The small Spanish protectorate, covering little more than the Rif Mountains, was the result of an agreement between Britain, who felt uneasy with the idea of having another great power so close to Gibraltar, and France, who had ambitioned for long to establish a colony in Morocco (and eventually established a protectorate over most of the rest of the country). It did not include the city of Tangiers, which was placed under international rule (except for a brief period during World War II when it was occupied by Spain) nor the cities of Ceuta, Melilla and the Plazas de Soberanía which still belong to Spain to this day.