The arm supply to the Middle East reaches a record figure

Baku. 7 June. REPORT.AZ/ The most recent United Nations figures available show that small arms and light weapons sales to Middle Eastern countries have nearly doubled in dollar terms over the course of a year.

Report informs citing the Russian media, researchers from the Small Arms Survey said Monday that sales to the Middle East jumped to 630 million USD in 2013 from 342 million USD a year earlier.

They said the U.S. was the largest exporter of small arms, followed by Italy and Germany.

The researchers, who analyzed trade data, said 2013 is the most recent year that data was available and able to be analyzed for their report.

The report found that the world's biggest exporters of small arms delivered about $6 billion in weapons and ammunition in 2013. That's a nearly 17 percent increase from 2012.

Middle East countries have nearly doubled their imports of guns and ammunition within a year, figures on the small-arms trade show, raising questions over how many of the weapons are fuelling conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Libya.