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Morocco’s FM: Relations With Israel Never Stopped

David Fischer, US ambassador to Rabat, stands in front of a US State Department-authorized map of Morocco recognizing the internationally disputed territory Western Sahara as a part of the North African kingdom on Dec. 12, 2020. (AFP)
David Fischer, US ambassador to Rabat, stands in front of a US State Department-authorized map of Morocco recognizing the internationally disputed territory Western Sahara as a part of the North African kingdom on Dec. 12, 2020. (AFP)
    Rabat, Tel Aviv- Asharq Al-Awsat
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Morocco’s FM: Relations With Israel Never Stopped

David Fischer, US ambassador to Rabat, stands in front of a US State Department-authorized map of Morocco recognizing the internationally disputed territory Western Sahara as a part of the North African kingdom on Dec. 12, 2020. (AFP)
David Fischer, US ambassador to Rabat, stands in front of a US State Department-authorized map of Morocco recognizing the internationally disputed territory Western Sahara as a part of the North African kingdom on Dec. 12, 2020. (AFP)

Relations between Morocco and Israel were “already normal” before a diplomatic normalization was recently announced, Morocco’s foreign minister said Sunday.

“From our perspective, we aren’t talking about normalization because relations were already normal,” Nasser Bourita was quoted as saying in an interview with Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

“We’re talking about (re-formalizing) the relations between the countries to the relations we had because there have been relations the entire time. They never stopped,” he added.

On Thursday, Morocco announced a “resumption of relations” with Israel, shortly after outgoing US President Donald Trump tweeted that Rabat and the Jewish state had “agreed to full diplomatic relations.”

That followed Trump’s recognition of Morocco’s contested sovereignty in Western Sahara.

Morocco’s announcement is widely seen as making it the fourth Arab country this year to unveil plans to normalize ties with Israel through a US-brokered deal, following the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan.

“Israel’s relations with Morocco are special and can’t be compared to the relations that Israel has with any other Arab country,” Bourita stressed.

He highlighted his country’s enduring connection to Israel through its domestic Jewish community and the estimated 700,000 Israeli Jews of Moroccan descent.

“Morocco has an important history with the Jewish community, a history that is special in the Arab world,” he told the paper.

Meanwhile, the country’s Justice and Development Party broke its silence on Trump’s recognition of the Moroccan Sahara in exchange for full normalization with Israel.

The Islamic party, which used to criticize any normalization with Israel, has avoided criticizing the kingdom’s recent move.

The normalization agreement includes facilitating the travel of Jews and Israelis to Morocco and establishing diplomatic and economic relations with the Hebrew state.

The party only reiterated its constant stance against the “Zionist occupation” and denounced the “crimes of murder, displacement, and aggression” against the Palestinian people.

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Arab World

EU Warns Israel Suspending Gaza NGOs Would Block 'Life-Saving Aid'

Palestinians walk along streets past tent camps for displaced people in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk along streets past tent camps for displaced people in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP)
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EU Warns Israel Suspending Gaza NGOs Would Block 'Life-Saving Aid'

Palestinians walk along streets past tent camps for displaced people in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk along streets past tent camps for displaced people in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP)

The EU warned Wednesday that Israel's threat to suspend several aid groups in Gaza under new registration rules would block "life-saving" assistance from reaching the population.

"The EU has been clear: the NGO registration law can not be implemented in its current form," EU humanitarian chief Hadja Lahbib posted on X, after Israel said several groups would be barred from January 1 for failing to comply with rules concerning the listing of their Palestinian employees.

"IHL (international humanitarian law) leaves no room for doubt: aid must reach those in need," Lahbib wrote.

Arab World

Hadhramaut Governor to Asharq Al-Awsat: UAE Has Started Withdrawing its Forces, Door Still Open to STC

Hadhramaut Governor Salem Ahmed al-Khanbashi. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Hadhramaut Governor Salem Ahmed al-Khanbashi. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Hadhramaut Governor to Asharq Al-Awsat: UAE Has Started Withdrawing its Forces, Door Still Open to STC

Hadhramaut Governor Salem Ahmed al-Khanbashi. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Hadhramaut Governor Salem Ahmed al-Khanbashi. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Hadhramaut Governor Salem Ahmed al-Khanbashi called on Wednesday inhabitants of the governorate who are involved with the Southern Transitional Council to "return home" and join their "brothers in the National Shield Forces".

