In Iran, the U.S. Appears Headed for a Strategic Defeat, Allies Fear

 

“With none of President Trump’s aims accomplished and the Strait of Hormuz closed, U.S. allies see dysfunction and vulnerability from the war.

 

To America’s allies, President Trump’s war in Iran, now in its sixth month, seems headed for a strategic defeat.

 

They worry that the inability of the United States to turn military superiority into a sustainably changed Iran has displayed a vulnerability that Russia and China will welcome. In addition, Mr. Trump’s goals remain unmet, and the U.S. military is running short on key armaments that it needs for global reach.

 

For the moment, Iran is seemingly resolute under a more radical government, its nuclear and ballistic missile programs are degraded but not destroyed, and the Strait of Hormuz is effectively under its control. The war has left both the United States and Israel in weaker positions — and blaming each other for the mess.

 

Iranian missiles and drones not only restrict traffic through the strait and damage the economic infrastructure of allied energy production, but they also continue to threaten American bases across the Middle East and have killed or injured American service members.

 

With Mr. Trump’s aims shifting, Washington is losing credibility both militarily and diplomatically, analysts said. Its conduct in the war underscores the impression that the United States is an unpredictable instrument of global disorder, they said.

 

The war may evolve, but so far the result has been “a strategic loss and an embarrassment,” said Robin Niblett, a former director of Chatham House, a think tank in London. “For U.S. allies and those who rely on the U.S. for security, this is confirmation that you can’t trust the United States.”

 

Even if the Islamic Republic collapses, he added, “people won’t forget that their security and their future were dragged into question by an unpredictable and wavering U.S. foreign policy.”

 

European allies remember Mr. Trump’s vow to seize Greenland from a NATO ally and his threats to leave the alliance unless other allies met his spending goals.

 

Middle Eastern allies see their own security undermined by this war, even if they are too committed to Washington to abandon partnerships with the United States. But they are already hedging, looking for repaired ties with Iran and better relations with Europe, China and Russia, said Ali Vaez, the Iran project director for the International Crisis Group.

 

Many countries disliked the global order as it was, Mr. Niblett said, but there was one. “Now America has confirmed itself as a force of disorder and everyone is drawing lessons from it, and trying to be less dependent,” he said. “No one wants to be subject to a whipsaw foreign policy that doesn’t know its limits, and that is a strategic defeat.”

 

Mr. Vaez cited other recent developments as evidence that the United States has lost credibility as a guarantor of allies’ security, including Mr. Trump’s abrupt change of demands last week after announcing a landmark nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia.

 

“The Saudis do a nuclear deal with Trump that he walks back in 24 hours,” Mr. Vaez said. “This is the crisis of credibility of the U.S. Neither its military prowess nor its diplomatic promises can be trusted.”

 

Mr. Trump has argued that it is vital to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon and that it will eventually cede to superior force. Eventually, he said on Friday, he expects Iran to realize it can’t take any more punishment and will negotiate on U.S. terms.

 

“We’ll be hitting them. We’ll be hitting them very hard,” Mr. Trump said. “At some point, they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’”

 

But he’s losing whatever faith he had in the Iranians, complaining they “always want to talk” but break their word after negotiations. “They’ll get weaker,” he said, “and then they peter out.”

 

World War II left the United States stronger at home and with more influence abroad. But since then, America’s military record has been a mixed bag. Enemies more willing to suffer the pain and expense of conflict, as in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, outlasted the United States.

 

This war in Iran may turn out similarly, with Washington finding a sufficient reason to cut its losses and go home.

 

Already, the conflict “has undermined U.S. deterrence and credibility, antagonized America’s allies and delighted its adversaries,” said Aaron David Miller, a former American negotiator and now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “And if the Strait of Hormuz falls under Iran’s leverage and control, it will constitute nothing less than a strategic defeat.”

 

A severe shortage in crucial air-defense munitions like Patriot missiles is having a secondary effect in Ukraine and showing Russia and China — as well as NATO — that the United States will be less capable for years at least to both resupply its allies and fight a lengthy war.

 

The war has also badly damaged the vital alliance between the United States and Israel, said François Heisbourg, a French security analyst. American officials including Vice President JD Vance have suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was overly optimistic while convincing Mr. Trump that the war would be quick and decisive.

 

Added to already negative views of Israel and Jews more generally stemming from the long conflict with Hamas in Gaza, which some call genocide, this war has increased antisemitism in the United States and beyond, some polls show.

 

The most important negotiation now, he and Mr. Vaez agreed, is between Iran and Oman over control of the Strait of Hormuz, which both countries border. Iran wants sole control over the strait’s northern route and shared control over the southern route, which would give it an effective veto over traffic, Mr. Vaez said.

 

While Oman, which Iran is convinced is influenced by Saudi Arabia and the United States, argues for a voluntary fee for passage, Iran is demanding a compulsory one.

 

“This may be the end of the law of the sea as we’ve known it,” said Mr. Heisbourg. Freedom of the seas has been an American vital interest from its founding, he noted, but it is now at risk.

 

Even if there is agreement on the strait, Iranian officials believe there is no guarantee Mr. Trump will accept it, analysts said. The Iranians remember that Mr. Trump tore up the 2015 nuclear deal and attacked Iran twice during more recent nuclear negotiations. So they are insisting on a final deal on the strait before any new memorandum of understanding can be negotiated with Washington, Mr. Vaez said, and they also want a pullback of U.S. offensive military assets.

 

“The Iranian calculus is simple,” he said. With its regional proxies in retreat, “they need the leverage the strait provides them to extract concessions from the U.S. and get a guarantee that an attack on Iran can’t happen again.”

 

Their position may be strengthened by the decision of their Yemeni ally, the Houthis, to blockade the Bab el-Mandeb strait that Saudi oil exports pass through on their way to Asia.

 

But even decision makers in Iran who favor further negotiations with the United States are losing confidence that Mr. Trump will be able to keep to any deal over the Strait of Hormuz or anything else, argued Esfandyar Batmanghelidj of the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation, a research institution focused on economic diplomacy.

 

“Iranian leaders have become intensely pessimistic about what diplomacy with the Trump administration can achieve,” he said. He noted that many of them view Mr. Trump as erratic and have a hard time seeing how they could reach a deal with the United States when it has undercut its own allies.

 

Washington has started a war it does not seem to know how to win or end, while Iran is mistrustful that any deal reached will be implemented. The coming weeks are likely to see a continuing cycle of ad hoc truces and escalation, Mr. Vaez said, a new form of forever war.” [1]

 

1. In Iran, the U.S. Appears Headed for a Strategic Defeat, Allies Fear: News Analysis. Erlanger, Steven.  New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Aug 1, 2026.

50 000 pakartojo „10 000 žygį“. Laukite antrojo Aleksandro Didžiojo: kaip 50 000 žmonių įsiveržė į Ispanijos eksklavą Afrikoje

Dešimties tūkstančių žygis buvo epinis 401–399 m. pr. Kr. graikų samdinių, įstrigusių giliai Persijos imperijoje, karinis atsitraukimas, garsiai aprašytas Ksenofonto „Anabasėje“. Pagrindiniai elementai: Kiras Jaunesnysis, Kunaksos mūšis ir Ksenofontas.

 

Ekspedicija ir išdavystė

• Kiras Jaunesnysis pasamdė maždaug 10 000 graikų hoplitų ir samdinių, kad atimtų Persijos sostą iš savo brolio Artakserkso II.

• Kunaksos mūšis (401 m. pr. Kr.) baigėsi graikų taktine pergale, tačiau Kiras žuvo mūšio epicentre, palikdamas armiją be rėmėjo ar tikslo giliai priešo teritorijoje.

• Spąstai užsikirto, kai persų vadovybė paliaubų metu apgaulingai paėmė į nelaisvę ir įvykdė mirties bausmę aukščiausiems graikų generolams.

 

Sunkus atsitraukimas

• Demoralizuoti graikai surengė susirinkimą ir išrinko naujus pareigūnus, įskaitant Atėnų kareivį ir filosofą Ksenofontą, ir iškilo nauja vadovybė. • Maršrutas driekėsi maždaug 1500–1700 mylių į šiaurę per šiuolaikinį Iraką ir Turkiją Juodosios jūros link.

• Priešiškos vietovės vertė vyrus kovoti prieš stingdančius kalnus, sausas lygumas ir agresyvias vietines gentis, tokias, kaip kardukiečiai, ir, nuolat persekiojančią, persų kavaleriją.

 

Šis sumanus ir organizuotas žygis įkvėpė vėlesnę Aleksandro Didžiojo invaziją ir pergales.

 

„Ketvirtadienį dešimtys tūkstančių marokiečių įsiveržė į Seutą, Ispanijos teritoriją, besiribojančią su Maroku. Iki penktadienio vakaro dauguma jų išvyko, alkani ir nusivylę.

 

Kaip ir daugelis kitų Maroke, Mohammedas Ahmidho ketvirtadienio rytą savo socialinės žiniasklaidos paskyrose pamatė, kad griežtai saugoma jo šalies siena su Ispanijos teritorija Seuta yra atvira.

 

Netrukus jis prisijungė prie dešimčių tūkstančių žmonių minios, iš kurių daugelis nustebo pamatę, kaip Maroko policija ragina juos, kaip jis prisiminė, „atvykti į Ispaniją“. Kai kurie, kaip ir jis, perlipo per tvorą, nėrė pro skyles grandinėje arba kirto jūrų sieną. Kai kurie vilkėjo hidrokostiumus, kartais spardėsi plaukmenimis, arba plaukė į Ispanijos pakrantę oranžiniais gelbėjimosi liemenėmis, apsijuosę juosmenį rausvais pripučiamais spurgomis. Per šį chaosą žuvo mažiausiai 60 žmonių.

 

„Atėjo daug žmonių“, – sakė 37 metų ponas Ahmidho. „Daug.“

 

Ispanijos vidaus reikalų ministerijos duomenimis, jis buvo tarp maždaug 50 000 žmonių, kurie ketvirtadienį ir ankstyvą penktadienį kirto sieną ir atvyko į Ispanijos miestą, kuriame gyvena tik 84 000 gyventojų. Tai buvo intensyvesnis antplūdis nei bet kuriuo kitu atitinkamu laikotarpiu per Europos migracijos krizės piką 2015 m.

 

Iki penktadienio ryto miestas atrodė kaip avarinė situacija, kurios Europa bandė išvengti nuo masinės migracijos eros prieš 11 metų, kai paskutinį kartą tiek daug ne europiečių plūdo į Europos kontroliuojamą teritoriją, apvertė žemyno politiką aukštyn kojomis ir paskatino antiimigracinių dešiniųjų iškilimą.

 

Miesto gyventojams užsidarius ir uždarius savo parduotuves, grupės, daugiausia jaunų vyrų, neturėjusių kur eiti, užpildė aikštes ir alėjas, daugiabučių kiemus, kalvų apžvalgos aikštes ir tiltų požemines perėjas. Kai kurie maudėsi Ispanijos karinio laivo patruliuojamuose vandenyse arba braidė per plūduriuojančių šiukšlių – plastikinių maišelių ir vandens butelių – bangą, kurią pagavo srovė. Kiti žygiavo per paplūdimį, nusėtą daiktais, kuriuos jų atvykėliai buvo atsinešę: viengungiais batais, pašiūre. Hidrokostiumai, mobiliųjų telefonų dėklai, asmens tapatybės kortelė iš Kasablankos.

 

Ispanijos kareiviai, kurių daugelis buvo mobilizuoti ketvirtadienį spręsti krizės, stovėjo ant netoliese esančių tankų. Jie stebėjo, kaip migrantai geria vandenį iš paplūdimio dušų, kurių kiekvienas buvo vertikalios banglentės formos ir papuoštas šūkiu „Seuta, kur jauti emocijas“.

 

Netoliese jauni paaugliai juokėsi patruliuojančių sraigtasparnių sūkurio metu, išbandydami treniruoklius paplūdimio žaidimų aikštelėje. Ponas Ahmidho vilkėjo rožinį maudymosi kostiumėlį ir stovėjo nuoga krūtine, juodus marškinėlius permetęs per petį. Jo kojų padai buvo nupjauti, pasak jo, lipant per uolas netoli sienos.

 

Jo kelionė buvo nusivylimas, sakė jis. Kaip ir daugelis kitų, jis atvyko ieškoti darbo, bet rado kareivius ir policininkus, kurie jį įkalbinėjo išvykti. „Nėra vandens, nėra maisto, nėra kur miegoti“, – sakė jis. „Nėra nieko“.

 

Migrantams užvaldžius gatves, gyventojai dažniausiai slėpėsi savo namuose, uždarydami parduotuves ir įmones.

 

Trumpam išėjęs iš namų, 68 metų Francisco Pérezas skubiai sodino savo anūkus į automobilių kėdutes, migrantams vaikščiojant aplink jį. Jis pasakojo, kad jo anūkė klausė, kodėl jie negali eiti į paplūdimį ir kodėl ten „tiek daug marokiečių“. Vietiniai gyventojai, pasak jo, buvo „išsigandę“ ir įsiutę ant Ispanijos vyriausybės, kuri, anot jo, juos apleido.

 

Ispanijos ministras pirmininkas Pedro Sánchezas bandė išvengti tokių reakcijų penktadienio rytą skubėdamas į Seutą, kad parodytų savo paramą jos piliečiams ir pasmerktų migrantų antplūdį kaip „Ispanijos teritorinio vientisumo pažeidimą“.

 

Dešiniųjų pažiūrų pono Sánchezo kritikams – tiek šalyje, tiek visoje Europoje, tiek visame pasaulyje, įskaitant Baltuosius rūmus – migrantų antplūdis buvo jo imigracijos politikos pasmerkimas. Jo vyriausybė šiais metais leido daugiau nei milijonui nelegaliai Ispanijoje gyvenančių migrantų prašyti teisėto leidimo gyventi – jo oponentų teigimu, šis žingsnis šią savaitę padėjo privilioti migrantus.

 

Imigracijos priešininkams vaizdo įrašai, kuriuose užfiksuoti į mažytę Ispanijos teritoriją plūstantys migrantai, buvo jų bylos įrodymas A. Seuta staiga tapo tarptautiniu nekontroliuojamos nelegalios imigracijos pavojų simboliu.

 

Atsakydamas į tai, ponas Sánchezas apkaltino prekeivius žmonėmis, kad jie klaidina migrantus apie tai, kaip lengva prašyti prieglobsčio Ispanijoje, ir pažymėjo, kad nepaisant jo migrantams palankios politikos, Ispanija pastaraisiais metais pritraukė mažiau nelegalių migrantų nei kai kurios Europos kaimynės.

 

Vis dar neaišku, kodėl tiek daug žmonių atvyko į Seutą. Daugelis marokiečių, penktadienį klajojusių po Seutą, svarstė, ar durys neatsivėrė dėl kokio nors nežinomo Maroko plano, kuris kaltinamas imigrantų srautų naudojimu. praeitis dėl politinio spaudimo.

 

„Nežinau, kodėl jie mus praleido“, – sakė 24 metų Ajoubas el-Arrotas, kuris teigė apie atvirą sieną girdėjęs socialiniuose tinkluose. „Galbūt jie turėjo kokių nors politinių priežasčių. Jie atvėrė sieną ir leido visiems praeiti.“

 

Jis pridūrė: „Kai kyla politinių problemų, Marokas atveria duris ir liepia mums eiti.“

 

19-metė Douae Tabit, kuri taip pat sakė, kad apie nekontroliuojamą sienos kirtimą išgirdo socialiniuose tinkluose, teigė, kad žinia „išplito“ iš lūpų į lūpas ir pritraukė žmones iš viso Maroko. Laisvai kalbanti angliškai, prancūziškai ir ispaniškai, ji teigė dirbusi slaugytoja ir fotografe ir spontaniškai nusprendusi pasinaudoti proga.

 

Ji perlipo tvorą ir nuplaukė į Ispanijos krantą, bet tikėjosi kažko svetingesnio: niekas neturėjo maisto, vandens ar kur miegoti. Vis dėlto ji pasakė: „Aš negrįšiu atgal.“

 

Daugelis, regis, tiksliai nežinojo, ką ten veikia.

 

Jauni vyrai, be marškinių ar su futbolo marškinėliais, žygiavo basomis arba kartais su viena basute, tarsi betikslyje parade. Vienas paauglys švelniai pasibeldė į uždaryto maisto turgaus groteles, o kiti ilgesingai slankiojo aplink uždarytus miesto prekybos centrus.

 

Penktadienio rytui virstant popiete ir kaitriai saulei išsklaidant debesis, vyrai ieškojo pavėsio, kur tik galėjo. Viena grupė susirinko po didele Heraklio statula netoli uosto terminalo. Kiti rėmėsi į degalinės siurblius arba gulėjo po apleistų prekystalių palapinėmis, pastatytomis vietinei maisto mugei. Dar daugiau ieškojo maisto šiukšliadėžėse arba maldavo praeivių vandens. Viena moteris nualpo prie „Zara“ parduotuvės.

 

15 metų Seutos gyventojas Sulaymanas Ahmedas, kilęs iš Maroko, sakė negalintis patikėti, kad Marokas praleidžia tiek daug žmonių.

 

„Jie turi skirti daugiau išteklių, kad sustabdytų žmones“, – sakė jis, skųsdamasis, kad politikų, įskaitant pono Sánchezo, pasirodymai pasienyje prilygsta „teatrui“.

 

Dienai įsibėgėjant, tapo aišku, kad daugelis migrantų išvyksta. Prie promenados jie slampinėjo aplink ispanų kareivius, kurie buvo prijungę mobilųjį telefoną prie stereo sistemų, kurios grojo arabų kalba siunčiamas žinutes, raginančias grįžti namo. Kiti ispanų kareiviai ir policijos pareigūnai grasino migrantams, mojuodami lazdomis, kad nustumtų juos atgal į sieną. Mieste klajojanti jaunų ispanų vyrų gauja vijosi ir gąsdino atsilikusius marokiečius.

 

Net ir nedideliam skaičiui vėluojančių atvykėlių braidant per vandenį, masinis grįžimas buvo pradėtas.

 

Iki 18 val., Ispanijos vidaus reikalų ministerijos duomenimis, 48 ​​300 žmonių grįžo per sieną. Jie perėjo nedidelį paplūdimį tarp šalių pasienio tvorų, kurio smėlis buvo nusėtas drabužiais ir plastikiniais maišeliais, o ispanų kareiviai šaukė migrantams toliau judėti iš Seutos. Tada jie praėjo pro geležinius vartus, papuoštus spygliuota viela ir prožektoriais, grįždami į Maroką.

 

Ponas Ahmidho ėjo ilgoje eilėje, labai nusivylęs jo nuotykiu kirsti sieną.” [1]

 

1. How 50,000 People Surged Into a Spanish Exclave in Africa. Horowitz, Jason.  New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Aug 1, 2026.

 

50,000 Repeated “the March of 10,000”. Wait for Second Alexander the Great Now: How 50,000 People Surged into a Spanish Exclave in Africa

 

The March of the Ten Thousand was an epic 401–399 BC military retreat of Greek mercenaries stranded deep inside the Persian Empire, famously chronicled in Xenophon's Anabasis. The core elements include Cyrus the Younger, the Battle of Cunaxa, and Xenophon.

The Expedition and Betrayal

•           Cyrus the Younger hired roughly 10,000 Greek hoplites and mercenaries to take the Persian throne from his brother, Artaxerxes II.

•           Battle of Cunaxa (401 BC) ended with a Greek tactical victory, but Cyrus was killed in the center of the fray, leaving the army without a sponsor or purpose deep in enemy territory.

•           The Trap snapped when Persian leadership deceitfully captured and executed the top Greek generals during a truce.

The Arduous Retreat

•           New Leadership emerged as the demoralized Greeks held an assembly and elected new officers, including the Athenian soldier and philosopher Xenophon.

•           The Route spanned roughly 1,500 to 1,700 miles northward across modern-day Iraq and Turkey toward the Black Sea.

•           Hostile Terrains forced the men to fight their way through freezing mountain ranges, arid plains, and aggressive local tribes like the Carduchians while constantly harassed by Persian cavalry.

 

This march with skill and organization inspired Alexander the Great's later invasion and victories.

 

“On Thursday, tens of thousands of Moroccans broke into Ceuta, a Spanish territory that neighbors Morocco. By Friday evening, most of them had left, hungry and disappointed.

 

Like so many others in Morocco, Mohammed Ahmidho saw on his social media feeds early Thursday that the heavily guarded border his country shared with the Spanish territory of Ceuta was open.

 

Soon enough, he joined a crowd in the tens of thousands, many of whom were astonished to see Moroccan police urge them, as he recalled, to “come to Spain.” Some climbed over the fence, as he did, or dove through holes in the chain-link, or swam across the maritime border. Some wore wet-suits, sometimes kicking with flippers, or floated to the Spanish coast in orange life preservers, pink inflatable doughnuts around their waists. At least 60 people died in the mayhem.

 

“A lot of people came,” said Mr. Ahmidho, 37. “A lot.”

 

He was among roughly 50,000 people who crossed the border into a Spanish town of only 84,000 residents on Thursday and early Friday, according to the Spanish interior ministry. That was a more intense surge than in any equivalent period during the peak of the European migration crisis in 2015.

 

By Friday morning, the city looked like the emergency that Europe has been trying to avoid since that era of mass migration 11 years ago, the last time so many non-Europeans surged into European-held territory, upended the continent’s politics and spurred the rise of its anti-immigrant right.

 

As the city’s residents hunkered down and shuttered their stores, groups of mostly young men with nowhere to go filled squares and avenues, condominium courtyards, hilltop overlooks and bridge underpasses. Some took dips in waters patrolled by a Spanish naval ship or waded through a band of floating detritus — plastic bags and water bottles — caught in the current. Others marched across a beach littered with the things their fellow arrivals had carried: single shoes, a shed wet-suit, mobile phone cases, an I.D. card from Casablanca.

 

Spanish soldiers, many of whom had been mobilized on Thursday to deal with the crisis, stood on nearby tanks. They watched the migrants drink water from beach showers, each shaped like vertical surfboards and branded with the slogan, “Ceuta, where you feel the emotions.”

 

Nearby, young teens laughed under the whirl of patrol helicopters as they tried out the exercise equipment at a beach playground. Mr. Ahmidho wore a pink bathing suit and stood bare-chested, his black T-shirt slung over his shoulder. The soles of his feet were cut, he said, from clambering over rocks near the border.

 

His voyage had been a disappointment, he said. Like so many, he had come to find work, only to find soldiers and policemen harrying him to leave. “There’s no water, there’s no food, there’s no place to sleep,” he said. “There’s nothing.”

 

As the migrants took over the streets, residents mostly stayed hidden in their homes, keeping their shops and businesses closed.

 

Emerging briefly, Francisco Pérez, 68, rushed his grandchildren into car seats as the migrants walked around him. He said his granddaughter had asked why they couldn’t go to the beach, and why there were “so many Moroccans.” The locals, he said, were “scared” and furious with the Spanish government, which, he said, had abandoned them.

 

Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, tried to avert such reactions by rushing to Ceuta on Friday morning to show his support for its citizens and also to condemn the influx as a “violation of Spain’s territorial integrity.”

 

For Mr. Sánchez’s right-wing critics — both at home, around Europe and throughout the world, including at the White House — the surge of migrants was an indictment of his pro-immigration policies. His government allowed more than one million migrants illegally living in Spain to apply for legal residency this year — a move that his opponents said had helped to entice the migrants this week.

 

To opponents of immigration, the footage of migrants sweeping into the tiny Spanish territory amounted to Exhibit A for their case. Ceuta, all of a sudden, became an international emblem for the perils of unchecked illegal immigration.

 

In response, Mr. Sánchez blamed human traffickers for misleading the migrants about how easy it would be to claim asylum in Spain — and noted that, despite his migrant-friendly policies, Spain has attracted fewer illegal migrants in recent years than in some European neighbors.

 

It is still unclear why so many people came to Ceuta. Many of the Moroccans who wandered around Ceuta on Friday wondered if the doors hadn’t opened because of some unknown plan by Morocco, which has been accused of using immigrant flows in the past for political pressure.

 

“I don’t know why they let us through,” said Ajoub el-Arrot, 24, who said he heard about the open border on social media. “Maybe they had some political reason. They opened the border and let everyone go by.”

 

He added, “When there are political problems, Morocco opens the doors and tells us to go.”

 

Douae Tabit, 19, who also said she heard about the unchecked crossing on social media, said it went “viral” and passed by word of mouth, attracting people from all around Morocco. Fluent in English, French and Spanish, she said she worked as a nurse and photographer and spontaneously decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

 

She climbed over a fence and swam to the Spanish shore, she said, but she had expected something more welcoming: No one had food, water or a place to sleep. Still, she said, “I’m not going back.“

 

Many seemed not to know exactly what they were doing there.

 

Young men, shirtless or in soccer jerseys, marched barefoot or sometimes in a single sandal, as if in an aimless parade. One teenager gently knocked on the grate of a closed food market while others hovered longingly around the city’s locked supermarkets.

 

As Friday morning turned to afternoon and the harsh sun burned away the clouds, men sought shade wherever they could. One group gathered under a hulking statue of Hercules near the port terminal. Others leaned against gas station pumps or reclined under the tents of abandoned stalls that had been raised for a local food fair. Still more looked in trash bins for food, or begged passers-by for water. One woman fainted by a Zara store.

 

Sulayman Ahmed, 15, a resident of Ceuta who is of Moroccan descent, said he couldn’t believe that Morocco was letting so many people through.

 

“They have to put more resources to stop people from coming,” he said, complaining that the appearances of politicians at the border, including that of Mr. Sánchez, amounted to “theater.”

 

As the day progressed, it became clear many of the migrants were leaving. By the boardwalk, they hovered around Spanish soldiers who had hooked a mobile phone to stereos that played messages in Arabic telling them to go home. Other Spanish soldiers and police officers threatened the migrants, waving their sticks to push them back to the border. In town, a roving band of young Spanish men chased down and intimidated Moroccan stragglers.

 

Even as a sprinkling of late arrivals waded through the water, a mass return was underway.

 

By 6 p.m., 48,300 people had gone back across the border, according to Spain’s interior ministry. They crossed into a small beach between the countries’ border fences, its sands strewed with clothes and plastic bags, as Spanish soldiers yelled for migrants to keep moving out of Ceuta. Then they walked past iron gates topped with barbed wire and floodlights, back into Morocco.

 

Mr. Ahmidho moved in the long line, deeply disappointed with his adventure across the border.” [1]

 

1. How 50,000 People Surged Into a Spanish Exclave in Africa. Horowitz, Jason.  New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Aug 1, 2026.