A delegation from Hezbollah, Iran’s backed Lebanese Shia group, posing as Syrian religious leaders, visited lately the Polisario-controlled Tindouf Camps, southern Algeria.
The visit has triggered security alarms among American and European counter-terrorism agencies as the move confirms the links between the Algeria-backed Polisario militia and the Iranian proxies seeking to expand to North Africa and the Sahel region.
Many analysts are raising questions over why the Algerian regime has opened Tindouf to Hezbollah, designated by the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization, while the U.S. Congress is considering a bi-partisan legislation to brand Polisario an FTO.
The Algerian regime feeds on chaos and divisions. Its “divide and conquer” strategy, deployed in the region, aims to weaken its rivals and neighbors to prevent them from uniting and threatening its geostrategic interests.
The Algerian junta funds, arms and shelters Polisario militias to undermine Morocco’s territorial integrity. The same destabilizing tactics are currently used against Mali, Niger and Burkina-Faso and other Sahel countries.
According to international intelligence reports, several jihadist groups operating in the Sahel region benefit from Algerian army logistic and financial support. Algeria is using terrorism as a tool to keep the upper hand over the region and serve the geostrategic interests of some foreign powers.
The visit of the Hezbollah clerics to Tindouf comes few weeks after Morocco’s historic Sahara victory at the UN Security Council. This means that the feckless Algerian rulers are using again the terror scare tactics after sensing that their days are numbered following their countless diplomatic setbacks combined with deepening socioeconomic and political crises.
The Polisario ties to extremist groups run deep. Adnan Abu al-Walid al-Sahrawi — a notorious jihadist and former Islamic State emir in the Sahel — once held a senior position in Polisario. He was killed by French forces in Mali in 2021. His story reveals how Tindouf became a breeding ground for extremist militant organizations and a cross-border jihadist recruitment center for al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Islamic State.
Last August, Polisario Chief Brahim Ghali sent messages of condolence to Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Iran, following the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and military commander of Hezbollah Fuad Shukr.
These messages confirm the ties existing between the Algeria-backed separatist group and terrorist organizations. Polisario alliance with axis of evil is expanding and threatening the stability and peace in Africa and Europe.
In 2018, Morocco cut-off diplomatic ties with Iran over its support for Hezbollah in arming and training Polisario separatists in connivance with Algerian authorities.
According to American intelligence agencies, Iran provides a wide range of support, including financial, training, and equipment to terrorist groups around the world.
Tehran continues to use its proxies, militias and terror groups across the Middle East with outposts around the world to help foment instability, carry out attacks and expand Shiite influence which has reached North Africa and Tindouf camps, becoming a breeding ground for terrorists.
The isolated deceptive Algerian regime is playing with fire. Under American pressure, it starts showing some flexibility, expressing readiness to join Abraham accords and extolling Trump foreign policy. But it is just a tactical flexibility to gain time within the frame of a calculated procrastination strategy to avoid conceding defeat in Sahara issue.
In the past, Algerian rulers have not honored their commitments. It is very likely they will do it again!
