advance d defence systems to Azerbaijan.
Among the systems currently in use by Azerbaijan are loitering munitions that were visibly successful during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. In 2018 when the Azeris acquired Elbit Systems SkyStriker loitering weapon system, the Israeli company refused to comment on the contract at the time. The Azeris have also purchased in the past another loitering weapon system, the Harop, made by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). It also purchased IAI’s Lora, a long-range surface-to-surface precision missile.
The Iranians are aware of the close relations between Azerbaijan and Israel and express their concerns. Recently, Tehran Times published an interview with Iran’s ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan which included some questions related to the close relations between Azerbaijan and Israel.
“We suspect they (the Israelis) must have special intelligence, security and maybe an intention to do an act of sabotage behind what they are doing, which is under our monitoring. We made the necessary complaints and gave the necessary warnings to the Azeris, and the officials of the Republic of Azerbaijan at different levels have assured us that nothing against the national interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran will happen from the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan,” the Iranian ambassador said in the interview.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
