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Migrants receive water on the beach next to the CETI (Centros de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes) in Ceuta on Aug. 2, 2026. | Adri Salido\/Getty Images<\/p>\n\u201cWe should aim to be friends with Morocco,\u201d he added. \u201cBut it\u2019s important to ensure that even your friends understand that there are red lines that simply cannot be crossed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Imperial legacies<\/p>\n
Ceuta and Melilla are among the few remaining vestiges of the vast Spanish Empire. They have been under Madrid\u2019s rule since 1668 and 1497, respectively, and are fully-integrated parts of Spain \u2014 and the European Union.<\/p>\n
But since gaining independence from France in 1956, Morocco has consistently claimed sovereignty over both settlements, which it characterizes as \u201ccolonies\u201d that are \u201coccupied\u201d by Spain. And those territorial aspirations have been underscored in the country\u2019s largely state-aligned press following last week\u2019s events.<\/p>\n
Migrants receive water on the beach next to the CETI (Centros de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes) in Ceuta on Aug. 2, 2026. | Adri Salido\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThe central question is no longer whether these cities will be reintegrated into their natural environment, Morocco, but how long it will take and how many human tragedies will have to be endured in the meantime,\u201d wrote Le360<\/a>, a publication considered close to the Moroccan royal household. <\/p>\n Morocco\u2019s claims on Ceuta and Melilla have lately been boosted by Rabat\u2019s international allies \u2014 among them, a prominent Republican politician in the U.S.<\/p>\n