Israel’s defense industry just added another buyer to its list. Speaking to the Serbian national TV broadcaster, the RTS, the regional director for the Israeli defense company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Al Zaher said, “We are acting in Serbia together with state-owned defense products manufacturer Jugoimport-SDPR, and we are working on the promotion of SPIKE LR2 rockets.”

SPIKE LR2 is an anti-armor missile currently used by 26 armies worldwide; it offers tactical precision for air, ground and sea. This is not exactly a surprising development. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told The Jerusalem Post in March 2020 — after speaking at the annual conference of a powerful pro-Israeli lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) — that Serbia intends to buy weapons from Israel. However, there are wider political considerations for Belgrade beyond an ordinary defense transaction.

Why is Serbia buying these missiles from Israel? The No. 1 reason is that Serbia is modernizing its defense arsenal that is outdated, as most of it originates from the days of former Yugoslavia. In that endeavor, Serbia has not been politically picky when it comes to the source of its new weaponry. Serbia is buying drones from China, and Mistral — an infrared man-portable air-defense system — from France. Serbia is modernizing its air-policing capability by receiving MIG-29 fighter jets from Russia and Belarus. Between 2008 and 2018, the United States was the largest military donor to Serbia, followed by China. West or East, Europe or the Middle East, it makes no difference to Belgrade.

Can this weapon be used in a hypothetical armed conflict? Over the past several years, Serbia and neighboring Croatia have been involved in a quasi-arms race. Some of the weaponry Croatia has acquired, like Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers from Germany and Bradley fighting vehicles from the United States, have a potential combat utility in lowland Serbo-Croatian borders. In theory, Israeli anti-armored missiles are a good equalizer. However, the actual renewal of armed hostilities is unlikely. Serbia is geographically encircled by NATO countries. While Serbia is not a NATO member, it is a member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program, implementing the Individual Partnership Action Plan, the highest cooperation a non-member can have with the alliance. Moreover, Serbia and the rest of the Balkans are socio-economically stagnating and in demographic decline, meaning they have very little interest and even fewer capacities to launch and wage war. So the arms procurements in the Balkans are, most frequently, ways to lash out against neighbors to score nationalist points with the domestic audience.