RABAT: Moroccan authorities on Sunday prevented dozens of migrants from storming a border fence to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, after calls on social media for a mass migration attempt.
Spain’s two enclaves on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, Ceuta and Melilla, share the only land borders of the European Union with Africa. The enclaves sporadically experience waves of attempted crossings by migrants trying to reach Europe.
In the most recent attempt, dozens of migrants gathered on top of a hill in Fnideq on the border on Sunday and began throwing stones at Moroccan security forces, a video shared by local news websites showed. Police prevented them from approaching the Ceuta fence.
Moroccan authorities said they arrested at least 60 people last week for using social media to incite migrants to attempt a mass crossing.
Since Friday, Moroccan security forces have been deployed heavily in Fnideq.
“This is the heaviest security deployment ever in Fnideq with authorities acting pre-emptively by setting up multiple checkpoints on roads to northern Morocco,” Mohammed Ben Aissa, a local human rights activist said.
Hundreds of would-be migrants had been bussed away from Fnideq, he said.
Most of the migrants are Moroccan youths, joined by a smaller number of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Many of them arrive in Fnideq on foot and hide in nearby forests to evade authorities, said Zakaria Razzouki, a rights activist in Fnideq.
Moroccan security forces try to prevent crossings at the land border and patrol the beach to prevent migrants from swimming to Ceuta, he said.
Morocco’s interior ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Morocco and Spain have strengthened their cooperation in addressing illegal migration since they patched up a separate diplomatic feud in 2022.
In the first eight months this year, Morocco stopped 45,015 people from illegally migrating to Europe, according to interior ministry figures.
Last month, hundreds of migrants took advantage of a thick mist to swim to Ceuta, Spanish police said.
Tighter surveillance of Morocco’s northern borders has prompted an increasing number of migrants to try the riskier and longer Atlantic route to the Canary Islands.
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Morocco blocks mass migration attempt into Spain’s Ceuta enclave
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Morocco blocks mass migration attempt into Spain’s Ceuta enclave
- In the most recent attempt, dozens of migrants gathered on top of a hill in Fnideq on the border on Sunday and began throwing stones at Moroccan security forces
- Police prevented them from approaching the Ceuta fence
Syria gunman who killed Americans was to be fired from security forces for ‘extremism’: ministry
DAMASCUS: Syria’s interior ministry said on Sunday that the gunman who killed three Americans in the central Palmyra region the previous day was a member of the security forces who was to have been fired for extremism.
Two US troops and a civilian interpreter died in the attack on Saturday, which the US Central Command said had been carried out by an alleged Daesh group (IS) militant who was then killed.
The Syrian authorities “had decided to fire him” from the security forces before the attack for holding “extremist Islamist ideas” and had planned to do so on Sunday, interior ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba told state television.
A Syrian security official told AFP on Sunday that “11 members of the general security forces were arrested and brought in for questioning after the attack.”
The official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the gunman had belonged to the security forces “for more than 10 months and was posted to several cities before being transferred to Palmyra.”
Palmyra, home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins, was once controlled by IS during the height of its territorial expansion in Syria.
The incident is the first of its kind reported since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in December last year, and rekindled the country’s ties with the United States.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the soldiers “were conducting a key leader engagement” in support of counter-terrorism operations when the attack occurred, while US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said the ambush targeted “a joint US-Syrian government patrol.”
US President Donald Trump called the incident “an Daesh attack against the US, and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” using another term for the group.
He said the three other US troops injured in the attack were “doing well.”
Two US troops and a civilian interpreter died in the attack on Saturday, which the US Central Command said had been carried out by an alleged Daesh group (IS) militant who was then killed.
The Syrian authorities “had decided to fire him” from the security forces before the attack for holding “extremist Islamist ideas” and had planned to do so on Sunday, interior ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba told state television.
A Syrian security official told AFP on Sunday that “11 members of the general security forces were arrested and brought in for questioning after the attack.”
The official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the gunman had belonged to the security forces “for more than 10 months and was posted to several cities before being transferred to Palmyra.”
Palmyra, home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins, was once controlled by IS during the height of its territorial expansion in Syria.
The incident is the first of its kind reported since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in December last year, and rekindled the country’s ties with the United States.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the soldiers “were conducting a key leader engagement” in support of counter-terrorism operations when the attack occurred, while US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said the ambush targeted “a joint US-Syrian government patrol.”
US President Donald Trump called the incident “an Daesh attack against the US, and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” using another term for the group.
He said the three other US troops injured in the attack were “doing well.”
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