Spain Bolsters Naval Presence Near Moroccan Coast with Amphibious Assault Ship

Spain has sent this ship to Melilla, after deploying the frigates Navarra (F-85) and Canarias (F-86) there in November, the patrol boat Atalaya in January and the maritime action ship Rayo P-42 in March. 160 meters long and with a capacity of 13,000 tons, the amphibious assault ship Galicia (L-51) has as its main mission the transport of troops to conflict zones or victims of natural disasters. It can also provide all kinds of medical assistance, as was the case in early April 2020 during the Covid-19 health crisis, reports El Debate.

The arrival of this ship in Melilla comes in a context of the beginning of a crisis between Spain and Morocco, particularly due to the lack of cooperation of the kingdom in the process leading to the commissioning of commercial customs in Ceuta and Melilla, and the Pegasus affair, named after the Israeli software that is said to have been used to hack the phones of Pedro Sanchez and some Spanish ministers. The European Parliament, suspecting Morocco, recently asked Spain to shed light on this case.

Morocco has repeatedly reiterated its claims on Ceuta and Melilla. In early June, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a verbal note to the Moroccan embassy in Spain to "categorically reject" the statements of its Moroccan counterpart who, in a letter to the European Commission, described Ceuta and Melilla as "Moroccan cities".

Morocco has been strengthening its army for about ten years. In early June, the kingdom acquired the Chinese portable anti-tank missile system HJ-9A, also known as the Red Arrow 9A, with a range of over 6 kilometers. It has also purchased the Israeli PULS missile system, capable of reaching targets up to 300 kilometers, as well as American F-16V Viper fighters and AH64E Apache helicopters.