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War
- Thread starter Creeperpark
- Start date
ButterflyEffect
Well-known member
ButterflyEffect
Well-known member
Is it like pretzel??
No, I don't mean, if I can't have it, you can't.
I mean, if a division is heading in on an arterial road, dropping a building on them, or blowing up a sewer they are crossing, is better than waiting for them to arrive. It creates a bottleneck, giving time to use a few of these launchers. There is little purpose keeping arterial roads to the north and north west, as they serve the enemy more than the country. However, the illusion they are passable has more worth than the physical presence of barriers at known locations. I'm talking blockades appearing from nowhere.
The activity we see to the north and west really does make a push from the east likely. So you just close the roads you need to, when you need to. Confusing the enemy who can be boxed in.
An even more heartbreaking scene was a family of four (husbad and wife in their 30's and two pre teenage children) killed by a mortar round while try to escape the hostilities on a Russian/Ukrainian agreed upon safe corridor during a cease fire the Russian's violated. The mortar round that struck them went off just feet from a reporter covering the evacuation, killing the family instantly.
I agree, I'll be the first to say that Polls are worthless because they're designed to get exactly the results desired by the people who commission them. I used to work for a polling company and I know how they work. The first step is finding out what results the customer is looking for. The second step is to then identify people they've polled before and profiled that are most likely to give the responses the customer wants. The third step, as an added piece of insurance, is to create the language of the poll so that the questions lead the person towards giving the desired answer. Still in spite of that they do at least contain records of actual people who actually gave the answers the polls reflect which is still way better then people who just make things up like your sources.
Are you sure? I heard that Q said JFK was going to bring the gold (taken from the Golden Gate) but he never showed up like Q said he would.
Montuno
...como el Son...
The Ukrainian Army informed that it has killed the second Russian general, Vitaly Gerasimov.
This would be the second high-ranking Russian military casualty, following the death of commander Andrei Sukhovetsky on February 28th
March 7, 2022:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.in...-al-segundo-general-ruso/?outputType=amp-type
Montuno
...como el Son...
Surely they were very dangerous and bloodthirsty neo-Nazis: the lost Ukrainians intend to take their children out (after years of indoctrination in the "My struggle") so that they can reproduce and spread the Evil all over the world.
Russia massacres civilians:
The moment when the Russian Army attacks a bus of civilians (with childrens too) in Irpin (Ukraine).
Chilean journalist Jorge Said was in this convoy and was able to record everything that happened. The images also show Ukrainian soldiers trying to protect the civilians, among whom there were children:
The Russian government continues to massacre the Ukrainian civilian population. This Monday the Executive of Volodymir Zelenski has denounced that the humanitarian corridors have not been activated yet, in spite of the fact that at 07:00 GMT a truce to evacuate the population was initiated.
Likewise, the Armed Forces have warned that Russian troops are violating "the norms of international humanitarian law, shelling civilians". Specifically, in their daily report, they have explained that the Russian forces are continuing their offensive with "rocket fire and artillery attacks on Ukrainian settlements".
In addition, they have assured that the inhabitants of the town of Irpin have been deprived of electricity and water for more than three days, and have no access to food and water because the Russian troops forbid the residents to leave their homes. Precisely in this city today Russian soldiers attacked a bus full of civilians, including children and journalists. This can be seen in the video that accompanies these lines.
The Chilean journalist Jorge Said, who was in this convoy, was able to record the scene and how Ukrainian soldiers tried to protect all the civilians on the bus. Finally, the reporter managed to get into a car and flee the shooting.
In an interview in Más Vale Tarde (Spanish 6 TV), this journalist has told us that in Irpin "Russian forces are terrorizing the population" to "use the city to host whole armies and start invading Kiev in the coming days".
He also reported that journalists will leave Kiev in the coming hours because "the situation is getting very difficult" and they risk being "trapped in a sealed city".
A critical situation is also being experienced in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Dominik Stillhart, director of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), warned that the humanitarian corridor was mined. In this regard, he pointed out that ICRC members themselves agreed on a route out of the city on Sunday but found that "the route they had been given was actually mined"
https://www.lasexta.com/noticias/int...001ef1e7d.html
Montuno
...como el Son...
