Moroccan military leader arrives to Tel Aviv, first Arab military official to visit Israel

A Moroccan military official landed in Tel Aviv Tuesday, marking the first public visit of an Arab military official to the Israeli state.

In Tel Aviv, Aviv Kochavi, Israeli Army Chief of Staff, led an honour guard welcoming Lieutenant General Belkhir el-Farouk, inspector general of Morocco's Royal Armed Forces.

The Moroccan official will take part in the International Operational Innovation Conference hosted by Israel's army. 

Delegations from twenty-five different states will attend the week-long conference.

However, Morocco is the only African and Arab country to participate in the conference this year, with most delegations coming from Europe alongside the US, Canada and Australia.

"It [the conference] will lay the foundations for solid cooperation in the field of multi-dimensional defence and military renewal," Israel's army said in a statement.

Morocco and Israel normalised ties two years ago under the US auspices.

Since then, a steady stream of Israeli military officials visited Morocco to sign security cooperation and participate in shared military training exercises.

In July, Kohavi visited Rabat and met several senior military officials in the kingdom. No further details were shared about Kohavi's visit.

In June, Israeli military observers for the first time attended the annual "African Lion" military exercise—vast drills involving thousands of personnel from several nations, co-organised by Morocco and the United States.

During a visit to Rabat last year, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz signed a security agreement making it easier for Rabat to acquire high-tech exports from Israel's defence industry.

Over the past two years, Morocco has purchased military equipment from Israel worth US$1.2 billion, and Israel reportedly intends to double this amount.