Tel Aviv: Israel and Morocco have strengthened their defence relations and agreed on a formal 2026 military action plan that explicitly includes joint training.
During the US-led African Lion 2025 exercise in Morocco in May-June 2025, IDF personnel trained with the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces, including joint tunnel-warfare simulations with the Israeli Golani elite brigade and other units utilising robotics and modern ISR systems.
These drills were place over numerous Moroccan sites, involving about 10,000 personnel from Morocco, the United States, Israel, and other allies.
In footage published in mid-2025, Moroccan forces trained directly with Israeli fighting battalions in simulated underground locations.
The third meeting of the Israel-Morocco Cooperative Military Committee in Tel Aviv concluded in early January 2026 with the signing of a cooperative military action plan for 2026.
According to official statements, this strategy includes strategic planning, technology cooperation, operational readiness, and joint training, which implies that combined exercises will continue and most likely expand.
The proposal resumes and strengthens military cooperation after a lull during the Gaza war, indicating that Rabat and Jerusalem seek to institutionalise regular training and capacity-building initiatives.
Since the signing of the 2021 defence MoU during the Israeli defence minister’s visit to Rabat, collaboration has extended to include air defence, UAVs, intelligence systems, and technology transfer, as well as opening a BlueBird “Spy-X” loitering munitions plant in Ben Slimane.
This industrial and technological integration provides significant incentives for both parties to continue conducting joint drills and training as the partnership’s practical layer.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
