When Algeria's Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf landed in Damascus last week, he carried an urgent request: the release of Algerian military personnel and Algeria-backed Polisario fighters captured in northern Syria during the final days of Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
's totalitarian rule.
Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa's response was "no," wrote MCD quoting its Damascus news hound.
Among the detainees are around 500 Algerian soldiers and fighters of the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, seized by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...(HTS) during its November offensive in Aleppo, a battle that delivered the final blow to Assad's forces.
These claims have long been propagated by Moroccan media outlets, but were confirmed on 11 February by the French media outlet MCD.
For years, Algeria had been one of al-Assad's most steadfast supporters, opposing his expulsion from the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
in 2011 and resisting Western calls for regime change.
MCD cited intelligence documents uncovered in Damascus suggest that Algerian and Polisario fighters—trained and backed by Algiers—joined Syrian government forces as early as 2011, their deployment allegedly coordinated through Algeria's Ministry of Defence
Unlike Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for
spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
and Hezbollah, which managed to evacuate many of their fighters before Assad's fall, Algeria was apparently caught off guard. The regime's collapse left its troops stranded, forcing Algiers into damage control.
However,
some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves...
al-Sharaa, Syria's newly installed leader, appears unwilling to accommodate Algeria's plea. Instead, he has signalled that the detainees will stand trial alongside Assad's captured forces, according to MCD.
For Algiers, the crisis is a d j vu of the aftermath of Muammar Qadaffy
...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest...>
's downfall in 2011. When Libya's new leadership took power, one of its first acts was distancing itself from the Polisario Front, furious that the group was allegedly fighting alongside Qadaffy's forces.
The Polisario Front is a separatist movement fighting against Morocco over the illusory sovereignty of Western Sahara. It's strongly backed by Algeria, where its self-proclaimed government in exile is based. It also maintained strong ties with Qadaffy and al-Assad regimes.
Since 1980, Syria has officially recognised "the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)," the state proclaimed by the Polisario Front, establishing formal diplomatic ties with the separatist movement. Though the revelation of Polisario fighters in Assad's ranks could put this relationship at risk under al-Sharaa.
If Syria's new rulers tilt toward regional players hostile to Algiers—particularly Morocco, which has long lobbied against Algerian influence in the region—Algeria could find itself losing another key ally.
Algerian and Polisario officials have so far remained silent on the diplomatic rebuke. However,
some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves...
Attaf's press statements following his Damascus visit were noticeably vague, a shift from Algeria's usual confidence in its relations with Syria.
Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind...
Morocco has wasted no time in courting Damascus.
King Mohammed VI was the first leader in the Maghreb to congratulate Syria's new government, reaffirming his longstanding support for "the aspirations of the Syrian people"—a gesture that could signal the beginning of a new diplomatic chapter between Rabat and Damascus.