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Rabat – Morocco has reportedly expressed its willingness to purchase Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system to reinforce its defense wall in Western Sahara as well as other sensitive military zones, according to reports by both Moroccan and Israeli sources.
Israel’s Iron Dome missile has a success rate of over 90% and is designed to keep short-range rockets and artillery shells from falling in populous areas.
The missile’s batteries and interceptors are developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries.
The news of Morocco’s interest in the Isareli defense system comes amid fears of escalations between Rabat and Algiers-backed Polisario separatists in Western Sahara.
While most experts do not expect Rabat and Algiers to take their growing diplomatic rift to the military terrain, recent developments point to an unprecedented rise in tensions and war threats.
On the diplomatic front, meanwhile, Morocco appears to have the upper hand with the sustanail international support for its Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara.
Last year, the US became the first Western country to acknowledge Moroccan sovereignty over the region under former President Donald Trump who announced the decision as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords to “normalize” relations between Israel and the Arab world.
Since that announcement in December of last year, Morocco and Israel re-established their diplomatic ties and have taken many steps to gradually cement their “multifaceted” and “strategic” cooperation.
Rabat is yet to confirm the news as to whether it is planning to purchase the Israeli Iron dome defense system, but heated regional tensions and Morocco’s well-reported determination to upgrade its miliatry’s equipment and operational capabilities lend some degree of credence to the story.
Just this week, the US Air Force issued a tender for a rehabilitation project indicating that Morocco is taking notable steps to modernize its military firepower and defense system.
According to military affairs-focused website Defensa, Morocco seeks to upgrade its two largest air bases as it prepares to receive a fleet of state-of-the-art F-16 Block 72 it ordered from the US in 2019.
