Conflit. La guerre par procuration entre Israël et l’Iran s’exporte au Maghreb
Le bras de fer entre Israël et l’Iran au Moyen-Orient a lieu désormais sur le terrain maghrébin, explique Raseef22, avec pour toile de fond les tensions au Sahara occidental entre le Maroc et l’Algérie, les velléités expansionnistes iraniennes et les visées stratégiques israéliennes.
www.courrierinternational.com
الحرب بالوكالة تنتقل إلى المغرب العربي... إسرائيل وإيران تتصارعان في ساحة جديدة - رصيف22
تشهد العلاقات الجزائرية-المغربية صراعاً متصاعداً، وهو الصراع الذي فتح الباب لقوى إقليمية تبحث لها عن موطئ قدمٍ في المغرب العربي.ففي حين ذهبت المملكة المغربية...
raseef22.net
Proxy war between Israel and Iran is exported to the Maghreb
Posted on 12/08/2021 - 06:14
The standoff between Israel and Iran in the Middle East is now taking place on Maghrebian terrain, explains Raseef22, against the backdrop of tensions in Western Sahara between Morocco and Algeria, Iranian expansionist inclinations and targets. strategic Israeli strategies.
Growing tensions between Algeria and Morocco risk opening the door to Middle Eastern powers seeking to gain a foothold in the Maghreb. Indeed, Morocco has just [signed a military cooperation agreement with Israel on November 22], while Algeria has seen no other choice but to turn to Tehran to find an ally that can counterbalance . Which of the alliances will have the upper hand in this endless conflict between the two neighboring countries, of which the (respective) populations are paying the price?
Already in mid-November, relations between Iran and Algeria had tightened, when Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said he appreciated the firm positions of Algiers, which refuses membership. Israel [formalized July 22, 2021] to the African Union [as an observer member] and which pleads for a return of Syria to the Arab League. In a telephone interview with his Algerian counterpart, Ramtane Lamamra, the Iranian official then underlined the “great wisdom” that Algiers was showing on these two issues.
This interview was followed by a statement by Ramtane Lamamra on the importance of forming an Algerian-Iranian political commission to examine developments in matters of common interest, in a clear allusion to Israel's growing role in the Maghreb.
Algeria-Iran: a checkered relationship
Relations between Algiers and Tehran are marked by ups and downs, ruptures, mutual accusations, mediations, crisis resolutions and rapprochements under the sign of common interests. Algiers, for example, played a central role of mediator between Baghdad and Tehran during the crisis over the demarcation of the Iranian-Iraqi border in 1975, which worsened when Iraq accused Iran of supporting the Kurds. [from Iraq] and to supply arms to their leader, Moustafa Barzani [died in 1979, grandfather of the current president of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani].
Tensions then escalated until the so-called "Algiers" accord eased the situation. Temporarily anyway, since in 1980 Saddam Hussein started the first Gulf War by attacking Iran.
Enemy of my enemy is my friend
Last December 10, the Kingdom of Morocco announced the normalization of its relations with Israel, which was said to have taken place in exchange for the United States' recognition of the Moroccan Sahara, which the Polisario Front disputes.
Israel’s entry into the Maghreb region, through the Rabat Gate, upset the scales in the region, and ignited the Moroccan-Algerian conflicts more, which are already complex, and the tension between the two neighbors intensified, following Algeria’s announcement that Algerian trucks were bombed, which led to the death of three Algerians, in the Bir region. Lahlou is located in Western Sahara, adjacent to the Mauritanian border, and the Algerian presidency, in an official statement, accused the Moroccan side of using an "advanced weapon" believed to be Israeli-made.
“Algeria, in addition to its strategic relations with China and Russia, is strengthening its relations with Iran, and we will witness cooperation with a military dimension, whose main title is Iranian drones.”
This was a turning point for the worsening Algerian-Moroccan relations. Morocco, according to Algeria, brought a classic enemy to its borders, which directly contributed to improving Algerian-Iranian relations.