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and the US Undersecretary of State, Wendy Sherman, meet in Madrid:
The US says it supports "with an open mind" UN efforts for a solution in the Sahara. But Joe Biden's administration has not formally reversed the decision of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who in December 2020 recognized Western Sahara as Moroccan after Morocco decided to re-establish relations with Israel.
- MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
MADRID, Mar. 7. (EUROPA PRESS) -:
The United States says it supports "with an open mind" the efforts of the new UN special envoy for Western Sahara, Steffan de Mistura, to find a solution that allows a "dignified life" for the population, said Monday the 'number two' of the State Department, Wendy Sherman:
"The United States and Spain both want a positive outcome for the people of Western Sahara," she said in statements to the press during her visit to Madrid, prior to her trip to Rabat and Algiers, where she is expected to address this dispute.
"We both want people to have dignified lives and we support the efforts of the UN envoy for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, and we do so with an open mind," Sherman said, responding to a question about Washington's position.
Joe Biden's administration has not formally reversed the decision of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who in December 2020 recognized Western Sahara as Moroccan after Morocco decided to re-establish relations with Israel, but neither has it gone down that road and the promised consulate in Dakhla has not yet been opened.
Sherman insisted that both the United States and Spain are "in contact with all parties" and are doing everything possible to achieve the desired outcome, an agreement between the parties that would allow the entire population of Western Sahara to "live in dignity".
BILATERAL RELATIONS
The Undersecretary held meetings during her visit to Madrid with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, and with her Spanish counterpart, Ángeles Moreno, with whom she inaugurated the first Spain-US seminar on cybersecurity.
One of the topics addressed in their meetings was the upcoming NATO summit to be held in Madrid on June 29 and 30. "It is fantastic that Spain is hosting this critical summit and I can't think of a better place for it to take place," he stressed, assuring that Spain is "a strong ally" within the Atlantic Alliance.
He also took the opportunity to reiterate his country's gratitude for the Rota and Morón bases and also for having allowed their use last summer in the evacuation of Afghan collaborators from Kabul after the Taliban seizure of power.
He also welcomed the Spanish government's decision to send arms to Ukraine, as well as humanitarian aid and to take in Ukrainian refugees, and its commitment to NATO's eastern flank, with troops, aircraft and ships deployed.
"We continue to strengthen the bilateral relationship with the United States in all areas, from defense of democracy to cybersecurity," Albares wrote on Twitter. "Transatlantic unity allows us to face challenges and challenges more robustly, he added."
https://www.europapress.es/nacional/...307181803.html
The US says it supports "with an open mind" UN efforts for a solution in the Sahara. But Joe Biden's administration has not formally reversed the decision of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who in December 2020 recognized Western Sahara as Moroccan after Morocco decided to re-establish relations with Israel.
- MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
MADRID, Mar. 7. (EUROPA PRESS) -:
The United States says it supports "with an open mind" the efforts of the new UN special envoy for Western Sahara, Steffan de Mistura, to find a solution that allows a "dignified life" for the population, said Monday the 'number two' of the State Department, Wendy Sherman:
"The United States and Spain both want a positive outcome for the people of Western Sahara," she said in statements to the press during her visit to Madrid, prior to her trip to Rabat and Algiers, where she is expected to address this dispute.
"We both want people to have dignified lives and we support the efforts of the UN envoy for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, and we do so with an open mind," Sherman said, responding to a question about Washington's position.
Joe Biden's administration has not formally reversed the decision of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who in December 2020 recognized Western Sahara as Moroccan after Morocco decided to re-establish relations with Israel, but neither has it gone down that road and the promised consulate in Dakhla has not yet been opened.
Sherman insisted that both the United States and Spain are "in contact with all parties" and are doing everything possible to achieve the desired outcome, an agreement between the parties that would allow the entire population of Western Sahara to "live in dignity".
BILATERAL RELATIONS
The Undersecretary held meetings during her visit to Madrid with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, and with her Spanish counterpart, Ángeles Moreno, with whom she inaugurated the first Spain-US seminar on cybersecurity.
One of the topics addressed in their meetings was the upcoming NATO summit to be held in Madrid on June 29 and 30. "It is fantastic that Spain is hosting this critical summit and I can't think of a better place for it to take place," he stressed, assuring that Spain is "a strong ally" within the Atlantic Alliance.
He also took the opportunity to reiterate his country's gratitude for the Rota and Morón bases and also for having allowed their use last summer in the evacuation of Afghan collaborators from Kabul after the Taliban seizure of power.
