UAE Facilitates Military Support for Israel via Serbia

An international investigation revealed that the UAE worked to provide a bridge of military support to Israel through Serbia, at a time when Tel Aviv continues its genocidal war in the Gaza Strip for the tenth month in a row.

The investigation revealed the involvement of the Abu Dhabi government in suspicious relations with a Serbian arms manufacturing company that supplied the Israeli occupation with weapons during the war on Gaza and committed massacres against Palestinian civilians.

The British website “Middle East Eye” recently featured a report by the Balkan Investigative Network and the newspaper “Haaretz.” This report, also published on the “Balkan Insight” website under the title “From Belgrade to Beersheba,” disclosed that millions of dollars worth of arms were exported from Serbia to Israel through a state-owned Serbian company with longstanding ties to the UAE.

The investigation reported that Yugo Import-SDPR exported weapons worth $17.1 million to “Israel” via military aircraft, as well as civilian aircraft.

Serbia was one of the most important arms exporters during the Cold War when it was part of Yugoslavia. Despite its close relationship with Russia, it established relations with Ukraine and exported ammunition worth $858 million, according to the Financial Times.

The value of Serbia’s exports in 2021 was estimated at $1.2 billion. But Serbia’s interests extend farther into the Middle East. In the post-global crisis phase, Serbia, destitute of money, tried to obtain financial loans from the Emirates, in 2013, as it tried to attract Emirati investments in addition to signing military contracts with it.

In 2013, the two countries revealed their initial arms agreement, which involved Serbia’s commitment to export armored vehicles to the UAE and a mutual pact to develop guided surface-to-surface missiles. At the time, the deal was valued at approximately $214 million.

Abu Dhabi has also made important investments in Air Serbia (Air Serbia), although the Serbian state will acquire the Emirati stake in its airline.

Serbia continued to work with the UAE in contracts and deals. In 2022, SDPR signed an agreement with Mohammed bin Zayed, when he was Crown Prince and Deputy Commander of the UAE Forces, to sell “an important amount of ammunition,” according to a media statement from the Serbian Ministry of Defense.

Recently, the Abu Dhabi government has invested in Serbian tourism through a company associated with Jared Kushner, former advisor and son-in-law of ex-President Donald Trump.

The website “Balkan Insight” reported that the Serbian arms manufacturer “Krosic,” linked to SDPR, sold 60, 80, and 120 mm caliber mines, as well as hand grenades, at significantly reduced prices to a Saudi company.

Furthermore, the investigative site Arms Watch revealed that Serbian weapons ended up in the possession of ISIS fighters in Yemen.

Riyadh and Abu Dhabi launched a military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen, after they took control of the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. However, the air campaigns failed to defeat the Houthis, but they led to the death of thousands of civilians and caused a humanitarian disaster.

Last week, the International Crisis Group stated that the UAE has become a pariah state due to its alliance and public normalization with Israel, as well as its disregard for the atrocities committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The group highlighted in an analysis that since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, the image of the UAE has worsened throughout the region in light of its attachment to normalization with Tel Aviv.

The international group published a lengthy analysis entitled (The UAE, Israel, and the Test of Influence), in which it highlighted that Abu Dhabi signed the 2020 Abraham Accords with Israel to achieve strategic benefits.

But during the Gaza war, the costs became clear. Abu Dhabi shows no sign of rethinking normalization, but it may consider smaller steps to register dissatisfaction with the Israeli campaign, according to the international group’s article.

The analysis noted that in 2020, the UAE normalized relations with Israel, making it, along with Bahrain, the first two Arab countries to establish official diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv since Egypt and Jordan signed peace treaties with the Jewish state in 1979 and 1994, respectively.

The 2020 normalization agreement, known as the Abraham Accords, established the UAE as a close ally of Israel, allowing it to leverage its proximity, new communication channels, and the goodwill it fostered to potentially influence the country.