Yerevan/Mediamax/. Ministry of Defense of Israel continues investigation on the possible involvement of Israeli specialists in UAV strike on Armenian positions in Artsakh.

“Ministry of Defense usually does not comment on military exports. This issue is under investigation of relevant departments of the MoD,” Russian Kommersant newspaper reported today the response from Ministry of Defense of Israel. 

Israeli Ministry of Defense said that “even if engineers from Aeronautics Defense Systems (ADS) Company went to Azerbaijan, they were not accompanied by Israeli servicemen.”

Recently Israeli Maariv newspaper informed about the visit of ADS delegation to Azerbaijan, aimed at signing contract on the supply of Orbiter 1K “kamikaze” drones. Newspaper claimed that Azerbaijani servicemen asked Israeli engineers to demonstrate the operation of the drones by attacking Armenian position in Artsakh. They planned to record the operation and show the video on Azerbaijani television.

According to the article, the two Israeli operators categorically refused to make an attack, meanwhile ADS management agreed to Azerbaijan’s conditions. The company’s management blamed Israeli operators for the possible cancelling of the important contract, but operators refused anyway. Then the management had to activate the equipment on their own. According to Maariv, one of the operators left his job after the incident and the second operator is going to do the same. 

Mediamax had an exclusive interview with Israeli Ambassador to Armenia (with residence in Jerusalem) Shmuel Meirom in April of 2016, asking him to comment on Israeli UAVs and information about possible involvement of Israeli specialists in their utilization.

“I don’t know about any specialist, staying in Azerbaijan during these days in order to help Azerbaijanis to activate the drones. I know nothing about it. I can’t confirm or deny that Azeris used Israeli drones. It might be, because it is not a secret that we are selling weapons to Azerbaijan. That is the only thing I can confirm,” The Ambassador said back then.

Shmuel Meirom added that Israel doesn’t usually send citizens of Israeli or Israeli specialists in activating or using weapons against any country. “I can confirm this definitely,” noted the Ambassador.

He didn’t ruled out the possibility that Azerbaijani Armed Forces had some training to activate the UAVs. “It might be that they were here, in Israel, or our specialists were there in order to show them how to activate the drones. It might be. But I don’t believe that this has happened during the recent escalation of the conflict,” Shmuel Meirom told Mediamax.

After the April war in 2016, Jane’s Defence Weekly reported that Azerbaijani Forces used Harop/Harpy 2 unmanned aerial vehicles against Armenian positions in Nagorno-Karabakh these few days in what is believed to be the first use in an open combat role.

Israeli Meretz Party Chairwoman Zehava Galon wrote a letter to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon calling to put a stop to the delivery of Israeli drones to Azerbaijan in April of 2016.