Azerbaijan appointed its first ever ambassador to Israel on Wednesday amid escalating tensions with its large southern neighbour Iran.
President Ilham Aliyev signed a presidential decree appointing Mukhtar Mammadov, a veteran official who has held posts in the foreign and education ministries, as Baku's first envoy to Israel after 30 years of bilateral relations.
Israel has had an embassy in Baku since the early 1990s and has been a significant military backer of Azerbaijan in recent years, including diplomatic support for Baku in its standoff with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.