Fez – Taleb Ammi Deh, a senior Polisario leader, has warned Spanish firms operating in Western Sahara, in southern Morocco, to leave the area, according to Spanish news outlet La Razon.
The warning comes as both the Polisario Front and Algeria continue to threaten to escalate tensions with Morocco.
Deh warned that a military attack will target the Guerguerat area, vowing the attack will mainly target Morocco’s defense wall. The military leader said that the operation will make “all air, sea, and land legitimate targets since the territory is at war.”
Vowing that “it is only a matter of time” before Polisario elements launch a “strike the Moroccan presence on the border,” Deh warned “both [Spanish] citizens and investors must leave the area.”
This is not the first time that the Polisario has issued such threats. A few months ago, the separatist front sent a direct warning to Binter, a firm that operates between the Canary Islands and Western Sahara.
The Polisario Front also carried out 289 attacks against Spanish citizens between 1973 and 1986, according to La Razon.
Algeria has recently escalated tensions with Morocco after its diplomacy failed to attract international support for the Polisario Front.
After repeatedly accusing Morocco of masterminding an international conspiracy to destabilize Algeria, the Algerian government said recently that it held Morocco responsible for the death of three Algerian truckers in Western Sahara.
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In a statement, Algiers referred to the death of the three truckers as an “ act of terror,” claiming that the three were killed in a Moroccan drone strike while they headed to Mauritania. “This will not go unnoticed,” the Algerian regime said of the alleged drone strike, promising that “punishment will come.”
But the Mauritanian military cast serious doubt on the Algerian narrative in a statement that denounced “disinformation” and concluded that no drone attacks had taken place on Mauritanian soil or near the Mauritanian border.
In a subsequent investigation, MINURSO, the UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, confirmed the death of three Algerian truckers. However, the investigation suggested that the truckers died near Bir Lahlou in a restricted area.
Meanwhile, some high-ranking military sources from Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces have stated that the “two Algerian trucks crossed a mined field” while carrying supplies for the Polisario.
While MINURSO is said to be conducting further investigations to determine how the incident took place, Algeria has continued to threaten Morocco with military action by vowing to avenge the “cowardly murder” of the three Algerian nationals.
Morocco has so far refrained from responding to Algeria’s accusations and threats. On November 3, AFP quoted high-ranking Moroccan officers as saying that Morocco does not want to be dragged into a military confrontation that would be devastating for regional stability.
Amid apparently coordinated threats and accusations from both the Polisario Front and the Algerian regime, however, many observers still fear further escalations in Western Sahara.
