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US, Moroccan Militaries Conclude Joint Training Programs on Disaster Response

Throughout the week, US Marines continued training with the Royal Moroccan Armed forces soldiers in non-electric Initiation procedures, render safe procedures, and Mk 2 Mod 1 assembly and utilization techniques. Photo: US Marine Corps Forces Europe & Africa
Throughout the week, US Marines continued training with the Royal Moroccan Armed forces soldiers in non-electric Initiation procedures, render safe procedures, and Mk 2 Mod 1 assembly and utilization techniques. Photo: US Marine Corps Forces Europe & Africa
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US, Moroccan Militaries Conclude Joint Training Programs on Disaster Response

Throughout the week, US Marines continued training with the Royal Moroccan Armed forces soldiers in non-electric Initiation procedures, render safe procedures, and Mk 2 Mod 1 assembly and utilization techniques. Photo: US Marine Corps Forces Europe & Africa
Throughout the week, US Marines continued training with the Royal Moroccan Armed forces soldiers in non-electric Initiation procedures, render safe procedures, and Mk 2 Mod 1 assembly and utilization techniques. Photo: US Marine Corps Forces Europe & Africa

Moroccan and US military personnel have concluded a major disaster planning exercise and a four-week training program on handling explosive hazards, the US embassy announced on Thursday.

Members of the Utah National Guard are in Kasr Sghir this week participating in Exercise Maroc Mantlet, the premier disaster planning and preparedness exercise in the Kingdom, alongside partners from the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) and Moroccan civilian agencies, it said.

This year’s exercise, for which the FAR led planning, featured a scenario based on a large-scale industrial catastrophe that requires search and rescue both on land and at sea, industrial fire-fighting in a HAZMAT environment, and crisis management at the national level.

“These joint training programs are a critical component of the close, strategic partnership between Morocco and the United States,” said US Army Major General Michael J. Turley, adjutant general of the Utah National Guard, who visited Morocco this week to observe the conclusion of these exercises.

“We are always working closely with our Moroccan partners to confront a range of possible threats, including natural disasters or industrial accidents, as well as conventional security concerns.”

Maroc Mantlet includes international observers from Djibouti, France, Jordan, Mauritania, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Tunisia.

Morocco participates in more than 100 military engagements with US forces yearly. It hosts African Lion – the largest yearly military exercise on the continent – and is a major partner in both the US International Military Education and Training and Foreign Military Sales programs, the embassy said.

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Hamas Names Four Israeli Female Soldier Hostages to Be Freed in Second Swap

Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
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Hamas Names Four Israeli Female Soldier Hostages to Be Freed in Second Swap

Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)

Palestinian group Hamas announced the names on Friday of four Israeli women soldier hostages to be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in the second swap under the ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag would be released on Saturday, the group said.

The exchange, expected to begin on Saturday afternoon, follows the release on the ceasefire's first day last Sunday of three Israeli women and 90 Palestinian prisoners, the first such exchange for more than a year.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed that the list had been received from the mediators. Israel's response would be presented later, it said in a statement.

Israeli media reported that the list of hostages slated for release was not in line with the original agreement, but it was not immediately clear whether this would have any impact on the planned exchange.

In the six-week first phase of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel has agreed to release 50 Palestinian prisoners for every female soldier released, officials have said. That suggests that 200 Palestinian prisoners would be released in return for the four.

The Hamas prisoners media office said it expected to get the names of 200 Palestinians to be freed on Saturday in the coming hours. It said the list was expected to include 120 prisoners serving life sentences and 80 prisoners with other lengthy sentences.

Since the release of the first three women on Sunday and the recovery of the body of an Israeli soldier missing for a decade, Israel says 94 Israelis and foreigners remain held in Gaza.

The ceasefire agreement, worked out after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, halted the fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just a week in Nov. 2023.

In the first phase, Hamas has agreed to release 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

In a subsequent phase, the two sides would negotiate the exchange of the remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, which lies largely in ruins after 15 months of fighting and Israeli bombardment.

Israel launched the war following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, when fighters killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health authorities there.

The release of the first three hostages last week brought an emotional response from Israelis. But the phased release has drawn protests from some Israelis who fear the deal will break down after women, children, elderly and ill hostages are freed in the first phase, condemning male hostages of military age whose fate is not to be resolved until later.

Others, including some in the government, feel the deal hands a victory to Hamas, which has reasserted its presence in Gaza despite vows of Israeli leaders to destroy it. Hardliners, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have demanded that Israel resume fighting at the end of the first phase.

Most of Hamas' top leadership and thousands of its fighters have been killed but the group's police have returned to the streets since the ceasefire.