Rabat – The Polisario Front and its supporter and sponsor, Algeria, are facing more pressure for their involvement in destabilizing the region, especially in light of the group’s terror attacks against Americans.
The Daily Signal issued a comprehensive piece, in which it detailed that Republican Congressman Joe Wilson recently vowed to introduce legislation to designate the Algeria-based separatist group as a terrorist organization.
Criticizing the US administration for its ignorance of Polisario’s threats, the report recalled how Polisario missiles struck two aircraft owned by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1988.
The attack killed five Americans. “And the U.S. failed to respond with sanctions,” Robert Greenway and Amine Ghoulidi, the authors of the report, remarked, noting that now Wilson’s proposed legislation forces Washington to finally recognize the Polisario Front as the proxy threat it has become.
Notably, the report mentioned Polisario’s war threats, and its unilateral decision to withdraw from the UN-brokered ceasefire of 1991 in 2020, when Morocco peacefully ended weeks of blockade that hampered a trade route launched by the Polisario separatists.
“Polisario’s threats rest on a foundation of Algerian sanctuary plus three mutually reinforcing pillars: Iranian military assistance, a growing Russian influence network, and a mature trans-Sahel illicit economy that overlaps with jihadist financing streams,” the report said.
Algeria, a dangerous safe haven for terror
The report further zoomed in on Algeria’s role in the Western Sahara dispute and its direct aid to the separatist group, both logistically and financially, as the North African country harbors the terrorist organization on its soil, providing them with multi-billion-dollar financial and arms support within the Tindouf camps.
“This safe haven allows the group to stockpile ordnance, experiment with new systems, and cultivate external sponsors at minimal risk,” the report stressed.
In 2018, Morocco cut ties with Iran, accusing its proxy of training and providing military logistics and support for the Polisario Front.
Iran denied this collusion, but Morocco stressed that it has provided a detailed report, with evidence, showcasing this collusion that could never happen without the Algerian regime’s support.
Notably, several reports resurfaced, doubling down on evidence showing Algeria’s interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
Algeria’s global interference
This interference does not stop with Morocco, as Algeria’s regime has also interfered in the domestic affairs of Syria under Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
In April, the Washington Post highlighted the deeper collaboration between Algiers and Iran-backed Hezbollah, in which it was using the Polisario Front to undermine not only Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its southern provinces but also meddle in Syria’s domestic affairs.
The news outlet quoted sources who confirmed that Hezbollah trained Polisario separatists to advance its interests.
“Over the years, Iran has fostered a wide array of proxy groups to advance its interests,” the report said, quoting a regional official and a third European official who said Iran trained fighters from the “Algeria-based Polisario Front” that are now detained by Syria’s new security forces.
This is not the first report that documented Polisario’s incursion in Syria.
In December 2024, a highly confidential document that reportedly was an official correspondence from the former Syrian government shows that Polisario sent militants to undergo military training with the Syrian Arab army.
The document, which dates back to January 2012, shows a series of communications between Algeria’s Ministry of Defense, Syria’s Ministry of Defense, and Polisario’s leadership.
Wilson’s remarks and the new report by the Daily Signal are part of a growing outcry calling on the US and other countries to declare the Polisario a terrorist group.
Liam Fox, former Secretary of State for Defense in the UK, also joined the chorus of politicians who emphasize the importance of labeling Polisario as a terrorist group.
“Like Hamas and Hezbollah, the Polisario Front is an Iranian proxy organisation. For the sake of our Moroccan allies, Western governments must move quickly to designate this group as a terrorist organisation,” Fox wrote on X.
Ireland’s first independently elected senator, Gerard Craughwell, made the same appeal on his X, in which he also described Morocco as a “beautiful, peaceful country.”
