YEREVAN. – Israel has replaced Turkey as the most active military patron of Baku, Armenia-based Regional Studies Center Director, political analyst Richard Giragosian, told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“The Israeli relationship with Azerbaijan has been deepening and developing for some time, driven by three factors,” noted Giragosian. “First, Israel imports oil from Azerbaijan and values Azerbaijan as an element of Israeli energy security. Second, Israel sees Azerbaijan as a strategic platform for Israeli intelligence operations focused on neighboring Iran, which it sees as an inherent threat to Israeli security. And third, Israel also partners with Azerbaijan as a Shiite Moslem, although formally secular country, just as it once did with Iran under the Shah. But for this region, the wider context of Israeli-Azerbaijani relations is a concern, especially given the arms sales to the Azerbaijani armed forces.”

Giragosian added, however, that the wider context of Azerbaijani-Israeli relations is a cause of concern for the region, especially considering the sale of Israeli-made weapons to Azerbaijan.

“In fact, we should expect continued Israeli arms sales to Azerbaijan, especially as Israel has replaced Turkey as the most active military patron of Baku, although still less than Russia, which is the primary arms supplier to Azerbaijan,” added the political analyst. “Yet neither Azerbaijan nor Israel will want any ‘strategic alliance.’ Rather, this is a strategic, but ‘transactional relationship,’ with limits for both sides.”