Dubai, April 6: Global military spending rose in 2015 to nearly $1.7 trillion, the first increase in several years, driven by conflicts including the battle against the Islamic State group, the Saudi-led war in Yemen and fears about Iran, a report released on Tuesday shows.
The study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) also noted that the Chinese expansion in the South China Sea and Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support of Ukrainian separatists also accounted for nudging spending up one percent in real terms, compared to 2014.
For weapons manufacturers, the nonstop pace of airstrikes targeting Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, as well as Saudi-led bombing of Yemen’s Shiite rebels and their allies, means billions of dollars more in sales.
But activists question continued US arms deals to Saudi Arabia as its Yemen campaign has killed civilians, while American fighter jet sales to both emerging military buyer Qatar and long-time ally Kuwait appear stalled.
The United States, with $596 billion in defense spending, and China, with an estimated $215 billion, led all countries in 2015, the annual report by Sipri said. Saudi Arabia, however, came in third with spending of $87.2 billion – double what it spent in 2006, according to the report. That fueled the first worldwide increase in military spending since 2011.
Iraq spent $13.1 billion on its military in 2015, up well over 500 percent from 2006 as it has rebuilt its armed forces following the US withdrawal and rise of the Islamic State group, Sipri said.
While part of the US coalition fighting the extremists, Saudi Arabia also launched a war in Yemen in March 2015 to support the country’s internationally recognised government after Shiite rebels known as Houthis earlier overran the country’s capital, Sanaa. The Sunni kingdom views the Houthis as a proxy of Shiite power Iran, long its regional rival.
The United Arab Emirates also is taking part in both conflicts and likely has spent billions of dollars to support its military in 2015 as well, though the Stockholm-based institute said it couldn’t offer precise figures this year, senior research Pieter Wezeman said.
Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia also sent troops into Bahrain to put down its 2011 Arab Spring-inspired protests.
“This clearly is a reason for these countries to improve their so-called security forces, both to be able to fight against internal uprisings, whether a more-peaceful nature or more violent, but also of course to intervene in neighboring countries,” Wezeman, who took part in the report said.
