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The Perejil Island crisis was a bloodless armed conflict between Spain and Morocco that occurred in July 2002. The incident took place over the small, uninhabited Perejil Island.
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Perejil Island (Isla de Perejil in Spanish and Leila Laila in Arabic) is a small rocky island about the size of a football field between Spain and Morocco, lying 250 metres (270 yd) from Morocco, and 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from the Spanish city of Ceuta, which borders Morocco, is its 13.5 kilometres (8.4 mi) from mainland Spain. The island itself is deserted, and is occupied by some Moroccan shepherds.
Tensions rose on July 11, 2002, when a group of six Moroccan soldiers was deployed to the island and set up a base.[1]
Morocco claimed that the troops were there to set up an observation outpost that would monitor illegal immigration and to fight drug traffic which uses the island as a logistic platform.[2][3] Spain denied Morocco's claim, and the Spanish Foreign Ministry claimed that the Moroccans planted two flags on the island.
On July 12, the Spain sent patrol boats to the Moroccan coast, and a Moroccan patrol boat was sighted near other Spanish-controlled islands.[4]
At 06.21am of July 18, 2002, conflict broke out when Spain took the island by force, code-named Operation Romeo-Sierra. The attack was carried out by 28 units of Spanish commandos of Grupo de Operaciones Especiales coming from Alicante. The Spanish Navy and Spanish Air Force provided support. The Moroccan Navy Cadets did not offer any resistance. Within a matter of hours, all of the Moroccan Navy Cadets were taken prisoner, and the island was secured. Spanish Navy thought at the beginning that there were twelve Cadets in the island, but finally only six Cadets were captured [5] and transported by helicopter to the headquarters of Guardia Civil in Ceuta, from where they were transported to the Moroccan border. Over the course of the same day, the Spanish commandos on the island were replaced by soldiers of the Spanish Legion.
The Spanish Legion troops on the island remained there after the operation was complete. The United States mediated the situation, and eventually managed to restore the status quo ante. All Spanish troops were withdrawn, and the island remains unoccupied but claimed by both sides. BBC News interviewed Spanish citizens across Madrid after the conflict, and most people supported this incursion. Opposition politician Gaspar Llamazares of the United Left party said that Spain shouldn't fall into the provocation trap, so it doesn't ruin its image in North Africa.[6]