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  • Several Prominent Saudi Voices Continue to Express Discontent with Western Policies toward Iran, Syria
     

    In a hard-hitting New York Times op-ed, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud wrote that while the Western-Saudi relationship friendship has lasted for decades, Saudi Arabia will pursue its own interests in the Middle East, even if they diverge from those of the Western powers.

     
  • Saudi Arabia Is Now The ‘Main Outside Source’ For Syrian Rebels, Reuters Reports
     

    Saudi Arabia has prevailed over friendly Gulf rival Qatar as the “main outside force” supporting the Syrian rebel cause, according to a recent Reuters report. Mariam Karouny reports that Saudi Arabia “has prevailed over its small but ambitious Gulf neighbor Qatar to impose itself as the main outside force supporting the Syrian rebels, a move […]

     
  • Suspect Journalism: The New York Post’s Shoddy Saudi Student Reporting
     

    A Saudi student studying in the United States on the King Abdullah Scholarship Program was injured in the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday. The student was one of at least two Saudi nationals hospitalized as a result of the attack. One of the victim’s friends told Al Arabiya that an amputation was almost required but […]

     
  • Lockheed Nets $253 Million Training Contract
     

    US-based Lockheed Martin will provide Virtual Training Technologies in support of Saudi Arabia’s F-15SA Modernization Program. The news comes on the heels of a recent announcement that the company had set up a branch in Riyadh on February 8th.  — According to a Press Release, Lockheed Martin, the Bethesda, Maryland-based aerospace company, has received a contract […]

     
  • Saudis Back Syria Rebels, Mindful of Past
     

    Overcome by the suffering of civilians in warring Syria, a professor in Saudi Arabia’s capital strips off his watch on live television to give as aid. A Saudi bride on her wedding night offers up her entire dowry of $13,000. Parents bring their children to donation centers set up around the Saudi kingdom, watching proudly […]

     
  • The arms spending map of the world
     

    How much do countries spend on their militaries? This data from the Stockholm International Peace research Institute shows the world in arms spending – both in dollars over time and as a percentage of GDP.

     

MUST-READS

  • UAE Arms Sale Remains In Limbo Pending Biden Review

    A Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) has been issued by the US and accepted by the UAE, but “there’s been concerns raised that are being settled at the government level,” Francis Crowley, deputy chief of the Central Division at the Air Force Security and Assistance Cooperation Directorate (AFSAC), explained today.

  • Iran says it detains agents working for Israel, seizes arms cache

    Iran said on Tuesday its security forces had arrested a network of agents working for Israel and had seized a cache of weapons it said were planned for use during recent unrest sparked by water shortages in the Islamic Republic, state media reported.

  • Italy eases curbs on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and UAE

    Italy has loosened restrictions on arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, government sources said on Tuesday, in a move aimed at easing diplomatic tensions with the two Gulf states. Italy halted the sale of thousands of missiles to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in January, citing at the time Rome’s commitment to restoring peace in war-ravaged Yemen and protecting human rights.

  • Culture of safety: ending arms trafficking in aviation

    Despite the difficulties in assessing its magnitude, the illegal trafficking of arms via air is still pervasive and did not stop even during the Covid-19 pandemic. With aviation starting again and opening up opportunities for smugglers, what can aviation do to stop it?

  • Can Saudi Arabia develop a major domestic arms industry by 2030?

    "Saudi Arabia has made a lot of progress in building up its domestic arms industry, especially in terms of developing land weapons systems, electronics, and smart bombs," Emily Hawthorne, Stratfor's Middle East and North Africa analyst at RANE, told Middle East Eye. "But the goal of spending 50 percent of the kingdom’s military budget at home remains a distant, unlikely one."

  • Can Saudi Arabia develop a major domestic arms industry by 2030?

    Saudi Arabia plans to hugely expand its modest arms industry over the next decade, but doing so amid low oil prices and a pandemic-battered economy could prove challenging for the kingdom. Earlier this year, Riyadh announced it would invest more than $20bn in its domestic weapons industry, with a 2030 goal of spending around 50 percent of its military budget on local sources. Building more weapons systems locally would naturally reduce Saudi Arabia's need to import the vast majority of its military hardware, munitions, and spare parts - as it does currently.

  • U.S. warns Venezuela, Cuba to turn away Iranian ships believed to be carrying arms

    The warnings — some public and some private, according to three people briefed on the situation — come as the vessels have traveled a significant distance across the Atlantic Ocean. A senior Biden administration official said the ships are thought to be carrying weapons to fulfill a deal that Iran and Venezuela made a year ago, noting that it was during the administration of former President Donald Trump.

  • Saudi-based sustainable AgTech firm Red Sea Farms, a salt-water growing specialist, receives $10m investment

    Red Sea Farms was established in 2018 with a vision to reduce food insecurity, carbon and freshwater use in the global and Gulf food sectors. The company’s unique, end-to-end growing system primarily uses saltwater, cutting fresh-water consumption by 85 to 90 percent. Through a patented system of new, more efficient solar and growth monitoring technologies, saltwater replaces freshwater typically used to cool greenhouses and irrigate crops.

  • Saudi startup Red Sea Farms raises $10 mln to fund expansion

    Saudi Arabian agriculture technology startup Red Sea Farms on Monday said it had raised $10 million which it would use to develop commercial scale farming facilities and expand into neighbouring United Arab Emirates. Red Sea Farms, established in 2018, grows tomatoes in an environment-controlled, enclosed farm that primarily uses saltwater to cool greenhouses and irrigate crops. Fresh water is sparsely available in the predominantly desert Gulf region where arable land is also scarce.

  • Saudi Arabia extends firearms’ license grace period for one more year

    Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior has extended the grace period for getting licenses for illegal weapons and ammunition for one year, suspending all punitive measures against violators as well. In a statement, the ministry said: “Subsequent to the previous announcement regarding giving citizens a chance to rectify the status of illegal weapons and ammunition in their possession, and due to the keenness of the ministry to give them another chance, it has been decided to extend the grace period, allowing them to renew licenses of their firearms.”