Although Morocco has not experienced a major terror attack in more than a decade, it remains a target for terror organizations. The Islamic State group (IS), particularly, has turned its attention to Morocco in a bid to establish supply lines and spread its influence.
The kingdom’s strategic location and aggressive counter-terror posture put it “on the front lines of the fight against transnational terrorism,” according to Cherkaoui Roudani, a Moroccan professor specializing in diplomacy, international relations, security and crisis management.
“Through a robust defense doctrine, ongoing modernization of its security forces, and close international cooperation, Morocco has become a true global security provider,” Roudani, also a former member of Morocco’s Parliament, wrote for Modern Diplomacy. “Ironically, this very effectiveness in intelligence and border security makes it a prime target for those seeking to destabilize the regional balance.”
Working alongside security services from France, Spain and the United States, Morocco has dismantled more than 200 terrorist cells since 2002, according to Roudani. Many of these cells are linked to extremist networks operating in the Sahara and Sahel regions, and in Iraq and Syria.
Moroccan authorities in February arrested 12 people in nine cities who allegedly were connected to a planned attack by IS in the Sahel (IS Sahel).
During the operation, authorities seized a substantial cache of explosives, sophisticated weapons and sensitive documents from a covert logistics hub in Errachidia, near the Algerian border. The organization is led by the head of the IS group’s external operations in the Sahel, who is supported by a group of coordinators, executors and logistical facilitators, according to Roudani.
Authorities also discovered a clandestine logistical node that channels arms from the Sahel into Morocco. The facility reportedly uses corridors connecting Gao and Kidal in Mali, through Arlit in Niger, to Tamanrasset in Algeria.
Beverly Ochieng, a senior analyst at geopolitical risk consultancy Control Risks, said the IS’s strategy seems to focus on exploiting security gaps beyond the Sahel.
“IS Sahel has seen that its expansion could be directed much further West and much further North, and Morocco would be one place which would be of strategic interest to it,” Ochieng told Voice of America.
In November 2024, Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations and Spain’s General Intelligence Commissariat dismantled another IS terror cell. Nine suspects operating in two Moroccan cities, two Spanish cities and on the island of Ibiza, were arrested, Morocco World News reported. The suspects were accused of promoting extremist ideology, planning terrorist acts and seeking to join IS factions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Authorities seized bladed weapons and computer equipment. The suspects included former detainees in terrorism-related cases in Spain.
Morocco’s counterterrorism approach includes economic cooperation and humanitarian aid projects in vulnerable regions, which have diminished the appeal of jihadist groups in marginalized communities. Morocco also has targeted the financial structures of terror groups and helped dismantle funding networks in its southern provinces, Mali and Mauritania, according to Roudani.
The kingdom’s cooperation with Western allies and Sahelian nations has disrupted arms supply chains and funding networks that support jihadist operations between Libya, Mali and Niger.
“Enhanced border controls, aerial surveillance, and robust intelligence sharing have significantly reduced the transit of foreign fighters from the Maghreb to the Sahel,” Roudani wrote.
Morocco did not have any major terror attacks last year. However, an armed group killed two shepherds in a Beni Snous forest in western Algeria, near the Moroccan border, in September 2024. The attackers rigged the crime scene with explosives, injuring three Soldiers who arrived to recover the bodies. The group was not identified, but local media speculated it was affiliated with al-Qaida, The New Arab reported.