Israel sends first official military delegation to Morocco since Abraham Accords

An Israeli army delegation met with Moroccan officers in Rabat this week in the first visit of its kind since a 2020 normalisation deal, signing a military cooperation agreement, both sides said Friday.

"A meeting took place at General Staff headquarters to develop cooperation between the two countries," a Moroccan Royal Armed Forces source told AFP.

During the visit, which ended Thursday and was not officially announced by Rabat, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on "cooperation" and setting up a joint commission, the Israeli army said Friday in a statement, without adding details.

It said the heads of its strategic planning and cooperation directorate and its international cooperation division were present, along with its intelligence section's operations division chief.

They met with senior army officer General Belkhir El Farouk and other high-ranking members of the Moroccan forces, including the heads of the intelligence and operations directorates, it added.

"The commanders expressed a mutual desire to promote extensive military cooperation," the Israeli army said.

They also discussed "opportunities for participation in joint international exercises".

Morocco revived long-frozen ties with Israel in December 2020, one of several countries to normalise relations with the Jewish state under the administration of US President Donald Trump.

Several Israeli ministers have since visited Morocco, including Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.

The two countries have signed cooperation deals on technology, security and economic cooperation.

This week in Rabat, Morocco's industry minister and the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries signed a memorandum of understanding on aerospace cooperation, another indication of growing collaboration between the two countries.