By jointly coordinating the issue of security, Morocco and Spain are reaping the benefits of the return to normalization of their relations, with the fall of subversive projects carried out by the terrorist organization, Islamic State (IS), in the south of Europe and in the Sahel region.
Indeed, while the terrorist organization seeks to redeploy itself through a narrative approach based on the mobilization of supposed combatants, the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ), affiliated with the General Directorate for National Territorial Surveillance (DGST ), succeeded, on Wednesday, in a joint security operation with the Spanish General Information Commission, to dismantle a terrorist cell loyal to the “ISIS” organization.
Composed of three elements operating in Spain and Morocco, the cell worked, in Almeria and Chtouka Aït Baha (southern Morocco), ” to disseminate and promote “extremist ideas for recruitment and enlistment purposes” had specified the BCIJ, noting that “the defendants have shown their willingness to get involved in terrorist operations because they cannot join the strongholds of Daesh (acronym for the Islamic State group) in the Sahel region“.
These individuals ” maintained links with combatants responsible for recruiting and facilitating access to volunteers to fight in this area “, he had still indicated.
Driss El Ganbouri, a Moroccan journalist, writer and specialist in Islamist movements, in statements made to MoroccoLatestNews, said “ that with the negative developments for the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq as well as its defeat before the forces of the international coalition, the Sahel region has become a favorite destination for rebuilding and organizing its ranks“. From there, he added, IS is focusing more on neighboring countries, including Morocco and Spain.
Our interlocutor acknowledged “ that there is indeed a redeployment of jihadists in Africa. The organization has certainly lost many of its fighters and leaders in recent years, but it is seeking to regain its former strength and prestige in the face of excessive recruiting. Morocco and Spain seeming to him to be fertile ground “.
“The defeat in the Middle East and the elimination of a number of its leaders had tarnished the image of a traditional jihad organization. A cliché that hurts him, hence this desire to recover and achieve new objectives, at all costs in the Sahel”, analyzes the specialist in Islamist movements, who notes that “the new management of the organization wants to restore its prestige in order to renew the idea of the Caliphate”.
Driss El Ganbouri also stressed that Moroccan-European security coordination is essential in the fight against terrorism, in this sense, he says, “when IS was in Syria and Iraq, it did not directly threaten European security. Today, the terrorist movement is getting closer and closer to the Old Continent. Africa in addition to being a breeding ground for ISIS fighters, as before, has also become a place of withdrawal and settlement, hence a real danger for the security of Europe. “.
And to substantiate:Already only dangers from terrorist organizations like al-shebab or Boko Haram reign supreme respectively in the Horn of Africa in West Africa, it is necessary that with the jihadist groups of the Sahel, the coordination between Morocco, Europe, in particular Spain, be considered as the key to security and stability in this side of the Mediterranean basin”.