Without a public ceremony or official proceedings, contrary to custom, Spain delivered the military vessel “Moulay Hassan I” which took three years to build, to Morocco. This coincided with the crisis over the occupied city of Ceuta, which has revived talk of a “hybrid war” being waged by Morocco against Spain.
On Thursday, the Spanish company Navantia delivered the ship to Morocco in a private and limited ceremony, without official ceremonies, at the shipyard facilities in San Fernando, Cadiz, in the far south of Spain, according to a number of Spanish media outlets, including those specializing in military affairs such as InfoDefensa.
Construction of this military vessel began in July 2023, financed by a Spanish loan. The ship is 87 meters long, 13 meters wide, and has a full displacement of 2,020 tons. It can accommodate a crew of 60. It is based on the Avante 1800 class produced by Navantia, but this vessel has undergone military modifications to serve more than just as a patrol boat. The Avante 1800's design allows for a much more robust military configuration than that of a typical patrol vessel.
The Spanish company is currently offering the Avante 1800 as a platform capable of engaging in anti-aircraft, anti-surface, and electronic warfare operations, thus making it similar to a military frigate.
The absence of an official ceremony for the handover of the military vessel stems from the current tension between Morocco and Spain following the Ceuta tragedy. On July 30, some 80,000 people, mostly Moroccans, entered the occupied city of Ceuta, resulting in the drowning of 141 people. This crisis has caused tension between Rabat and Madrid, as well as between Rabat and the European Union. On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution describing the Ceuta tragedy as a "hybrid war" and an "invasion," demanding that Morocco cease questioning Spain's sovereignty over the occupied cities of Ceuta and Melilla, and threatening to suspend the EU-Morocco partnership.
Morocco and Spain have been developing military relations based on dialogue to strengthen confidence-building measures, especially given that various war reports from institutions such as strategic think tanks indicate that the only war Spain might experience would likely be with Morocco over the issue of Ceuta and Melilla. Among these confidence-building measures are joint military exercises.
However, the Ceuta crisis is disrupting this military cooperation, as evidenced by the delivery of the warship without official ceremony—a first for Spain. Furthermore, reports from the Spanish military intelligence agency CEFAS accuse Morocco of planning a hybrid war against Ceuta and Melilla through migration.
The Ceuta tragedy prompted Spanish military hawks to reiterate the need to increase armament to ensure qualitative and quantitative superiority over Morocco. Morocco had already succeeded in narrowing the historical military gap with Spain thanks to arms deals with Turkey, China, and France, and to a lesser extent, with the United States.
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