Morocco is right to worry about Iranian drone use by Polisario- security experts

Iranian drones made their way to North Africa through Algeria, according to Western security experts, vindicating Morocco’s warnings over the past months of Iranian destabilization acts that fuel terrorism and separatism.

Morocco, which has been warning of Iranian incursions in the Sahel via Algeria, rang the alarm bell that the Polisario are seeking Iranian drones after they failed in their Algeria-sponsored guerilla warfare. In October, senior Polisario official Omar Mansour promised supporters of a forthcoming offensive drone delivery from Iran. Few days later, Iranian Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi said 22 countries, including Algeria, ordered Iranian drones. The acquisition by the Polisario of Iranian drones via Algeria “will vindicate what we have been saying for three years that Iran and Hizbollah are infiltrating Tindouf and North Africa and have moved from training to equipping the Polisario with drones and this is a serious development,” Morocco’s representative to the UN Omar Hilale had said in response.

Polisario use of drones “will be a game changer at the military level and Morocco will react consequently,” he had added.

“Morocco is right to be worried, but so is the world. Drones are a lethal infection, spreading fast,” wrote Llewellyn King executive producer and host of White House Chronicle, on PBS. In an op-ed on the Boston Herald and the New England Diary, he warns of the lethality of drones as a tactical tool that can inflict serious damage on critical infrastructure. Citing, Ilan Berman, senior vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council, he said Iran is now relying on drones to back its proxies on multiple asymmetric conflicts. Israel’s Iron Dome could help Morocco thwart Iranian drone attacks but “that would take years of negotiation and sales are subject to a U.S. veto,” he said.