No evidence of Sahrawi detainees in Syria, Polisario asserts

The same source maintained that all individuals detained following the end of military operations were Syrian war criminals and that if any foreign nationals had been detained, they would be returned and tried by their respective governments.

While this confirmation by the Syrian authorities would discredit any accusations from Morocco regarding the presence of Polisario militiamen in Syria, the supposed statement has only been circulated by media outlets and social media pages associated with the Front. To date, Syria’s official news agencies have made no statement on the matter, however, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rejected the idea of any foreign interference in its internal affairs.

The Front’s emphasis on this statement reflects a broader existential threat. The group is currently in a deadlock, with the United States and parts of Europe campaigning to designate the group as a terrorist organization. In the face of these threats, the Polisario Front seeks to reinforce its position as a national liberation movement, not an armed non-state actor engaged in foreign wars. It has repeatedly repudiated attempts to link the Sahrawi people’s independence movement to terrorism, claiming this violates the self-determination principle enshrined in international law.

Meanwhile, Morocco, which has strong and internationally backed claims to the Western Sahara, has aligned itself closely with Syria. Under the new Ahmed al-Sharaa administration, Syria has aligned itself more closely with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and distanced itself from Iran and Hezbollah—an orientation Morocco shares.

The Polisario’s latest statement comes in the wake of a Washington Post article on April 20th, which claimed that Sahrawi fighters were detained in Syrian prisons. The Post later released an apology, acknowledging their oversight.

AL24 News/ Maghrebi