Israel, Morocco, Gulf: The contours of a military framework targeting Algeria

Military cooperation between Israel and Morocco has entered a new phase. According to a recent analysis by the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), Morocco has now become one of the largest customers of the Israeli defense industry.The list of acquisitions is extensive: air defense, drones, intelligence, artillery, missiles and satellites. Morocco has acquired the Barak MX system from Israel Aerospace Industries, Hermes and Heron drones, 36 ATMOS 2000 self-propelled howitzers, and PULS rocket launchers from Elbit Systems. It is also considering coupling Israeli LORA missiles, with an announced range of 400 to 500 kilometers, with the U.S.-made HIMARS mobile rocket launch systems that it is due to receive from the United States.This is no longer a matter of a few isolated pieces of equipment. The various components are gradually coming together into a coherent system combining surveillance, intelligence, air defense and strike capabilities.The question of financing remains. JNS quotes a Western observer as saying that part of these purchases is being financed by Gulf capital, primarily from the United Arab Emirates.All of this falls within the framework of the Abraham Accords. Israel provides the technology, while the Gulf monarchies bring their financial resources and investment networks to the table.Although there is nothing to establish the existence of a formal military alliance directed against Algeria, the available evidence points to bilateral cooperation and converging regional interests within a common framework oriented toward Algeria.Morocco now has broader access to Israeli technologies in intelligence, surveillance, air defense and strike capabilities.The Marrakech Airshow, from October 7 to 10, is expected to bring this rapprochement into full view, with the participation of five Israeli groups: IAI, Elbit Systems, Rafael, Xtend and UVISION.For Algeria, vigilance therefore no longer concerns only the weapons supplied to the neighboring country. It also concerns the formation, around Morocco, of a network combining Israeli technologies, Gulf capital and Western military partnerships.It is this convergence, more than any individual contract, that is gradually reshaping the strategic balance in the Maghreb and contributing to a heightened perception in Algeria of the threats to regional stability. Amar Belani