Saudi Arabia World’s Largest Arms Importer

By Staff, Agencies

Saudi Arabia dominated the arms market in the past five years, increasing its purchases of combat aircraft, missiles and guided bombs by 130 percent, supplied mainly from the US and the UK, according to a new study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute [SIPRI].

"Arms imports by countries in the Middle East increased by 61 percent between 2010–14 and 2015–19, and accounted for 35 percent of total global arms imports over the past five years. Saudi Arabia was the world’s largest arms importer in 2015–19. Its imports of major arms increased by 130 percent compared with the previous five-year period and it accounted for 12 percent of global arms imports in 2015–19," the report said.

SIPRI added that despite the continuation of the Saudi military aggression against its southern neighbor, "...both the USA and the UK continued to export arms to Saudi Arabia in 2015–19."

“A total of 73 percent of Saudi Arabia’s arms imports came from the USA and 13 percent from the UK,” the report added.

The jump took place despite alarm over the use of fighter bombers and guided munitions in the Saudi-led assault on Yemen in which thousands of civilians have died.

The UK government was forced to suspend new arms export licenses to Saudi Arabia last year after a Court of Appeal ruling that the selling of weapons for attacks in Yemen was unlawful.

Saudi Arabia launched its war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing back to power the government of fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and crushing the Ansarullah revolutionary movement.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project [ACLED], a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the Saudi war has claimed more than 100,000 lives since the war broke out.