The Moroccan military has reportedly received three Israeli-made and long-endurance Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as the Northern African country maintains informal but close intelligence ties with the Tel Aviv regime.

The French website Intelligence Online reported that the drones, worth some $48 million, were sold to the Arab nation via France.

The report added that Morocco received the UAVs, manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries, via French defense company Dassualt, which markets Heron drones under the brand name “EADS Harfang” on January 26 – a long delay after their purchase back in 2014.

The website said Morocco took delivery of the drones after they were decommissioned from the French military, which used them for surveillance operations in Afghanistan.

The Moroccan military plans to deploy the UAVs to monitor terror groups in the southern part of the country and the Western Sahara area.

Back on February 19, 2019, Morocco’s Justice and Development Party condemned attempts by a number of Arab states and Persian Gulf kingdoms to normalize diplomatic relations with the Israeli regime.

“The people who normalize relations with the Zionist entity are dwarfs controlled by America and the Zionist entity. They cannot escape their destiny in the dustbin of history,” Naziha Maarij, a leader of the Islamic party, said in an exclusive interview with the Palestinian Arabic-language Shehab news agency at the time.

“The people of Morocco have a neighborhood in occupied [Jerusalem] al-Quds, which they will not abandon. It is a neighborhood that has included Moroccan religious scholars, mosques, and ancient history,” she added.

The Moroccan politician further noted, “Normalization with the usurping Israeli Occupation amounts to a haram (religiously forbidden) act, because it amounts to conspiracy against the fighters who have offered everything to guard our faith and our sanctities.”

The comments came after a report published by Israeli Channel 13 television network said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a “secret meeting” with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita last September.