Two American soldiers participating in the African Lion joint military exercise in Morocco have been reported missing, triggering an intensive search and rescue operation involving US, Moroccan, and multinational forces. The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) confirmed the incident on Sunday, saying the two service members went missing on Saturday evening near the Cap Draa Training Area, close to the coastal city of Tan Tan in southwestern Morocco.
According to a US defense official speaking on condition of anonymity, the missing soldiers had been on a recreational hike after the day’s training exercises concluded. They were not actively taking part in any training. The day’s exercises had concluded, and, from our understanding, they were out on a recreational hike, the official told the Associated Press.
The Cap Draa Training Area features a landscape of mountainous desert and semidesert plains overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The terrain’s complexity has complicated search operations, though the official said the effort involves helicopters, naval vessels, mountain rescue teams, and specialist divers working around the clock.
The soldiers were last seen near ocean cliffs in the vicinity of the Cap Draa Training Area during scheduled training. When they did not return as expected, US and Moroccan personnel immediately initiated a joint search effort, the defense official said. AFRICOM stated in a separate announcement: The incident remains under investigation and the search is ongoing.
African Lion, now in its 22nd edition, is the largest annual joint military exercise conducted by the United States on the African continent. This year’s iteration, which began in April, is hosted across four countries: Morocco, Ghana, Senegal, and Tunisia. More than 7,000 personnel from over 30 nations are taking part in the multinational drills, which are designed to strengthen interoperability and build regional capacity to respond to crises.
Military officials have said the exercise serves as a platform for deepening security partnerships between the US and African nations, with senior commanders from both sides meeting to discuss joint operational planning. The stated objectives include improving readiness for peacekeeping operations, counter-terrorism missions, and humanitarian assistance scenarios.
Morocco has been a consistent host and key US security partner in North Africa. The kingdom maintains close military-to-military ties with Washington, rooted in a longstanding strategic alliance that includes access to Moroccan bases and ports. Morocco is also the only Arab and African nation to have a free trade agreement with the United States, underscoring the depth of bilateral relations.
Sunday’s incident follows a similar tragedy in 2012, when two US Marines were killed and two others were injured in a helicopter crash during African Lion exercises near Agadir, a coastal city in southern Morocco. That accident prompted a review of safety protocols for the air operations component of the drills.
In recent years, the geopolitical landscape in West and North Africa has shifted dramatically. Since 2020, military juntas have seized power in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, leading those countries to distance themselves from Western security partnerships and deepen ties with Russia. This context has made Morocco’s continued cooperation with the United States increasingly strategically important for Washington’s Africa policy.
As search operations continue, the families of the missing service members remain under the care of military support teams. The Pentagon has said it will provide further updates as more information becomes available.