The Moroccan Army Ready for Decisive Action

Can Morocco, and does it have the means, to carry out such an action in the current geopolitical context? To this question, military expert Abdelhamid Harifi, quoted by Médias24, replies: “All the operational plans for this intervention exist.” But the final decision rests with King Mohammed VI, supreme commander of the armed forces and chief of staff of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR), he specifies, stressing that such an operation would aim to “extend the Moroccan defense system to the international borders with Mauritania and Algeria.”

To read: Mauritania-Morocco: an alliance that worries Algiers

The forthcoming opening of a new border crossing between Morocco (Amgala) and Mauritania (Bir Moghreïn) supports the securing of this area. “The opening of such a post would necessarily require a sweeping and security operation,” confirms the military expert, who explains that the objective is not to recover the entire buffer zone, but to create a “secure corridor, potentially 10 to 15 kilometers wide.” In other words, the first step would be to “confine the Polisario militias to more restricted perimeters” in order to limit incursions, and the second step would be to bring Mauritania to assume its responsibilities, especially since “any attack originating from its territory would be perceived as an admission of its inability to secure its own borders.”

To read: An Algerian plot against Morocco revealed in broad daylight

Moreover, the Moroccan army appears ready to carry out such an action. “If a political decision were made, the FAR would be technically and operationally ready to carry out decisive action to secure all or part of the buffer zone and permanently redefine the situation on the ground,” Harifi stated. To successfully carry out this operation in the buffer zone, the Moroccan army is considering acquiring mine-resistant armored vehicles (MRAPs), designed to withstand these types of threats. But, the military expert points out, “the legislation of countries such as Canada, Sweden and Norway prohibits the sale of lethal equipment to countries involved in international conflicts.” And he concludes: the Moroccan army is an “operational army, already deployed in an operational theater. The current status is not a situation of peace, but a ceasefire. The war is latent.”