5 facts you didn't know about weapon transfers to the Middle East

On Monday, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released a report depicting the state of weapon transfers around the world. 

Using data, which reflects the volume of deliveries of arms, not the financial value of the deals, compiled between the years of 2013 and 2017, SIPRI listed India as the world's top importer of arms, followed by Saudi Arabia.

The upward trend in arms imports and exports began two decades ago and has been on the rise consistently ever since. During the past five years, the Middle East accounted for 32 percent of global imports of weapons. 

Here are five facts you probably didn't know about arms exports and imports to the Middle East:

The global export of major weapons has witnessed an upward trend, witnessing a 10 percent increase between 2013 and 2017, as compared with the five-year period before that, according to The Guardian. 

The U.S. accounted for 34 percent of the total arms exports during the stated period, with nearly half of its exports going to the Middle East. 

In the past five years, U.S. arms exports were 58 percent higher than those of Russia, the second largest arms exporter during the stated period. 

Arms imports to the region doubled between 2013 and 2017 and in the five-year period before that.

The Middle East accounted for 32 percent of global imports of weapons, with the U.S., UK, and France being the main suppliers of arms to the region.

Five Arab countries were listed among the top 10 importers of arms between 2013 and 2017, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Algeria, and Iraq.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE were among the top five importers of weapons during those years with Saudi Arabia accounting for 31 percent of those imports, 14 percent to Egypt, and 13 percent to the UAE. 

Of those arms transfers, 52 percent came from the U.S., 9.4 percent from the UK, and 8.6 percent from France.

Saudi Arabia was listed as the world's second-largest arms importer, witnessing a 225 percent increase in its imports between 2008 and 2012.

According to the report, more orders for additional weapons are pending, revealing continuous high levels of arms transfers "for at least five more years". 

The kingdom's arms imports between 2013 and 2017 were 48 percent higher than those during the period between 1995 and 1999, the period in which Saudi Arabia witnessed a massive peak in arms imports.

During the past five years, 61 percent of the kingdom's arms imports came from the U.S. and 23 percent from the UK. Imports included 78 combat aircraft, 72 combat helicopters, 328 tanks, and about 4,000 other armored vehicles. 

"The USA and European states remain the main arms exporters to the Middle East and supplied over 98 percent of weapons imported by Saudi Arabia," said Pieter Wezeman, the senior researcher with the SIPRI's arms and military expenditure programme, according to The Guardian.

During the period between 2008-2012 and 2013-2017, arms imports by Egypt witnessed a staggering 215 percent spike.

 The U.S. has been Egypt's main arms supplier since the 1970s, accounting for 45 percent of the weapon transfers between 2008 and 2012. However, in the period following 2012, the U.S. put an end to deliveries of certain arms.

In 2014, Egypt signed weapons deals with France and deliveries began in 2015, despite the fact that the U.S. reversed their initial decision in 2015.

Egypt is considered to be the second largest recipient of military aid from the U.S., receiving around $1.3 billion annually.

Due to several major deals and agreements Qatar made with the U.S. and the UK from 2013 to 2017, the country's arms imports have increased.