Ryan Bohl, a senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at the risk intelligence company RANE, also noted that the planned Russian facility looks larger and more advanced than the one in Tajikistan, noting that the latter facility focuses on manufacturing the smaller, simpler, and older Ababil-2.

"It is also being touted as a facility to potentially develop more advanced drones," Bohl told The New Arab. "As of now, only Syria, Venezuela, Tajikistan, and now Russia have drone facilities, though there are Iranian officials who call for deeper relations with North Korea on this front as well," he added.

"There are rumours that Iran also wants to open one in Lebanon, though that would, like in Syria, expose it to Israeli airstrikes and risk escalation between Hezbollah and Israel," he said.

‍

‍

Read the full The New Arab article by Paul Iddon here.

‍