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Marrakech – Morocco’s security chief Abdellatif Hammouchi received Iraq’s Ambassador Hayder Shiya Albarrak on Thursday at the headquarters of the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) in Rabat.
The two officials discussed ways to develop bilateral cooperation across public security and intelligence, according to a joint DGSN-DGST communiqué. The talks covered mechanisms to expand the security partnership, including the exchange of expertise, technical assistance, and access to Morocco’s police training program.
The meeting also served as an opportunity to assess existing levels of joint security cooperation. Both sides exchanged views on current regional security issues of mutual concern, with a particular focus on challenges and threats tied to international terrorism.
The communiqué noted that the meeting reflected a shared commitment to consolidate security ties between Morocco and Iraq. It also pointed to a mutual determination to broaden the partnership in order to confront security threats from a common perspective.
Thursday’s meeting builds on a growing institutional relationship between Rabat and Baghdad. In August 2025, Morocco’s Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi and his Iraqi counterpart Khaled Shawani signed two judicial cooperation agreements in Rabat.
Those accords covered the transfer of convicted detainees and cooperation on alternative sentencing – a legal framework now underpinning the broader bilateral security track.
The deepening ties come in the context of shared counterterrorism concerns. Morocco is developing plans to repatriate its nationals linked to the Islamic State group who are now held in Iraqi detention.
Reuters reported in March that Rabat is drafting an action plan that accounts for the diversity of the targeted population, including fighters, women formerly housed in SDF-run camps in Syria, and their children.
According to Moroccan security figures cited by Reuters, 1,667 Moroccan nationals traveled to Syria and Iraq as foreign fighters.
Of those, 244 were detained in prisons run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria. Another 279 former fighters have already returned to Morocco. The figures also show 269 Moroccan women and 627 minors remain in the conflict zone.
The US military transferred over 5,700 adult male IS detainees from Syria to Iraq between January and February. Baghdad has since urged more than 67 countries of origin to take back their citizens.
