Transatlas War

The Transatlas War was a conflict in modern-day Morocco and Algeria, mainly occurring in the Transatlas regions of the Marinid Sultanate of Morocco. Originally starting as a minor rebellion from border bandits and rebels, it eventually became an insurgency, and then a full-on war. The conflict lasted, in total, over 20 years. Beginning in 672AD, it ended in 696AD after most rebel leaders either fled into Bedouin territory or surrendered.

## Background

The main motivation behind the rebellion was due to major neglect of regions beyond the Atlas mountains. As these regions are mostly desert, they were not considered very valuable by the Moroccan government. This led to the Transatlas regions being poorer, as well as lacking major infrastructure. Much of the region is also culturally distinct from the Moroccans. This eventually led to rebel groups forming, hoping to join the Bedouins, as they were much closer culturally.

## Early insurgency in Transatlas

The Transatlas insurgency, and the war itself officially began in 672, with rebels along the Bedouin border capturing border towns and establishing a somewhat independent proto-state. With aid from the Bedouin Emirate to the east, they began pushing further into the Transatlas region, eventually capturing the town of Tindouf, which was chosen to be their de-facto capital. Due to being supplied by the Bedouins, they were well equipped to fight off the Moroccans, who attempted to re-establish control over the Transatlas lands. By 682AD, they even managed to push to the coast, which caused the Ottoman Empire to get involved in the conflict.

## Ottoman intervention

The Ottoman intervention began to secure friendlier relations with Morocco. With the new aid from the Ottomans, the Moroccans began an offensive to push the Transatlas rebels back. This proved somewhat successful, as it cut off their sea access and left many of their major captured towns vulnerable. However, it did not fully destroy the rebels. Further Ottoman intervention did capture some of these towns, but not much more progress would be made.

## Moroccan offensive of 696AD

No major conflict occurred for another few years, up until 696AD. In this year, the Moroccans launched a large attack against the Transatlas rebels for the first time since the last Ottoman-led offensive. At the start of the offensive, the stunned rebels were unable to react quickly enough, with them being defeated by the Moroccan army constantly, being forced to retreat further towards the Bedouin border. The rebels did gain minor ground at some points, but were pushed back soon after. AS was heavily contested between the Transatlas rebels and Moroccans, with Bedouin planes being used against Morocco.

The Moroccans managed to cut off the connection between the south and north halves of the Transatlas rebellion, leading to a mass withdrawal from the south pocket to the north. The withdrawal from the south led to most rebel military equipment now focused on an attack towards Rabat. They rapidly moved across the Atlas mountains, threatening the central regions of Morocco. However, they were held back at the southern edge of the Moulouya River. After being unable to break through further, they reconnected to the southern pocket and then pushed towards the Draa valley. This allowed the Moroccans to push back the rebels in the north further.

With the rebels failing to capture the Draa valley region, they wasted many of their resources and began to be pushed back further and further. Most rebel leaders fled into the Bedouin Emirate, or were captured by the Moroccans near the border. Some rebel pockets continued to fight, but surrendered by the winter of 696. The remaining rebel leaders live somewhere in Bedouin territory, although their exact locations are not known.