Washington is taking firm steps towards designating the Polisario Front as a terrorist group.
The overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria has revealed the presence of hundreds of Polisario Front fighters, trained by Iran, on Syrian soil.
According to The Washington Post, these militiamen, now detained by the new Syrian authorities, were part of a complex network woven by Tehran to expand its influence in the region through its proxy groups.
This discovery reveals the true extent of the link between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Polisario Front, a separatist militia based in the Tindouf camps in south-western Algeria, a country that supports it.
According to regional and European sources cited by the US newspaper, Tehran not only provided political support but also directly trained Polisario fighters with the strategic objective of destabilizing Morocco, a key player in the stability of North Africa.
The Washington Post notes, ‘Iran, for example, trained Polisario Front fighters based in Algeria, now detained by Syria’s new security forces,’ pointing to the depth of collaboration between the Iranian regime and the Saharawi group.
Iran has been accused of providing drones to the Polisario Front to be used against Morocco.
Similarly, the Saharawi group has been linked to Hezbollah on several occasions.
In fact, Morocco broke off relations with the Iranian regime in 2018 over these alleged ties between the Polisario and the Lebanese Shiite militia, backed by Tehran.
With regard to Syria, relations between the Al-Assad dynasty and the Polisario date back to 1978.
Since then, Damascus has provided diplomatic and logistical support to the Saharawi militia.
Syria was also one of the few nations in the region – along with Yemen and Iran – that recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
In exchange for this support, the Polisario sent its combatants to fight alongside the regime’s forces, around thirty of whom were arrested in Aleppo by opposition forces a few days after the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad.
A document found at the headquarters of the Syrian intelligence services confirmed the presence of 150 Polisario soldiers in the country, who allegedly entered using Algerian passports.
In addition to supporting Al-Assad’s forces, these militiamen were also in Syrian territory to receive military training from Iranian armed groups, as Yabiladi pointed out.
Meanwhile, Fahad Almasri, head of the Syrian National Salvation Front, revealed in an article in Ynet at the end of November that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had sent some 200 militants from the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria and Iran, to southern Syria.
These discoveries have come about in the context of a profound reconfiguration in Syria, where the new government has launched a direct offensive to dismantle the logistical and military support networks that Iran maintained in the country.
Among these actions is the closing of the smuggling routes that Tehran used to arm Hezbollah and other related groups, which has even led to armed confrontations on the border with Lebanon.
In this scenario, the presence and activities of the Polisario Front make it clear that it is no longer just a separatist group related to the conflict in Western Sahara, but a militia with interests in war zones and active links with destabilizing powers such as Iran.
The involvement of the Polisario in Syria forces us to rethink its real role on the geopolitical chessboard of North Africa and the Middle East.
In the United States, Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, a member of the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee, has announced that he will introduce a bill to officially classify the Polisario Front as a terrorist organization.
This initiative marks a turning point in the international perception of the Saharawi separatist group.
‘The true path to peace in the region involves real autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty,’ said Wilson after meeting with the Moroccan Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita, in Washington.
The congressman labeled the Polisario ‘terrorists’ and denounced their connections with countries such as Iran and South Africa.
This legislative proposal represents a structural change in the way the US Congress deals with the Sahara conflict.
In addition to supporting only the Moroccan autonomy plan, considered ‘serious, credible and realistic’ by multiple administrations, the United States is willing to expose the true nature of the Polisario, a group accused of violating human rights in the Tindouf camps.
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