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The armed conflict between the Polisario Front and Morocco has experienced a
new escalation
since its reactivation last November.
A high military command of the Saharawi independence group has been killed in the attack with a drone of the Moroccan armed forces.
It would be the first time, since the ceasefire signed in 1991 was broken, that the Moroccan army is known to use drones.
"The commander of the National Guard, the martyr
Adah al Bendir
, fell on Tuesday in the field of honor, where he was on a military mission in the liberated area of Rouss Irni, in Tifariti," read a statement from the Saharawi Ministry of Defense published by the official press agency SPS.
A dispatch from France-Presse yesterday echoed this communication, which was nevertheless withdrawn shortly after from the SPS website.
Military sources cited by the same agency indicated that Al Bendir died as a result of a "drone attack" after participating in an offensive in the Bir Lehlu area against the "separation wall" that Morocco built throughout the useful geography of the Western Sahara. The part behind this defensive wall is controlled by the Polisario Front and considered by the Sahrawis as "liberated territories." "A few hours later, a hundred kilometers from the place of the attack against the Moroccans, a drone killed the chief of the Gendarmerie in the Tifariti region.
He died in liberated Sahrawi territory, "added the same sources.
Morocco is silent and, as is its custom, has not confirmed or denied the information.
Confusion reigns around the attack, especially when an informal Moroccan military forum assured on Facebook that there are more deaths and that they included "foreground elements."
The page adds that the leader of the Polisario Front,
Brahim Ghali
, would have "survived" the Moroccan operation, always according to Afp.
The Efe agency cited official Sahrawi sources to point out that Al Bendir was "hit by a drone shot after leading an incursion through the segregation wall."
According to this version, the high command would therefore be on the Moroccan side of the wall.
Be that as it may, these reports suggest that the armed conflict continues to escalate into violence since last November 13, the Polisario Front accused Rabat of violating the ceasefire.
That day, Moroccan Army forces intervened to end the blockade of the
Guerguerat
pass
, in the extreme south of Western Sahara, which had been held by hundreds of Sahrawi protesters for three weeks.
A day later, the Polisario Front officially declared the end of its commitment to the 1991 agreement and declared a "state of war."
Morocco has accelerated the
modernization of its army
in recent years, through a process of acquiring fighters and combat helicopters from the United States.
In December it requested the purchase of four US MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones that can be equipped with Hellfire missiles.
In addition, it has operated Israeli unmanned devices for years.
Meanwhile, the Polisario Front - whose greatest support in military and political terms is Algeria - does not have an air force.
Thus, it has focused its military strategy reactivated in November on harassment with artillery bombardments of Moroccan bases and positions along the wall in the style of guerrilla warfare and avoiding open confrontations, according to the analysis of the military reports published to date. .
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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