Saber-rattling in the Middle East has been growing, with Israeli air strikes over Syria at the beginning of the month and France's Foreign Minister talking of war with Iran, but behind the scenes there are fear of a new arms race in the region. In a deal announced this week, Saudi Arabia has agreed to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from Europe's largest defense company, BAE Systems worth almost $9 billion. A boon for the company, especially given that a previous major deal is under investigation for allegations of corruption.Hailed by the UK ministry of defense as a "new chapter" in co-operation with Saudi Arabia, the contract will be called "Project Salam," meaning "peace." It is also a new chapter that will see much more military hardware entering the region and one that ratchets up current tensions and divisions between Sunni-dominated states, such as Saudi Arabia, and Shiite Iran.
Larger deals between governments have been taking place. In August this year, the U.S. agreed to provide Israel with $30 billion in military aid over the next ten years.
Another agreement that is currently awaiting approval by the U.S. Congress would see a further $20 billion in military aid go to Saudi Arabia and other weapons deals to UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, plus a further $13 billion to Egypt.
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