Middle East@War #46: Czechoslovak Arms Exports to the Middle East: Volume 3

- Blurb -

During the Cold War, communist Czechoslovakia was one of the largest arms exporters to the Middle East among the Soviet Bloc countries. The third volume of this mini-series describes the history of arms export from Czechoslovakia to North Yemen, South Yemen, Iraq and Iran including related military assistance. Following Syria and Egypt, North Yemen became the third Arab country that obtained armament from Czechoslovakia. Playing the Soviet proxy again, Prague supplied military hardware of both Czechoslovak and Soviet origin to North Yemen starting in 1956. Due to Soviet pressure, Czechoslovakia was forced to provide a large discount on the weapons supplied. The poverty and underdevelopment of North Yemen, together with the subsequent civil war, caused the whole operation to end in financial disaster for Czechoslovakia. The specific position was held by the neighboring Yemen People' s Democratic Republic the only communist state to be established in the Arab world. However, from Prague' s point of view, this country functioned primarily as a constant and irritating source of requests for free aid, including armament and military assistance. The first deliveries of the Czechoslovak military hardware obsolete rifles and spare parts for MiG-15UTI trainers to Iraq took place only in 1964. The Iraqi interest in Czechoslovak weapons was accelerated by the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, which led to the purchases of large numbers of armored personnel carriers, anti-aircraft guns and jet trainers. During the 1970s and 1980s, Czechoslovak arms exports to Iraq consisted mainly of training aircraft and armored fighting vehicles. However, the collapse of oil prices and the devastating Iran-Iraq War meant that arms deliveries ended in large financial losses for communist Czechoslovakia. Following the communist coup d' etat in Czechoslovakia in February 1948, relations between Prague and Tehran deteriorated rapidly. Improvements could be seen only after the normalization of Iranian-Soviet relations after 1962. Despite repeated efforts of Czechoslovak officials, Iran showed interest in military hardware from Czechoslovakia only in the late 1970s. Although Tehran approached Prague during the Iran-Iraq War with a request to deliver military hardware, the Czechoslovak communists refused to supply Iran with heavy weapons in order to maintain good relations with Iraq. In spite of this stance, Czechoslovakia participated in building up Iran' s arms industry in the 1970s and 1980s. Using the declassified original documentation, this is the most comprehensive account of the Czechoslovak military involvement in the Middle East during the Cold War which was ever published. 75 b/w photos, 6 colour photos, 21 colour profiles, 6 maps, 1 diagrams, 21 tables