UAE-Linked Company in Serbia Supplies Weapons to Israel in Gaza War

The Serbian state-owned arms manufacturer, which was recently revealed to be selling millions of dollars worth of weapons to Israel, also has decades-old ties to the United Arab Emirates.

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

Serbia was a major arms supplier during the Cold War, when it was still part of Yugoslavia. Despite its close ties to Russia, it also sold $858 million worth of munitions to Ukraine, according to a recent Financial Times report. In 2021, Serbia’s arms exports were valued at around $1.2 billion.

But Serbia's arms interests also extend throughout the Middle East.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, cash-strapped Serbia sought billions of dollars in loans from the United Arab Emirates in 2013. While courting Emirati investment, it also sought arms deals.

In 2013, the two countries announced their first arms deal, which included Serbia's export of armoured personnel carriers to the United Arab Emirates and the bilateral development of a surface-to-surface guided missile. At the time, the deal was valued at around $214 million.

The United Arab Emirates has also made a substantial investment in Air Serbia, although the Serbian state is now set to take over the Emirati share of the national carrier.

Serbia has continued to collaborate with the UAE on arms deals. In 2022, the SDPR signed an agreement with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan – when he was Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Commander of the UAE Armed Forces – to sell “a significant amount of ammunition” to the Gulf monarchy, according to a press release from the Serbian Defense Ministry.

More recently, the United Arab Emirates, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have made new investments in Serbian tourism through a fund linked to Jared Kushner, a former senior adviser and son-in-law to former US President Donald Trump.

Serbia’s state-dominated arms industry has also struck deals with Saudi Arabia. In 2018, Balkan Insight reported that Serbian arms manufacturer Krusik, which has close ties to the SDPR, had sold 60-, 80-, and 120-millimeter mines and grenades at heavily discounted prices to a Saudi company.

Investigative journalism website Arms Watch later discovered that Serbian weapons had ended up in the hands of the Islamic State militant group in Yemen.

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

The Saudi- and UAE-led coalition has launched thousands of airstrikes on Yemen, which have failed to dislodge the Houthis but have led to thousands of civilian deaths and a major humanitarian crisis.