Morocco Plans Military Airport in Sahara to Counter Sahel Terrorism

Fighting the expansion of terrorism in a region where the collapse of state structures has allowed the proliferation of armed cells. This is the objective of the project to build a military airport in the far south of the Sahara by Morocco, according to La Razòn, specifying that it would be an advanced platform allowing the deployment of drones and fighter-bombers for surgical strikes on jihadist sanctuaries located in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. This project will be carried out in cooperation with the United States and France. For now, no official source has confirmed the information or revealed the exact location of the future military airport.

It is no secret that Morocco is facing the terrorist threat from the Sahel. On February 19, the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) announced in a press release that it had arrested twelve individuals suspected of having "pledged allegiance to the terrorist organization Daesh" (Islamic State, or IS) and of preparing "a terrorist plan at the instigation and direct incitement of a senior leader of the organization operating in the Sahel region." These arrests took place simultaneously in Azemmour, Casablanca, Fès, Guercif, Laayoune, Oulad Teima, Tamesna, Tangier and Taounate.