Israeli Company Under Investigation For Allegedly Bombing Armenia

Israeli police have opened a criminal investigation against Aeronautics Defense Systems Ltd., whose representatives earlier this year allegedly agreed to bomb Armenian assets on behalf of Azerbaijan during a demonstration of one of its unmanned aerial vehicles. According to reports, while in Baku, company officials were asked by their military hosts to carry out a live-fire test of the Orbiter 1K system, which can be outfitted with a small payload and flown on “suicide” missions. Two high-ranking members of the Israeli delegation purportedly acceded to the request but did not directly hit their targets. In a statement, the company wrote that it is “working to clarify the issue with the [Israeli] Defense Ministry.” Jerusalem considers Baku an important ally given that it shares a border with Iran, and, in 2012, reports surfaced of an agreement that would allow Israel to fly sorties from Azeri territory. Last year, Azerbaijan’s president revealed that his country had purchased some $5 billion worth of weapons systems from Israel. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting sporadically for nearly a quarter century over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.