RABAT: According to military sources, Israel’s army head came in Morocco on Monday for consultations with senior defence officials as collaboration between the two nations grows following a normalisation of relations.
The three-day visit by Aviv Kohavi marks the first official travel to the country by the commander of the Israeli army.
According to an Israeli spokesman, Kohavi will meet with senior defence officials, the Royal Armed Forces’ Inspector General, Lieutenant General Belkhir El Farouk, and Morocco’s minister delegate in charge of defence administration, Abdellatif Loudiyi.
Following the start of the second Palestinian intifada in 2000, Morocco severed ties with Israel. Two decades later, however, Morocco and Israel rekindled their relationship after Washington recognised Rabat’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara.Since then, numerous Moroccan and Israeli leaders have been to one another’s nations and inked agreements for collaboration in a variety of industries.
Benny Gantz, the Israeli defence minister, inked a security pact during a visit to the monarchy in November of last year, making it simpler for Rabat to purchase high-tech exports from Israel’s defence industry.
Israeli military observers participated in the annual “African Lion” military exercise last month for the first time. Morocco and the United States jointly organised the massive manoeuvres, which attracted hundreds of participants from other countries.
Additionally, a military cooperation agreement was signed in March in Rabat by a group from the Israeli army, the first of its type since the normalisation agreement for 2020.
