A deal between Israel and Morocco to supply drones to the Moroccan air force has handed the military advantage to the Moroccan army fighting in Western Sahara after Rabat signed the Abraham Accords, normalising relations with Tel Aviv.
Morocco has been engaged in a low-level irredentist war in the Western Sahara since 1975 against indigenous Sahrawi rebels which intensified in 2020 following the breakdown of a 29-year-long ceasefire between the Moroccan government and the Polisario Front group leading the fightback.
Morocco has now been emboldened by a newfangled alliance with Israel to furnish its army with advanced military hardware as well as diplomatic assistance from the United States, giving Rabat’s claims to the region an air of legitimacy. The alliance highlights Morocco’s growing confidence abroad, as Moroccan spies are accused of using Israeli-designed spyware to pursue their interests in Europe.
The Royal Moroccan Air Force received their latest consignment of Israeli-manufactured SPY-X kamikaze drones this month in a much-anticipated shipment that strengthens Morocco’s hold over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
An estimated 150 Israeli drones are active in the Western Sahara. They are used primarily for surveillance against Sahrawi rebels currently going toe-to-toe with the Moroccan army in a long-running guerilla war.
In addition to the Israeli imports, Morocco has also purchased Chinese and Turkish drones which have given their army total air superiority to the detriment of badly-equipped Sahrawi forces operating mainly in converted pick-up trucks.
Morocco has claimed Western Sahara since the colonial departure of Spain in 1975 and received a massive and unexpected boost when the Trump administration recognised their sovereignty over the region in December 2020 in a move many have speculated was in exchange for Morocco joining the Abraham Accords the same month.
The Abraham Accords are a landmark in Middle Eastern geopolitics and involve various Islamic nations including Morocco, Bahrain, the UAE, and Sudan that formally normalises relations with Israel, previously a major red-line issue in the Muslim world due to the unresolved argument with Palestine. The Accords are a major feature in recent Israeli foreign policy as Tel Aviv moves to secure its position in the region. Islamic nations that sign the agreement benefit both from Israeli technology and the goodwill of the United States.
The conflict in Western Sahara forms part of a far larger geopolitical battle raging in North Africa and has led to a coarsening of relations between Morocco and Algeria, as Moroccan intelligence services stand accused of covertly influencing Spanish and European politics through the use of espionage and blackmail.
Moroccan spies were recently accused of blackmailing Spanish officials using compromising material garnered through the use of Israeli-made Pegasus spyware and have played a major part in the Qatargate scandal which has engulfed internal EU politics the past year.
The Spanish government under Pedro Sánchez shifted Madrid’s previous position of neutrality. Spain’s support of Morocco in Western Sahara was on display recently in a shock move that many believe was motivated by the actions of Moroccan spies wiretapping state officials.
The use of Israeli-designed spyware by Morocco was enabled by the normalisation of relations between the two countries post-Abrahams Accords as the Israeli government vetoed the sale of some espionage products to Morocco—citing security concerns.
In Brussels, Moroccan intelligence agents are acknowledged to have played a massive part in the ‘influence’ operation commonly known as the Qatargate, whereby MEPs are alleged to have been bribed to alter the European Parliament policy position on the Western Sahara at the behest of Moroccan and Qatari spies.
One of the primary suspects in Qatargae, Greek MEP Eva Kaili, has even alleged that the scandal was engineered by Spanish intelligence services in conjunction with Morocco attempting to prevent Parliament from prying into the use of Pegasus spyware.
Just this week, Israel moved to recognise Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara for Rabat’s assistance in the Negev Forum, an alliance of Arab nations and Israel hostile to the Iranian Republic.