He also welcomed the Spanish government's decision to send arms to Ukraine, as well as humanitarian aid and to take in Ukrainian refugees, and its commitment to NATO's eastern flank, with troops, aircraft and ships deployed.
"We continue to strengthen the bilateral relationship with the United States in all areas, from defense of democracy to cybersecurity," Albares wrote on Twitter. "Transatlantic unity allows us to face challenges and challenges more robustly, he added."
https://www.europapress.es/nacional/...307181803.html
Montuno
...como el Son...
Algeria-Morocco crisis: maximum tension between historical rivals:
The conflict between the two countries has only escalated, especially since Trump decided to back Rabat's sovereigntist thesis on Western Sahara.
But it is in Morocco's interest to adopt a low profile in the crisis, and it is not in Algeria's interest to go all the way either:
By Jesus A. Núñez:
This is not the first time that Algeria and Morocco have clashed head-on in their still short history as independent states. In fact, frictions and disagreements are common elements of the dull neighborly rivalry that both maintain for the leadership of the Maghreb, sprinkled even with violent episodes such as the one recorded as early as September 1963, when their respective armed forces fought in the so-called "war of the sands", a specific border dispute that did not lead to any territorial change.
It is therefore not surprising that now, after the death denounced by Algeria of three of its citizens in an unconfirmed place some 30 kilometers from the Moroccan military wall in the occupied Sahara, drums are again being heard, which some interpret as the prelude to an imminent war conflagration.
In any case, this is not the most likely scenario. It is true that tension has only increased, especially since Donald Trump decided, in December last year, to support Rabat's sovereigntist thesis on Western Sahara. For Algiers, that was the signal that led it to alter a status quo from which it had long since failed to derive any benefit.
The closure of the border between the two countries, which dates back to 1994 - following a mutual exchange of accusations over an attack in Marrakech that killed four Spanish tourists - has only served to fuel smuggling. But it has not helped the Saharawis to change a course increasingly favorable to Rabat, nor its main local ally (Algiers) to curb international favoritism towards Morocco as regional leader.
The closure of the gas pipeline
Since then, and while at the same time the Polisario Front declared "total war" on Morocco again - in November 2020 - Algiers decided last August 24 to break diplomatic relations with Rabat (as had already happened in 1975 and 1988) and, on September 22, to close its airspace to Moroccan aviation, measures with little real effect, but which symbolize Algeria's weariness with a neighbor it accuses of supporting the Islamist group Rashad and the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia, which Algiers holds responsible for the recent fires in the region of Tizi Ouzou and for promoting the independence of that region.
To this would be added the Moroccan telephone espionage through the Pegasus system, of the Israeli company NSO Group, and, in the background, the criticism of the normalization of relations that Rabat has established with Israel, which it supports so that it may again be recognized as an observer member of the African Union (from which it was excluded in 2002). An Israel which, through the mouth of its Foreign Minister on the occasion of his first visit to Rabat in August, has presented Algeria as a regional threat and pointed to its growing rapprochement with Iran.
This accumulation of arguments, and the clear perception that none of them has served to dissuade Morocco from going ahead in its quest to finally control Western Sahara and establish itself as a regional leader, while the military modernization effort in which the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) -still below the Algerian People's Army in combat power- are immersed is increasingly visible, is what has led Algiers to close the Maghreb Europe gas pipeline as of the 1st of last month.
The measure punishes its neighbor not only because it will no longer receive the revenue from the transit of gas to Spain and Portugal, but above all because it will no longer have the gas necessary for the operation of its two combined cycle power stations which produced around 10% of the country's electricity.
What is in the interests of Rabat and Algiers?
At this point, it is in Morocco's interest to adopt a low profile in the crisis, if only because in order to complete effective control of the occupied Sahara, it is not in its interest to disperse its forces to meet the challenge posed by Algeria, when it has not yet managed to close the crisis with Spain and has just received a slap in the face from the General Court of the European Union.
Nor is it in the interest of Algiers, apart from the high-sounding declarations of revenge for the death of the three truck drivers, to go to the last consequences because of the international cost it would have to assume at a time when its government lacks popular support and when it has too many internal unfinished business. This does not prevent him from also calculating that the Moroccan rearmament could put an end to his current advantage in a decade and he feels the temptation to exploit the crisis even more to silence the growing internal criticism for his inefficiency and his lack of democratizing will.
