In October 2016, the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces took part in «North Thunder», a joint military exercise held in Saudi Arabia. Former Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane attended the maneuvers' closing ceremony. This time Morocco has shunned naval drills hosted currently by Saudi Arabia. Relations between Morocco and Saudi Arabia are going through a silent crisis. Royal Moroccan Armed Forces, most precisely naval units, did not participate to the «Red Wave 1» naval maneuvers, launched on December the 30th, in the Red Sea and hosted by Saudi Arabia. The military exercise is aimed at «strengthening the maritime security of countries on the Red Sea; protecting regional waters; enhancing military cooperation; and exchanging combat experience», Saudi Press Agency said quoting commander of Saudi Arabia's Western Fleet Saqr al-Harbi. Troops from Egypt, Jordan, Djibouti, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are participating to the drill expected to end on January the 4th. They are expected «to carry out joint tasks in the Red Sea under different conditions», said Anadolu. The participants' list is almost identical to the one that included countries that have been engaged since March the 26th, 2015, in the Yemen war fought against Shiite Houthi forces, backed by Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. The Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen In 45 months, Morocco's commitment to the Yemeni war has been reduced. In fact, there has been no official announcement, stating that Rabat has withdrew its F-16 fighter ailines from the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. However, in June, Morocco boycotted a meeting hosted by the Arab League Communication Ministers in Jeddah to discuss ways of supporting the government of «Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in Yemen». The Moroccan government did not attend the meeting, indicating Communication Minister Mohamed Laarej had a busy schedule. Morocco did the same thing for the Arab Coalition information ministers meeting held on September the 30th in Riyadh. For the record, Morocco had an observer status during the Arab military maneuvers that took place in October, 2018, in Egypt and were attended by UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain.
