The Ovda Israeli Air Force base near Eilat welcomed an Azerbaijani cargo plane for a two-hour stay last Thursday. Subsequently, the Ilyushin-76 flew south over Israel, turned north over Turkey, and then flew eastwards to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. This was the usual route of the airlift returning to its home field.

Haaretz News conducted an inquiry using publicly available aviation data showing 92 cargo flights from Azerbaijani Silk Way Airlines landing at the Ovda airbase in Israel in the last seven years. This airfield is the only one in the country that allows explosives to be transported in or out.

For the past 20 years, Israel has partnered strategically with Azerbaijan, a country populated with a majority of Shia Muslims. Israel spends substantial sums of money on weapons for Azerbaijan, and in return, Azerbaijan provides Israel with oil and access to Iran, as per sources.

Foreign media reports have indicated that Azerbaijan has granted Mossad permission to open a forward branch for monitoring Iran, located south of Azerbaijan. Furthermore, an airstrip has been constructed to help Israel if it chooses to attack Iranian nuclear sites. Two years ago, it was reported that Mossad operatives who stole the Iranian nuclear archive smuggled it to Israel with the help of Azerbaijan. Official records from Azerbaijan have confirmed that Israel has provided the country with various sophisticated weapons systems, including ballistic missiles, air defense and electronic warfare systems, kamikaze drones, and more.