In these circumstances, the much-diminished forces of the Polisario Front appear as the trump card that Algeria can play to send a stronger message to Morocco, receiving not only more permission to move, but also more means to be able to strike at the FAR as soon as possible.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.eld...60253.amp.html
The conflict between the two countries has only escalated, especially since Trump decided to back Rabat's sovereigntist thesis on Western Sahara.
But it is in Morocco's interest to adopt a low profile in the crisis, and it is not in Algeria's interest to go all the way either:
By Jesus A. Núñez:
This is not the first time that Algeria and Morocco have clashed head-on in their still short history as independent states. In fact, frictions and disagreements are common elements of the dull neighborly rivalry that both maintain for the leadership of the Maghreb, sprinkled even with violent episodes such as the one recorded as early as September 1963, when their respective armed forces fought in the so-called "war of the sands", a specific border dispute that did not lead to any territorial change.
It is therefore not surprising that now, after the death denounced by Algeria of three of its citizens in an unconfirmed place some 30 kilometers from the Moroccan military wall in the occupied Sahara, drums are again being heard, which some interpret as the prelude to an imminent war conflagration.
In any case, this is not the most likely scenario. It is true that tension has only increased, especially since Donald Trump decided, in December last year, to support Rabat's sovereigntist thesis on Western Sahara. For Algiers, that was the signal that led it to alter a status quo from which it had long since failed to derive any benefit.
The closure of the border between the two countries, which dates back to 1994 - following a mutual exchange of accusations over an attack in Marrakech that killed four Spanish tourists - has only served to fuel smuggling. But it has not helped the Saharawis to change a course increasingly favorable to Rabat, nor its main local ally (Algiers) to curb international favoritism towards Morocco as regional leader.
The closure of the gas pipeline
Since then, and while at the same time the Polisario Front declared "total war" on Morocco again - in November 2020 - Algiers decided last August 24 to break diplomatic relations with Rabat (as had already happened in 1975 and 1988) and, on September 22, to close its airspace to Moroccan aviation, measures with little real effect, but which symbolize Algeria's weariness with a neighbor it accuses of supporting the Islamist group Rashad and the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia, which Algiers holds responsible for the recent fires in the region of Tizi Ouzou and for promoting the independence of that region.
To this would be added the Moroccan telephone espionage through the Pegasus system, of the Israeli company NSO Group, and, in the background, the criticism of the normalization of relations that Rabat has established with Israel, which it supports so that it may again be recognized as an observer member of the African Union (from which it was excluded in 2002). An Israel which, through the mouth of its Foreign Minister on the occasion of his first visit to Rabat in August, has presented Algeria as a regional threat and pointed to its growing rapprochement with Iran.
This accumulation of arguments, and the clear perception that none of them has served to dissuade Morocco from going ahead in its quest to finally control Western Sahara and establish itself as a regional leader, while the military modernization effort in which the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) -still below the Algerian People's Army in combat power- are immersed is increasingly visible, is what has led Algiers to close the Maghreb Europe gas pipeline as of the 1st of last month.
The measure punishes its neighbor not only because it will no longer receive the revenue from the transit of gas to Spain and Portugal, but above all because it will no longer have the gas necessary for the operation of its two combined cycle power stations which produced around 10% of the country's electricity.
What is in the interests of Rabat and Algiers?
At this point, it is in Morocco's interest to adopt a low profile in the crisis, if only because in order to complete effective control of the occupied Sahara, it is not in its interest to disperse its forces to meet the challenge posed by Algeria, when it has not yet managed to close the crisis with Spain and has just received a slap in the face from the General Court of the European Union.
Nor is it in the interest of Algiers, apart from the high-sounding declarations of revenge for the death of the three truck drivers, to go to the last consequences because of the international cost it would have to assume at a time when its government lacks popular support and when it has too many internal unfinished business. This does not prevent him from also calculating that the Moroccan rearmament could put an end to his current advantage in a decade and he feels the temptation to exploit the crisis even more to silence the growing internal criticism for his inefficiency and his lack of democratizing will.
In these circumstances, the much-diminished forces of the Polisario Front appear as the trump card that Algeria can play to send a stronger message to Morocco, receiving not only more permission to move, but also more means to be able to strike at the FAR as soon as possible.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.eld...60253.amp.html
Montuno
...como el Son...
