evidence: They are the only two inhabited of the nine territories North African territories that remain Spanish as part of the plazas de soberanía when Spain ceded independence to Spanish Morocco in 1956. The remaining territories are uninhabited islands off the Moroccan coast – one of which, the Isla de Perejil briefly became a flashpoint for armed conflict when it was occupied by a small group of Moroccan soldiers before surrendering to Spanish commandos in 2002. Morocco claims sovereignty over all the plazas de soberanía territories.