Originally from Agence France-Presse. Bayraktar TB2 combat drones have been used by Turkey in Iraq, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh and Libya and by its Black Sea military ally Ukraine in its war in the Donbass.

Morocco gets 1st batch of Turkish armed drones

Morocco took delivery earlier this month of Turkish combat drones….[The delivery] comes as tensions have spiked between Morocco and neighboring Algeria in recent weeks. The two countries are mainly at odds over the disputed Western Sahara territory, and Algeria severed ties with Morocco in August claiming “provocations and hostile” action by its neighbor.

Relations took another blow this week when Algeria on Wednesday said it has closed off its airspace to all Moroccan civilian and military traffic….[Morocco] ordered 13 Bayraktar TB2 drones from Turkey in April and a first batch of the unmanned aircraft arrived this month….

Moroccan military personnel have trained in Turkey in recent weeks to work with the drones. Media reports said Morocco signed a $70 million contract with the private Turkish company Baykar. The firm is run by one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-laws and has been exporting its Bayraktar TB2 model to Ukraine, Qatar and Azerbaijan for some years….

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The Western Sahara dispute pits Morocco against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front which fought a war of independence with Rabat from 1975 to 1991.