HIBAPRESS – Yassin Al-Dhamiri
The Algerian military movements near the Ich oasis have returned to raise many questions about their political backgrounds and strategic implications. Whenever observers thought the level of tension had decreased, new indicators emerged on the ground, bringing the discussion back to the forefront.
This is not an isolated incident or a routine movement, but a reckless behavior that is repeated at a sensitive regional time, opening the door to a deeper reading that goes beyond the apparent to what is beyond the unannounced messages.
It is noteworthy that these provocations come in a context where the Maghreb region is facing economic, social, and political challenges that require a climate of calm and cooperation, not military displays.
However, the logic of the military institution in Algeria seems, once again, to be governed by the concern of keeping the region politically and medially inflamed. When the areas of internal maneuver narrow, the outside becomes a ready outlet for exporting tension and creating a circumstantial consensus based on intimidation and mobilization.
In contrast, Morocco chooses a sober and wise approach based on restraint and avoiding being drawn into any contact that could escalate into undesirable consequences. This behavior is not new, but reflects the doctrine of a state that has experienced the cost of direct confrontations and knows that any stray bullet could open a door that is difficult to close.
Preventing bloodshed is not a slogan for consumption, but a sovereign decision that invokes the interest of the peoples before the calculations of display, in a country governed by institutions that have the experience, wisdom, and spirit of responsibility that make them take the correct decision at the right time, and not a country governed by gangs and militias that do not care about the lives of its people or anything as long as a single plane is able to transport them from the focus of tension at the moment of truth and leave the people to face their inevitable fate.
However, the question that imposes itself is: What do the decision-making circles in El Mouradia Palace want? Are we facing messages addressed to the inside before the outside? Or are we facing an attempt to re-produce an old narrative that dates back to the sixties of the last century, when the Sand War formed a pivotal station in the political awareness of the region? That war whose details are still ingrained in memory, and from which Algeria emerged with a deep psychological wound summarized by a phrase that was circulating at the time in the Algerian street, "The Moroccans have humiliated us".
Recalling that phrase today is not for the sake of gloating or reviving grudges, but to remind that reckless adventures do not create a new balance. History teaches us that those who take risks without a precise assessment of the consequences may find themselves facing completely opposite results to what they had planned. So, do the rulers of El Mouradia Palace really long to re-test the equations of the past? Or is the bet only on dragging Morocco into a reaction that justifies further escalation?
The fact is that Rabat realizes that strength is not only measured by field movements, but also by the ability to control the pace. Restraint in moments of tension reflects self-confidence and the cohesion of the internal front. Also, Morocco, which is involved in multiple development and diplomatic paths, does not see military escalation as an option that serves its strategic interests, especially in a turbulent regional environment, but it always puts on its agenda that every action has a reaction.
In the end, the Maghreb region remains in need of the logic of the state, not the logic of the barracks, and of a cool head, not strained nerves. Provocation may create momentary noise, but it does not build a future. The real bet today is not in testing the patience of the other, but in who has the courage to close the page of tension and open a rational horizon that serves the stability of the peoples before the calculations of the regimes.
