Atlantic Council: Fall of Assad Regime uncovers Polisario ties with Iran

The fall of the bloody authoritarian Assad regime has uncovered the depth of relations between the Algeria-backed Polisario separatist group and Iran, with Syria acting as the intermediary, said a report published by the Washington-based think-tank Atlantic Council.

Amid the chaos following the fall of Damascus, documents emerged showing correspondence between the Syrian Ministry of Defense and the self-proclaimed SADR regarding the training of 120 Polisario soldiers in armed combat at Iran’s request, said the American research paper.

During the capture of Aleppo in Northern Syria, at least thirty polisario mercenaries were captured by Syrian rebel forces, while Fahd Almasri, the head of Syria’s National Salvation Front, disclosed that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had dispatched about two hundred Polisario fighters to Thaala military airport, the Sweida army base, and rural Daraa over the past three years.

Recently, Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina (R-SC) also briefed the US House of Representatives about the situation, saying: “Iran & Cuba are actively destabilizing West Africa by supporting the Polisario Front, a threat to Morocco—an essential US partner.”

Since 2018, Morocco has warned about Iranian expansionist ambitions in Western Sahara following its severance of relations with Tehran over alleged military and financial support for the Polisario Front separatists through Lebanese Hezbollah.

Reports have confirmed increased Iranian interference in the Sahara regional conflict. Iran has supplied Polisario militias lethal unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), surface-to-air missiles, and HM-16 mortar shells, along with training that has emboldened the separatist group.

Consequently, Polisario forces began shelling towns Moroccan Saharan cities of Smara and Mahbes. This is a troubling development, undermining regional peace and stability as well as U.S. geostrategic interests, said the Atlantic Council analysis.

Two days after his inauguration as President of the United States, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order re-designating the Iranian-backed Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). The move has alarmed the Algerian junta which started softening tone in a bid to escape accountability.