Armenia said on Thursday it had recalled its envoy to Israel, Ambassador Armen Smbatian, for consultations over Israeli arms sales to Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan has acknowledged using Israeli-made weapons in its fighting with Armenian forces around Nagorno-Karabakh, where heavy clashes this week have drawn international calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Protesting against the Israeli weapons exports, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan said "Israel's conduct is unacceptable. The ministry has to call back its ambassador in Israel."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it regretted Armenia's decision to withdraw its ambassador.
"Israel lends great importance to our relations with Armenia and sees the Armenian Embassy in Israel as an important tool for promoting those relations for the benefit of both peoples," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Defense Ministry declined to comment on the matter.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a leading conflict and armaments think-tank, Israel provided Azerbaijan with some $825 million in weapons between 2006 and 2019.
Those exports included drones, loitering munitions, anti-tank missiles, and a surface-to-air missile system, information from SIPRI's Arms Transfers Database showed.
Separately, in a video interview with Israel's Walla News on Wednesday, Azeri presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev said his country was using "some" Israeli-made drones in fighting around Nagorno-Karabakh, without specifying how many.
"We have one of the strongest (drone) fleets in the region. And among them we have Israeli ones, we have other drones as well, but Israeli drones especially, including reconnaissance and attack drones, and kamikaze 'Harop' drones, [which] have proved itself very effective," he said.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
