Tuesday, 

Israeli Drone Exports `Halted' Amid Azerbaijan Inquiry


Israel -- Defense Ministry building in Tel Aviv, 5Aug2007

Israel's Defense Ministry has reportedly halted exports of "suicide"
drones manufactured by an Israeli company that was accused earlier
this month of using them against an Armenian army position at the
request of Azerbaijan.

In a statement cited by the Newsru.co.il news service, the company,
Aeronautics Defense Systems (ADS), said late on Monday that the
ministry's export control agency has at least temporarily banned it
from delivering a batch of Orbiter 1K drones to a key foreign
client. The statement said ADS was due to supply $20 million worth of
such unmanned aircraft, capable of carrying special explosive payload,
to the client in 2017-2018.

The ADS statement did not specify the buyer of the sophisticated
weapon, saying only that Israel has close commercial ties with that
country. It also attributed the ban to an ongoing inquiry conducted by
the Israeli security agency.

The Israeli newspaper "Maariv" reported on August 13 that the agency
launched an investigation after receiving a formal complaint stemming
from ADS's commercial dealings with the Azerbaijani government. It
said ADS representatives traveled to Azerbaijan earlier this summer to
finalize a contract for the sale of Orbiter drones to the Azerbaijani
military.

The paper claimed that two Israeli drone operators working for the
defense company rebuffed Azerbaijani officials' demand to demonstrate
the use of the deadly drone by hitting the Armenian position with
it. But other, more senior ADS executives agreed on launch the deadly
craft on the target, according to "Maariv."

ADS denied the report, saying that "the operational action was carried
out by the purchaser alone."


Nagorno-Karabakh - An Israel-manufactured Azerbaijani "suicide" drone
is shot down in the Martakert district, 4Apr2016

According to Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian-backed Defense Army, the
Azerbaijani military most recently attacked its frontline positions
with a suicide drone on July 7. The commander of an army unit
stationed in northeastern Karabakh said in early August that two of
his soldiers were lightly wounded in the incident. No Armenian
military hardware was damaged in that drone attack, he said.

The Azerbaijani army heavily used similar suicide drones manufactured
by another Israeli company, Israel Aerospace Industries, during the
April 2016 hostilities in Karabakh. Baku had received them as part of
multimillion-dollar defense contracts signed with Israeli arms
manufacturers.

The Israeli weapons sold to Azerbaijan have included not only various
types of unmanned aircraft but also air-defense systems and anti-tank
rockets.

Armenia has long expressed concern at the Israeli-Azerbaijani arms
deals, saying that they undermine international efforts to end the
Karabakh conflict. Still, its reaction to the "Maariv" report was
rather cautious.



Yerevan Fire Mostly Extinguished


 . Astghik Bedevian


Armenia - Firefighters battle a fire in the Nairit chemical plant in
Yerevan, 28Aug2017.

Firefighters largely extinguished on Tuesday a massive fire in a
chemical plant in Yerevan that raised health concerns among people in
nearby residential areas.

The blaze quickly engulfed on Monday storage containers filled with
chemical waste from the Nairit plant located on the city's southern
outskirts.More than a hundred firefighters were sent to the scene to
contain it.

The Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) said that they put
out the flames in three of the four burning tanks by Tuesday
burning. "A small source of fire remains active only in one
container," it said in a statement. Black smoke was still billowing
from it in the afternoon.

"Cooling efforts are still being made to prevent further outbreaks of
fire," the head of the ministry's National Center for Crisis
Management, Hovannes Khangeldian, told RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am).

Some officials suggested that the fire was caused by an explosion. "It
is too early to speak of theories," cautioned Khangeldian. "I think
that relevant bodies will examine all theories and establish the
causes."

In another statement issued later in the day, the MES said it will
conduct forensic tests for that purpose. Some "materials regarding the
fire" have already been submitted to an Armenian law-enforcement body,
it added.

