Half of Israel’s Arms Exports Go to India

Israeli soldiers patrolling along the Israeli-Lebanese border on January 20, 2014. AFP file photo
Israeli soldiers patrolling along the Israeli-Lebanese border on January 20, 2014. AFP file photo
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Half of Israel’s Arms Exports Go to India

Israeli soldiers patrolling along the Israeli-Lebanese border on January 20, 2014. AFP file photo
Israeli soldiers patrolling along the Israeli-Lebanese border on January 20, 2014. AFP file photo

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has said that Israel was the world's eighth largest arms exporter, a 55 percent increase in weapons exports in the past five years.

The report of Swedish-based SIPRI said India imports 49 percent of Israel’s arms.

Arms imports in the Middle East increased by 103 per cent in the past ten years, representing 32 percent of the volume of arms transfers in the world.

The largest customers for Israeli arms between 2013 and 2017 were India (49 percent) followed by Azerbaijan (13 percent) and Vietnam (6.3 percent), the institute reported.

Israel’s exports, included missiles, radars (and other sensors) and unmanned aerial vehicles, it said.

India and Azerbaijan procured loitering munitions from Israel, according to the report.

It added that Israel is the 17th largest importer of arms in the world, 60 percent of which came from the United States, followed by Germany (30 percent) and Italy (10 percent).

Israel’s arms imports also increased by 125 percent in the past five years, SIPRI said.



DHL Cargo Plane Crashes into a House in Lithuania, Killing at Least 1

A Lithuanian rescuer walks past the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Petras MALUKAS / AFP)
A Lithuanian rescuer walks past the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Petras MALUKAS / AFP)
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DHL Cargo Plane Crashes into a House in Lithuania, Killing at Least 1

A Lithuanian rescuer walks past the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Petras MALUKAS / AFP)
A Lithuanian rescuer walks past the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024. (Photo by Petras MALUKAS / AFP)

A DHL cargo plane crashed into a house Monday morning near Lithuania's capital, killing at least one person.
The head of the country's police said the plane crashed shortly before landing at Vilnius airport.
“It fell a few kilometers before the airport, it just skidded for a few hundred meters, its debris somewhat caught a residential house," said Police Commissioner-General Renatas Požėla. "Residential infrastructure around the house was on fire, and the house was slightly damaged, but we managed to evacuate people.”
Lithuanian’s public broadcaster LRT, quoting an emergency official, said two people had been taken to the hospital after the crash, and one was later pronounced dead.
The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a DHL cargo plane arriving from Leipzig, Germany. It posted on the social platform X that city services including a fire truck were on site.
Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24, analyzed by The Associated Press, showed the aircraft made a turn to the north of the airport, lining up for landing, before crashing a little more than 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) short of the runway.
Authorities did not immediately offer a cause for the crash, which happened just before 5:30 a.m local time. Weather at the airport was around freezing temperature, with clouds before sunrise and winds around 30 kph (18 mph).
DHL Group, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, did not immediately return a call for comment.
The DHL aircraft was operated by Swiftair, a Madrid-based contractor. The carrier could not be immediately reached.
The Boeing 737 was 31 years old, which is considered by experts to be an older airframe, though that’s not unusual for cargo flights.