"The escalating Moroccan-Israeli alliance prompted Algeria to search for strategic partners to support its political positions and military capabilities, and we are days away from the visit of the Israeli Defense Minister to Morocco, to sign military and security agreements." This is how the academic and official spokesman for the Algerian Azm movement, Hossam Hamza, begins his talk to Raseef22, and sees that Algeria, in addition to its strategic relations with China and Russia, is strengthening its relations with Iran, and we will witness cooperation with a military dimension, whose main title is Iranian drones.
Hamza believes that this scenario is likely in light of the Moroccan use of Zionist (Hormes) and Turkish (Birqdar) drones, one of which was used to carry out the attack on the two Algerian trucks. Recently, in Ethiopia, and from the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Palestinian resistance, and the Houthi militias in Yemen.
Hamza concluded his speech with his fear of the presence of Turkish, Zionist and Iranian drones in the Maghreb, which will inevitably affect its stability and security.
The Algerian-Iranian rapprochement raised Israel’s fears, which was clearly expressed by the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yair Lapid, by saying: We share some concern about the role of the Algerian state in the region, which has become closer to Iran, and is currently campaigning against accepting “Israel” “In the African Union, as an observer,” to which Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra responded, describing his statement as “ridiculous,” stressing that “Algerian-Iranian relations are not a product of the moment. Iran is a friendly country, and it has extended economic relations with Algeria.
The objectives of Israel and Iran in the Maghreb
In a world that focuses on power and interest, nothing is for free. Therefore, Israel and Iran transfer their conflict in the Middle East to the Maghreb, based on several assumptions.
Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Algiers, Zouhair Bouamama, in a statement to Raseef22, summed up the goals of Israel's incursion into the Maghreb, saying: Every country accumulates strength and refuses to go along with Israel's projects. It is an enemy state that must be besieged and weakened, so the recent normalization with Morocco , allowed Israel to transform the alliance from a diplomatic to a military one, in an attempt to achieve its desire to besiege Algeria, by seeking to build a military base in Morocco.
As for Iran’s goals in the Maghreb region, Dr. Zuhair Bouamama adds: Tehran feels besieged in its periphery in the Middle East, as it is surrounded by several opponents, except for Syria and Yemen only, but they are currently in a state of weakness due to wars, and with the expansion of the circle of Arab countries normalized with Israel, the Tehran would like to preserve Algeria, as a very important ally to it, given the similarity of the two countries' rhetoric on the Israel file.
The dangers of rapprochement with Tehran
The Algerian-Iranian rapprochement is not without a pile of problems. Algeria may find itself surrounded by them, if its relations with Iran are further strengthened, and it moves to the strategic or military alliance between them, and at this point Dr. Bouamama says: The alliance with Iran is a double-edged sword, and it may lead to the opposite The current of the United States of America and the European Union, due to the sanctions imposed on Tehran, will also affect the relationship with the Gulf countries that see Iran as a direct enemy, especially since these developments occur in light of a previous tension in Algeria’s relations with the Gulf countries, after President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s speech before the Commission The United Nations, in which he criticized the "scrambling to normalize relations with Israel".
Zuhair Bouamama concludes his speech to Raseef22 by saying: Algeria suffered from Iran’s interference in its internal affairs during the black decade, when Tehran supported armed Islamist groups rebelling against the Algerian regime, in an attempt to market the experience of its revolution externally, which led to the severing of diplomatic relations between them.
On the other hand, Iran would like to incubate the Shiite tide in Algeria, to impose a kind of religious dependency on it, as it wants to revive the glories of the Shiite Fatimid state, a danger that Algeria must deal with with great firmness, to prevent the emergence of any sectarian or sectarian minorities, whatever they may be. .
Expansionist greed from Israel, offset by Algerian concern about the blockade, converged with Tehran's interests, turning the Moroccan region into an arena of conflict of interests, the extent of which cannot be certain. The fear remains that the Arab peoples will pay the bill for that conflict.