Israeli Army Chief Kochavi Meets Moroccan Military Leaders in Rabat

"A guard of honor ceremony was held this morning (Tuesday, July 19) at the headquarters of the Moroccan army general staff in the city of Rabat, in honor of the Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Aviv Kochavi. [...] This ceremony was held under the direction of Army Corps General, El Farouk Belkhir, and with the participation of other senior Moroccan army officials," the Israeli Defense Forces said in a Twitter post.

The Chief of the Israeli Army General Staff, Aviv Kochavi arrived in Rabat on Monday, July 18 for an official three-day visit. The other members of the Israeli delegation are: the commander responsible for international military cooperation, General Effie Defrin and the head of the research division of the intelligence services, General Amit Saar. On the agenda of this historic visit are talks with Abdellatif Loudiyi, Minister Delegate in charge of Defense, Lieutenant General Belkheir Al-Farouq, Inspector General of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces (FAR), as well as military and security officials.

Since the normalization of their diplomatic relations in exchange for the American recognition of the Moroccanness of the Sahara, Morocco and Israel have been working to strengthen their military cooperation. At the end of June, Israeli military observers participated for the first time in the Moroccan-American military exercise African Lion 2022 in Morocco. During his working visit to the kingdom in late November 2021, the Israeli Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, and his Moroccan counterpart, Abdellatif Loudiyi, had signed several agreements aimed at strengthening this cooperation.