Morocco-Iran relations, continuation and end?!

We saw this announcement coming when, on Wednesday, January 5, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs suddenly announced its intention to no longer appoint an ambassador to Algiers and then to do the same with Iran. Since September when

Zionist Yair Lapid placed Algeria and Iran in the same “military axis”, a claim that the mainstream media preaches to all winds, even going so far as to claim to have seen “Iranian military advisers in Tindouf”, which would have justified the “closure of Algerian skies to Barkhane”, well, it was expected. This being the case, Rabat’s decision to liquidate any possibility of resumption with Iran seems to refer less to a supposed military alliance between the axis of the Resistance and Algeria than to the fear of seeing the anti-Zionists of Morocco end up referring to the Resistance by attacking the local Zionists and liquidating, in the absence of a king willing to listen to them, the Abrahamic agreement.

The proof: Rabat’s drastic repression has not had any effect on the anti-Zionist demonstrations, nor on the anti-Israel attacks that the dominant press describes as anti-Semitic. Even the army does not seem to follow its king anymore, it is the scene of mass desertions and the average Moroccan soldier is ashamed to serve under the flag of Israel. This state of affairs has even led Rabat to deploy police and security agents on the borders with Algeria, not so much to fight against it but rather to ensure that there are no defections on the other side of the border. So it is with this decision to erect a new base for Israel in Morocco. But is Rabat sure that it has made the right choice? Or would these bases not end up being conquered by the Anti-Zionists and used against Israel? Here is what Rai al Youm tells us about this new military structure.

“Morocco is building a military air base 80 km from Rabat that includes maintenance, military and administrative buildings, and will operate air defense systems acquired from China. Morocco is building a new air defense base near Rabat, specifically in Sidi Yahya el-Gharb, northeast of the capital Rabat, according to the Defense News website, which displays images taken by Google Earth, providing the exact coordinates of the site that were not available according to the source for security reasons.

“The Moroccans proceeded to purchase 24 medium-range surface-to-air missiles from Sky Dragon and 50 from China North Industries Group,” said Jeffrey Lewis, who directs the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey. “The construction of the base, which began in 2017, was done with this major purchase in mind,” he added. “In addition, the Moroccans published a photo of the Sky Dragon missile, which was reportedly taken there,” he added.

Morocco also received the French VL Mika short-range missile defense system. “The installation is definitely an air defense base,” confirmed the expert, consulted by Defense News. According to the cited sources, the construction of the base was completed in August 2020. Another expert, speaking to the military site, Abdelhamid Harfi, estimates that the new base in Sidi Yahya el-Gharb is “about 40 hectares” and is located in the middle of the main Moroccan cities. And it is not just air defense units; it will also house a maintenance center, military housing and other administrative buildings.

Mohamed Choucair, an expert on Moroccan military and security affairs, confirmed that the base “will operate air defence systems it obtained from China,” as well as American Patriot missile systems and Israeli defence systems, after the recent visit of the Israeli defence minister. And last November, Rabat and Tel Aviv formalized a military alliance unprecedented in the Arab world, after more than 20 years of feud between the two countries. During his visit to Morocco, Israeli War Minister Benny Gantz explained that “the agreement includes the regulation of intelligence cooperation, security acquisitions, joint training and close relations between the military industries. The two countries are expected to work on the construction of a military base near the Spanish city of Melilla in Driouch (northeast of the Kingdom of Morocco in the Rif region). And some media sources mention a possible establishment of arms factories in the Maghreb. Morocco is trying to strengthen its military potential, even though it has decided to cut diplomatic relations with neighboring Algeria.

Recently, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry reported that its ambassador in Algiers would be leaving on December 23 and that it would not appoint a successor.

But four months before Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco, it reported the closure of its airspace to Moroccan civilian and military aircraft, announcing that it had taken this decision in response to Morocco’s unilateral policy. And then, a few weeks after breaking off diplomatic relations with Morocco, Algeria recalled its ambassador from Rabat.

“The current Moroccan leadership is under the illusion of a false autonomy in Western Sahara… The Kingdom of Morocco has abandoned its obligations towards a referendum. Morocco is the only Arab country in North Africa to have accepted Israel as an observer member of the African Union,” said Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra. Relations between the two countries have been strained for decades over land border disputes and the disputed Western Sahara. In addition, Algeria accuses Morocco of supporting the separatist group of Kabylie (MAK), which Algeria considers a terrorist group.