Following the United States announcement that Morocco is to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel, President Donald Trump’s administration sent a notification to Congress about a proposed arms sale to Morocco. Al Jazeera reports that the formal processing of the sale begins with this notice to Congress.

According to Al Jazeera, the $1 billion deal includes four US-made drones, as well as precision-guided munitions. Members of Congress could, however, attempt to block weapons sales but this was reportedly not expected regarding Morocco.

The normalization agreement between Morocco and Israel, which was condemned by Palestinian leaders, followed the US having controversially recognized Morocco’s claim to the disputed Western Sahara. Morocco is the fourth Arab country to agree to normalize relations with Israel, after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

Meanwhile, legislators had tried, but failed, to block a recent multibillion dollar US arms deal with the UAE. That weapons sale proposal also had followed the UAE having normalized ties with Israel.

Umm Muhammed Umar