The Armenian ministries of environment and health said, meanwhile,
that they took air samples from parts of Yerevan's Shengavit district
adjacent to Nairit. They insisted that toxic emissions from the fire
pose no major health risks to local residents.

Still, the Health Ministry released a written statement on Monday
urging them to stay indoors and shut their windows.

Some Shengavit residents complained that government officials did not
visit their neighborhoods and communicate with them in person. "They
could have told us what to do through megaphones," said one
woman. "They work much harder during elections."



Armenian Government Coy About Troop Deployment To Syria


Syria -- A Russian Mil Mi-24 "Hind" attack helicopter flies above the
damaged site of the ancient city of Palmyra, March 4, 2017

Armenia's leadership on Tuesday declined to confirm or deny a senior
Russian military official's claim that that it is prepared to send a
demining team to Syria.

Major General Alexander Novikov of the Russian army's General Staff
said late last week that Armenia and Serbia have expressed readiness
to join an "international coalition" which Russia hopes would help its
troops clear landmines in the war-torn country.

Moscow called for the creation of such a coalition through its
permanent representative to the United Nations in April.

Asked by News.am whether Yerevan has indeed decided to join the
Russian-led effort in Syria, President Serzh Sarkisian's press
secretary, Vladimir Hakobian, said: "When a decision is made and all
issues are clarified, the public will be notified in an appropriate
manner." Hakobian did not comment further.

A spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry similarly told RFE/RL's
Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on Monday that the matter requires
"further examination."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed possible Armenian
involvement in demining operations in the historic Syrian city of
Palmyra when he met with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian in
Yerevan in April 2016. "I hope that our joint initiative can be
implemented," Lavrov said after the talks.

It is not clear whether Sarkisian and Russian President Vladimir Putin
spoke about Syria when they met in the Russian city of Sochi on August
23. The Armenian presidential press service said they discussed
"topical international and regional issues."

Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO), a Russian-led military alliance of six ex-Soviet states.



Press Review



"Haykakan Zhamanak" says the latest fire in Armenia's troubled Nairit
chemical plant is the third major accident to occur there in the last
11 years. "If Nairit worked, provided jobs to thousands of people, was
constantly modernized in the process, paid taxes to the state budget
and exported its products, one could weigh up benefits and dangers
created by it," writes the paper. "One could discuss whether or not we
need Nairit. But with Nairit periodically exploding, burning and
putting people's lives at risk and at the same time standing idle,
there is probably nothing to weigh up. The Nairit problem requires a
radical solution. It must either operate at full capacity or become a
thing of the past and cede several hundred hectares of land occupied
by it to other businesses or be turned into a big and nice park."

"Haykakan Zhamanak" believes that the sorry state of Nairit is "the
result of populism." "Nairit's operations were not discontinued on the
grounds that thousands of people work there," it says. "That seemed
very convincing. However, if there was a political decision to
liquidate Nairit under legal and transparent procedures, proceeds from
the sale of its expensive equipment would be enough to properly
compensate its thousands of employees."

"Zhoghovurd" notes that the Nairit fire erupted just weeks after a
group of European investors made renewed efforts to take over the
plant and restart its production operations. They met with Deputy
Prime Minister Vache Gabrielian on August 8 to present their $100
million investment plan. They also made clear that they need to
conduct a thorough audit before finally deciding whether to invest in
the Soviet-era giant. The paper also notes that the fire broke out in
a Nairit unit whose chief manager and two dozen other employees were
fired in July. They were tasked with preventing accidents. "Time will
tell whether these events are connected with yesterday's fire or
whether this is just coincide," the paper says.

"Hraparak" hits back at President Serzh Sarkisian's strong denial of
suggestions that his 2013 decision to make Armenia part of the
Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) at the expense of a major
deal with the European Union was a last-minute U-turn. The paper
argues that just days before the announcement of that decision senior
Armenian officials were insisting that Armenia has no intention to
join the EEU.

(Tigran Avetisian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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