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he pledged that they will be welcomed in the ranks and that their "affairs will be arranged."

He also confirmed that the United Arab Emirates has started withdrawing its forces from all positions they were stationed at, including Hadhramaut and al-Shabwah.

He said they pulled out from the al-Rayan airport and Balhaf in Shabwah.

The forces had a limited presence in the al-Rabwa and al-Dabba areas in Hadhramaut . Their role was limited to supervising the STC's security support forces, he explained.

Sources confirmed that the UAE started pulling out its forces from Shabwah on Tuesday at the request of Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) Chairman Dr. Rashad al-Alimi.

Al-Khanbashi stressed that the only way to resolve the current crisis lies in the withdrawal of the STC from Hadhramaut and Mahra.

"The door is still open and we hope our brothers in the STC will seize the opportunity to avert the eruption of any fighting in Hadhramaut and the rest of the country," he added.

"They should return to where they came from and then we can kick of political dialogue about any future formations without resorting to imposing a status quo by force," he stressed.

Moreover, he underlined the readiness of the National Shield Forces, which are overseen by al-Alimi, to deploy in Hadhramaut and Mahra, in line with the state of emergency that he declared on Tuesday.

An additional 3,000 Hadhramaut residents, who have military experience, are also prepared to support their brothers in the National Shield Forces, al-Khanbashi revealed.

He said that coordination with Saudi Arabia was at its highest levels.

The Kingdom views Hadhramaut and Mahra as part of its "strategic security depth," he went on to say. "Our shared borders stretch over 700 kms, so the security and stability of the two provinces are part of the Kingdom's strategic security."

Saudi Arabia does not want Hadhramaut and Mahra to turn into dangerous hubs that can threaten it, he continued.

Al-Khanbashi added that al-Alimi's orders on Tuesday came at the right time to prevent saboteurs from trying to undermine the situation.

Arab World

Nearly 25 ISIS Fighters Killed or Captured in Syria, US Military Says

A US military patrol is seen in northeastern Syria. (Reuters file)
A US military patrol is seen in northeastern Syria. (Reuters file)
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Nearly 25 ISIS Fighters Killed or Captured in Syria, US Military Says

A US military patrol is seen in northeastern Syria. (Reuters file)
A US military patrol is seen in northeastern Syria. (Reuters file)

The US military said Tuesday that nearly 25 operatives of the ISIS group were killed or captured in Syria this month following an ambush that killed two US troops and an American civilian interpreter.

The US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said in a statement on X that 11 missions were carried out over the past 10 days and followed initial strikes against ISIS weapons sites and infrastructure on Dec. 19, which hit 70 targets across central Syria.

In the operations since, the US military and other forces from the region, including Syria, killed at least seven ISIS members, captured others and eliminated four weapons caches, US Central Command said.

“We will not relent,” Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads the command, said in the statement. “We are steadfast in commitment to working with regional partners to root out the ISIS threat posed to US and regional security.”

Targets ranged from senior ISIS members who were being closely monitored by military officials to lower-level foot soldiers, according to a US official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

The official said a growing collaboration between the United States and Syria's relatively new government meant that US forces were able to attack ISIS in areas of the country where they previously did not operate. Syrian forces were the driving force behind some of the missions against the militant group this year, the official added.

The official compared the growing cooperation to that between the US and Iraq in fighting ISIS a decade ago and said the goal, like in Iraq, is to ultimately hand over the effort fully to the Syrians.

The latest operations followed a Dec. 13 ambush that occurred near the ancient city of Palmyra while American and Syrian security officials had gathered for a meeting over lunch. Two members of the Iowa National Guard and a civilian interpreter from Michigan were killed, while three other US troops and members of Syria’s security forces were wounded.

The gunman, who was killed, had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard and recently had been reassigned because of suspicions he might be affiliated with ISIS, Syrian officials said.

The initial retaliatory strike on ISIS targets in Syria, which included fighter jets from Jordan, was a major test for the warming ties between the US and Syria since last year's ouster of autocratic leader Bashar al-Assad.

President Donald Trump said Syria's new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack."