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Where was the Rif War fought?

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Spanish soldiers operate artillery cannons in a desert landscape near Melilla, with smoke billowing as a cannon fires during a 1930s battle. — Rif War Spanish artillery firing outside Melilla during the Rif War.

The Rif War was fought primarily in the Rif, a mountainous region located in northern Morocco.12

This rugged area extends from Tangier to the Moulouya River valley and borders the Mediterranean Sea. The conflict centered on the Spanish protectorate zone, where local Berber tribes led by Abd el-Krim resisted colonial occupation. By 1925, the fighting also extended into French-controlled territories in Morocco as French and Spanish forces coordinated their military operations against the Republic of the Rif.314