The Middle East Military Balance 2001-2002

Overview

“The Jaffee Center’s new, reorganized Middle East Military Balance provides the most comprehensive and objective analysis of Middle East military developments available in the open literature.  A first-rate product.”

-Geoffrey Kemp, Director of Regional Strategic Programs, The Nixon Center

“The indispensible resource for all who deal with the Middle East or with its role in global politics.”

-Edward N. Luttwak, Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

The explosion of violence between Israelis and Palestinians that began in late 2000 is a tragic number of the potential for armed conflict in the Middle East.  Although many developments in the 1990s appeared to have reduced the likelihood of war in the region, stability between Israel and its Arab neighbors remains tenuous.  Security in the Persian Gulf also remains uncertain, as Iran and Iraq have continued their pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.  Understanding the dynamics of security in the Middle East requires detailed information on the military capabilities of the region's countries. 

The Middle East Military Balance is prepared annually by the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv.  It is based on data from many sources, including some that are unavailable to other institutes.  With its wealth of current, hard-to-find information, it offers an authoritative and indispensible guide to military capabilities in the Middle East.  Governments, the media, and researchers pay close attention to its data and analysis each year.

Shlomo Brom (Brigadier General, ret.) is a Senior Research Associate at the Jaffee Center.  From 1990 to 1998 he served as Deputy Chief and then Chief of the Strategic Planning Division of the Israeli Defense Forces. 

Yiftah Shapir is associated with the Jaffee Center’s Project on Security and Arms Control in the Middle East, where he follows proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the region.