Morocco is preparing to launch a large-scale military offensive on the liberated territories of the Sahrawi Republic. An unprecedented deployment has been observed and verified along the sand wall that separates these territories controlled by the Polisario Front from the portion of Western Sahara occupied since 1975.
According to corroborating reports, Rabat has deployed tens of thousands of troops, motorized units, armored vehicles, and heavy artillery since early November across sectors stretching from the northern Sahara to the south adjacent to the Mauritanian border.
This concentration of forces has been reinforced by the arrival of air assets, including Apache attack helicopters, F-16 fighter jets, and bombers. Radar installations, missile systems, and hundreds of drones have also been stationed across several military bases.
These deployments add to the 100,000 Moroccan soldiers mobilized for several years in the occupied Sahrawi territory, particularly along the 2,700-kilometer sand wall.
Observers express grave concern over this new military escalation, which signals a potential conflagration with severe consequences. This buildup by the Makhzen comes shortly after the expiration of the mandate for MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara), whose personnel Rabat ordered to depart on extremely short notice. The UN mission was tasked with monitoring buffer zones and tracking troop movements since the cease-fire agreement signed in 1991. However, tensions deteriorated following the resumption of hostilities in November 2020, when Rabat attacked the Guerguerat crossing, unilaterally breaching the accord.
Nouakchott has already implemented extreme precautionary measures by barring its citizens from traveling through border zones typically frequented by nomads or gold prospectors. Media sources indicated that a recent unannounced visit by the Moroccan Foreign Minister to Nouakchott served to brief Mauritanian authorities on Morocco’s operational military strategy.
In response to these threats, the Polisario Front declared a state of general mobilization, accusing Morocco of massing troops, armament, and military hardware along the security wall in Western Sahara.
Following an emergency meeting of its National Secretariat chaired by Brahim Ghali, the Front denounced the arrival of what it characterized as “invasion forces.”
In an official statement released on Monday evening, the Polisario Front declared that “in light of rapid developments and dangerous Moroccan military maneuvers, the National Secretariat has decided to declare a state of general mobilization to confront the expansionist Moroccan occupier.”
The Polisario further issued a call “to all sons and daughters of the Sahrawi nation to fully prepare to counter all enemy plots and maneuvers, overcome every challenge, and emulate the martyrs in defending our land, honor, and sovereign choices for freedom, self-determination, and independence.”
The leadership also urged “all peoples of the region to oppose Moroccan expansionist aggression, which threatens the collective security of us all, the stability of our nations, and the territorial integrity of our lands.” Additionally, the Polisario called upon the UN and the African Union to assume their responsibilities by “compelling the Moroccan occupier to end its illegal occupation of Sahrawi Republic territory and cease its intransigence and obstruction of international efforts aimed at decolonizing Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa.”
The same source emphasized that “the Moroccan occupier is currently attempting to divert attention from its resounding defeat, which destroyed all its propaganda and investments spent to buy influence and negotiate trade-offs.”
To achieve this, the Polisario explained, Morocco is assembling “its invasion forces in massive numbers with all classes of weaponry and equipment, grouping them at various positions along the wall of shame and humiliation in a grave escalatory step that stands completely at odds with its claimed commitment to the cease-fire.”