Inside the war for Western Sahara: a discreet contest in the middle of the desert.
elDiario.es accompanies the Polisario Front Army in one of its military operations against Morocco after the breakdown of the cease-fire in the Saharawi conflict.
- Brahim Gali asks Spain to complete the decolonization of Western Sahara.
(19-January-2022)
A Polisario Front soldier next to several rockets about 8 kilometers from the Moroccan wall. Áxel Álvarez
Gabriela Sanchez
A rocket flies over the desert towards the wall. The sun begins to fall when a loud boom warns of the pink flare advancing towards a Moroccan watchtower erected on the sand barrier of more than 2,000 kilometers, surrounded by thousands of anti-personnel mines, which separates the territories under Saharawi control from those occupied by Morocco. On the other side, several soldiers of the Polisario Front try to make out, lying on top of a dune, the place of their fall.
It does not reach the sentry box but, in fact, its main target was not the watchtower which detects the enemy movement. This rocket, launched this Friday by the Saharawi Army, was intended to demonstrate to the world the existence of a war denied by Morocco since the breaking of the cease-fire of the historical conflict. The soldiers of the Polisario Front, deployed about 8 kilometers from the Moroccan wall, were not alone. They were accompanied, for the first time and for almost 24 hours, by a dozen Spanish journalists, including elDiario.es, who witnessed the Moroccan response.
A Saharawi army soldier prays next to his weapon and a pick-up truck a few kilometers from the front. Áxel Álvarez
The crossfire took place in the military sector of the Mahbes region, where 83% of military operations have taken place since the return to arms of the Saharawi conflict, according to a recent report of the UN Secretary General. The retort from the Moroccan side did not take long to provoke a heavy detonation which led to the retreat of the Saharawi side.
The first mortar, a 120 mm mortar, fell less than a kilometer from the Polisario position. "Run", shouted several of the deployed soldiers, who withdrew from the area in a few minutes, aboard several pick-up trucks. According to the Polisario Front, the Moroccans launched two other bombs in the same direction, which collided at points closer to the place where the soldiers were leading the operation, accompanied by the press. The soldiers were zig-zagging across the desert to avoid being detected by a drone whose presence could not be verified by this media. Morocco denies the use of combat drones.
Under the shade of a tree, on a green cushion placed on the sand, the military chief of this point of the wall, Baali Hamudi, explains the details of a different war. A war of attrition, he says, waged on the almost smooth surface of the desert, sheltered only by the orography drawn between its dunes. The Saharawi side has been carrying out since November 13 "a chain of harassment" with the aim of damaging military bases, personnel or Moroccan military weapons.
The AK-47s carried by the soldiers in the operation date from 1978 and the artillery vehicles, visibly old, are confronted with a more developed war technology of the Moroccan side. "In spite of the usual war material, we are facing a new one coming from Israel, which includes drones, thermal or infrared cameras, we still maintain the ability to maneuver and adapt to the new situation," says the general, a former soldier with experience in the previous war in Western Sahara. The Polisario Army is dedicated to attacking certain strategic targets, while Morocco generally takes a defensive stance. On occasion, the Moroccan side has taken down "detected targets" without a prior Moroccan incursion, the military chief assures.
The military chief at this point on the wall, Baali Hamudi, chats with a colleague at the front. Áxel Álvarez
The return to arms in the Saharawi conflict was, for almost a decade, desired and requested by the majority of young people in Western Sahara, that generation that has not been born - and most of them have not set foot in - the country for which, as children, they were told, they were supposed to fight. On November 13, 2020, after a group of refugees from the Tindouf camps staged a protest for weeks at the Guerguerat pass, which connects Morocco to Mauritania, the Alawite army decided to break up the gathering. The operation was interpreted by the Polisario as the breaking of the cease-fire, after having trusted for 20 years in the diplomatic way for the resolution of the conflict which, according to the United Nations, passes through the holding of a referendum of self-determination of Western Sahara.
Omar Deidih, 23, sits in the back of one of the vehicles as a dusting of sand rises during their retreat. With his face half-covered with a dark green turban, the young Saharawi warned his superior of the possible presence of drones. On November 16, two days after the cease-fire broke down, Deidih volunteered to learn for three months in the Saharawi army in the military schools located in the Saharawi refugee camps and enlist to fight on the front.
