UAE-linked company in Serbia supplying weapons to Israel amid genocide in Gaza

Serbia’s state-owned weapons manufacturer, which was recently revealed to be selling millions of dollars in armaments to Israel, also has decades-old ties with the UAE.

According to a report by Balkan Insight, in 2024 Serbia’s main state-owned arms trader, Yugoimport-SDPR, exported at least $17.1m worth of weapons to Israel via Israeli military planes as well as civilian aircraft.

In 2021 Serbia’s arms exports were valued at around $1.2bn.
But Serbia’s arms interests also extend throughout the Middle East.
In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, cash-strapped Serbia sought billions in loans from the UAE in 2013. As it courted Emirati investment, it also pursued arms deals.

More recently, the UAE, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, has made new investments in Serbian tourism through a fund linked to Jared Kushner, former senior advisor and son-in-law of former US president, Donald Trump.

Serbia’s state-dominated arms industry also cut deals with Saudi Arabia.

In 2018, Balkan Insight reported that Serbian arms maker, Krusik, which has close links to SDPR, sold 60, 80 and 120-millimetre calibre mines, along with grenades at steeply discounted prices, to a Saudi Arabian company.

Investigative journalism site, Arms Watch, later found that Serbian arms ended up in the hands of the Islamic State militant group in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE launched a bloody military offensive in Yemen against the Houthis after Yemen descended into civil war in 2014.

The Saudi and UAE-led coalition launched thousands of air strikes on Yemen which failed to dislodge the Houthis but resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and a major humanitarian crisis.

Report by: Middle East Eye

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