Algeria Flexes Military Muscle Near Moroccan Border Amid Rising Tensions

Under the supervision of the Chief of Staff of the People’s National Army (ANP), Saïd Chanegriha, the elements of the ANP organized, on August 26 and 27, new exercises at the Mers-El-Kebir base in Oran. This third operation consisted of various exercises firing missiles against a surface target from a missile launch ship as well as on a surface target, at the level of the West maritime firing range.

In total, there have been three such operations organized by the ANP in two months: the first took place at the 3rd military region of Bechar on June 10; the second took place at the 2nd military region in Oran on June 16.

The project to build the Moroccan military base near Jerada, on the border between Algeria and Morocco, would be at the origin of these demonstrations by the ANP. This project is not to the liking of Algiers. As proof, the Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had called, on July 13 last, on Morocco to put an end to this project. "The construction of military bases on our borders is a form of escalation that must stop," he had declared.