Morocco is considering a purchase of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, a Moroccan online news site reported on Sunday.
According to the report, Morocco intended to use the Israeli defensive system to defend against the Polisario Front in Western Sahara, as well as other "civil and military zones of a sensitive nature."
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An Iron Dome missile defense battery is seen in the foreground as fire rages at Ashkelon's refinery following a rocket strike from Gaza, May 12, 2021
(Photo: AFP)
The Moroccan army has been fighting the Polisario for decades, and is now also in a military confrontation with neighboring Algeria — a supporter of the insurgent group — which cut its diplomatic ties with Rabat last August.
Last week Algeria accused Morocco of killing three Algerian civilians in Polisario-held territory of Western Sahara, a claim denied by the kingdom.
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Polisario Front encampment on fire after Moroccan strike in November 2011
(Photo: AFP )
Morocco normalized diplomatic relations with Israel in the framework of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords last year, in exchange for American recognition of the kingdom's claim over Western Sahara.
Speaking on Saturday, Morocco’s King Mohamed VI said that sovereignty over Western Sahara is "not negotiable."
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Foreign Minister Yair Lapid meeting with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita in Rabat earlier this year
(Photo: EPA)
Rabat maintains a 1,700-mile (2,700 km) sand wall that runs through Western Sahara and southwestern Morocco to separate Moroccan-held areas from Polisario-controlled territory.
The Iron Dome missile defense system had demonstrated a 90% success rate of intercepting incoming projectiles during Israel's latest conflict with Hamas along the Gaza border last May.