From Pegasus to Kamikaze Drones: Israel's Arms Exports to Morocco

From Pegasus to Kamikaze Drones: Israel's Arms Exports to Morocco https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-07-18/ty-article-timeline/.premium/from-pegasus-to-kamikaze-drone s-israels-arms-exports-to-morocco/00000182-10f9-d1ad-a1b7-1ffd14150000 Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi is slated to arrive in Morocco on Monday in the first-ever visit by an Israeli chief of staff since the two countries normalized relations in 2020. But their relationship goes far back: Israel and Morocco maintained covert military ties over the last decades, and Israeli tourists could visit Morocco. Relations grew closer once the Oslo Accords were signed, severed with the outbreak of the second intifada and renewed at the end of 2020 when Morocco became the fourth country to join the Abraham Accords.

Israel and Morocco have a long history of security and diplomatic cooperation. The Mossad operated a station in Rabat. After the Six-Day War, Israel sold Morocco its surplus French arms, mainly tanks and artillery. Israeli military advisers came to Morocco to help the government combat the separatist Polisario Front fighting for the Western Saharan independence.

Here are some of the weapon systems Israel has sold Morocco over the years — from drones to cyber weapons.

In 2014, Morocco bought three Heron drones made by Israel Aerospace Industries for $50 million. The Heron, which came out on the market in 2000, can stay in the air for 45 hours and reach an altitude of 35,000 feet.

According to publicly available information, the deal wasn’t for armed drones but for the Heron 1, which is equipped with sensors, which the IAI website says enable “complex intelligence gathering, monitoring, patrolling and identifying targets and conduct of missions over differing terrain.”

Heron includes, among other things, photographic systems that enable it to operate at night, capturing images by the heat they radiate, for instance vehicles; radar that creates three-dimensional images of terrain and

objects on the ground; as well as equipment for electronic intelligence-gathering and intercepting transmissions.

The drones that entered into service in the Moroccan army three years ago are reportedly being used to combat the Polisario Front, which is fighting for the independence of Western Sahara. Human rights groups have accused Morocco of a list of violations in the war.

https://youtu.be/2Oe8XVXTInc?list=TLGGXzXBv_uhdP8xODA3MjAyMg Last November, Haaretz’s Chaim Levinson reported that IAI had sold Harop drones to Morocco. In contrast to drones developed for monitoring or attacks that are designed to return home after their missions are completed, the IAI Harop is a “loitering munition” drone, better known as a “suicide drone.” In other words, it destroys itself when it attacks a target.

If it fails to find one, it can be brought back to its home base.

The Harop has a length of 2.5 meters (about 8 feet) and a wingspan of 3 meters. It carries a 15-kilogram warhead and can remain in the air for six hours, and in certain cases up to nine, according to the IAI website.

It is equipped with an advanced photographic system that enables it to identify its targets based on criteria established before it is dispatched. It attacks its target by crashing into it and exploding, but only after its operator (who can be as far away as 200 kilometers) gives it clearance to do so.

Among the countries that have bought the Harop are Azerbaijan, which used them to attack S-300 surface-to-air missile systems operated by the Armenian army when the two countries went to war in 2021.

https://youtu.be/1191b_lBADA?list=TLGG7mm7m89g17oxODA3MjAyMg Last February, it was reported that IAI was supplying Morocco with the Barak MX, an integrated system for countering a wide range of aerial threats ranging from helicopters and planes to drones and cruise missiles.

Persian Gulf countries are interested in acquiring the system as part of the emerging regional defense system with Israel.

The system was originally developed to be deployed on ships and was recently used to shoot down Hezbollah drones threatening the Karish natural gas platform in the Mediterranean Sea. Barak MX has been adapted for land use. It is built around the integration of the various types of missiles that enable it to deal with threats from as far away as 150 kilometers.

The deal to sell Morocco the Barak MX, which is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, was put together during a visit to the country by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz. The deal includes the sale of radar systems made by IAI Elta Systems subsidiary and an anti-drone system made by Skylock.

In addition, a project to upgrade the Moroccan Air Force’s F-5 fighter jets is in the works. The aircraft, which went into service with the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, came to Morocco during the 1970s. The aging jets have been in use since then and need to be upgraded.

https://youtu.be/2W0cOCqc5VA?list=TLGGxhXAknUJbiAxODA3MjAyMg The tools developed by Israel’s NSO Group have become a problematic symbol of the country’s cyberwarfare industry. Pegasus spyware, which is sold only to government defense and intelligence bodies with the

approval of the Defense Ministry’s Defense Exports Control Agency, enables the user to sweep up all the information contained in a targeted smartphone and to operate by remote its microphone and camera, without the victim being aware. In some cases, the targeted phones can be hacked without any action by the user, such as clicking on a malicious link.

The sale of Pegasus to Morocco, which had been reported on by Amnesty International, Citizen Lab and Forbidden Stories, led to diplomatic complications with France after it emerged that among Morocco’s targets were ministers in the government of Emmanuel Macron. French intelligence confirmed the hacking.

Earlier reports revealed that Pegasus was used against journalists and human rights activists in Morocco.

https://youtu.be/qkdZowv4pDk?list=TLGGZCJWDtYuUTUxODA3MjAyMg In July 2021, a Moroccan Hercules cargo plane bringing special forces commandos landed an Israel’s Hazor Air Force Base as part of an international exercise in fighting terror in which the two countries were participating along with the United States.

Three years earlier, the website menadefense.net uploaded a video showing Moroccan police officers armed with Tavor (X95) weapons in the 9-millimeter version.

Morocco denied that it had acquired the weapons from Israel. Some reports said the arms had been bought from Ukrainian companies manufacturing the weapons under license, but Ukraine denied it was involved such a deal. In any case, Ukraine doesn’t produce that specific version of the Tavor.