The Israeli-made Barak air defense system officially arrived in the UAE on Wednesday, 19 October, according to Breaking Defense.

The weapons system was part of an arms deal between the UAE and Israel, following the signing of the Abraham Accords on 15 September 2020, which is a series of normalization agreements between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain.

An unnamed source told Breaking Defense that the recent arms deal was just one in a series of even bigger deals.

“This is going to be a very big contract, as the Emiratis need a large number [of systems] to protect some of their sensitive sites that have been hit again and again by missiles launched by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Iranian proxy in the region,” one of the sources told the news outlet.

The Ansarallah resistance forces in Yemen have launched several strikes on important infrastructure in the UAE, particularly its oil facilities, with Yemen’s Defense Minister Major General Mohammad al-Atifi saying that his country was able to even reach further.

“We will not hesitate to bombard very sensitive and important facilities … We once again warn the regional countries which support the coalition of aggression that we will employ surprising tactical and strategic methods during the war,” Atifi said.

Morocco is another country that has recently signed arms deals with Israel, buying a similar air-defense system of the Barak type, as well as 150 attack drones. Morocco is considered the closest Israeli ally of all Arab states.

In November 2021, Morocco purchased $22 million worth of Israeli-made Harop Loitering Munitions drones and made another purchase deal worth $500 million in February of this year.

Meanwhile, Israel signed business deals worth $3 billion since the signing of the Abraham Accords, and trade is expected to rise exponentially between the states in the coming years.