"The announcement caught me studying in Algeria. I had finished my exams, but I had other studies. The struggle of my people is more important. I can't be anywhere else while my people are at war," says the young man. Most of his fellow soldiers are young volunteers like him. For the past few years, Omar has been overlapping his studies. He used to study telecommunications engineering, which he never finished because he started an international course in web development. He is also interested in medicine and literature. At 22, he has lived in Cuba, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya. While at the front, he received notice of a new scholarship to study medicine at the University of Moscow, according to his account.
A Polisario Front soldier waits with his weapon during one of the maneuvers of the operation. Áxel Álvarez
He has many plans, his ambitions are accumulating, but participating in the military offensive is, he says, a duty: "Now the battle is the responsibility of intellectuals and young Saharawis. Now there is a generational change, I believe that the young Saharawis are going to be important in this new stage of the war, and they have much to learn from the experience of the previous warriors", he explains in Spanish, learned also during his summers in Spain - through the program vacations in peace.
One of those teachers from whom Deidih learns is Mahmud Salama, head of military health in Region 6 of the wall. The veteran fought for nearly a decade in the previous Western Sahara war, which lasted from 1975 to 1991, after the beginning of the Moroccan occupation of the former Spanish colony. From the guerrilla warfare fought then, the soldier now learns to dodge state-of-the-art weaponry that, according to the Polisario Front, the Moroccan army possesses.
"In war there is no difference. You change the material, but war is war," Salama assures, before pointing to one of the bushes scattered across the desert. "If you touch this branch and there is something that bothers you, you don't touch it again. That's how you learn in war," he says, referring to the thorns that cover the plant's stem. The best strategies for dodging drone attacks, he says, he learned through the Internet.
Salama, as he walks toward the wall, thinks of fallen comrades from the previous war. "I can't get that out of my mind. I think about it more than I think about my children," says the veteran, who looks in the direction of the wall, still indistinguishable. He remembers Sidi: "He died in front of me with a bullet in his head".
Polisario Front soldiers light a fire in the late afternoon. Áxel Álvarez
The Saharawi ranks have suffered, for almost a year now, nine casualties, according to Mohamed Hamida, a military veteran who works in the military leadership of the Polisario Front. The wounded, he says, do not exceed twenty. One of them is Lahsan Salek.
Behind a tea set, leaning against the wall of the house where he lives, Salek shows the wounds which have prevented him from returning to the front since November 22, the first week of his return to arms. In one of the war operations, which was intended to hit several military bases in region 5 of the wall, the Moroccan soldiers responded with artillery to stop their advance, he says.
On the 48-year-old soldier's tibia, an external iron fixation protrudes to treat the rupture suffered due to the impact of artillery debris, he explains.
"What I want is to heal so I can go back," says the injured soldier in the vicinity of the wall to which Saleck wants to return. His wife, Zruga Mohamed, was seven months pregnant when her husband fell wounded. "When they called me from the hospital, I was so scared. I couldn't believe it until I saw him in the hospital," she says, dressed in a melfa of flowers. The woman, a month after giving birth, had to take care of her six other children alone, with the support of her neighbors and relatives. Her baby was born while Saleck was still hospitalized, she says.
Arabia Sidahmed, 37, remembers the day she learned of her only brother's death Gabriela Sanchez
In the refugee camp of Boujdour (Tindouf), 37-year-old Arabia Sidahmed remembers the day he met the death of his only brother. Representatives of the Polisario Ministry of Defense came to her house to inform her that Chej Sidamed's name was on the list of fatalities. He fell, she says, in a military operation in the Tifariti area. "He had gone to war three times - they usually combine one month at the front and two months off - he was happy to go, he was dedicated to the life of the people. He sacrificed his only life to achieve freedom," he explains.
On the last day before leaving his home and moving to the vicinity of the wall, Arabia accompanied Chej to to the camp's town hall, the meeting point for soldiers leaving for the combat zone. Her brother asked her to take care of his five-year-old son. The woman covers her face with her melfa: "Since he died I'm not interested in anything anymore, only in the war".
https://www.eldiario.es/desalambre/...3QzcFRQY2ZUWVlXUDhZYnQta3owY05pLXUzQW16ajZJMA..
elDiario.es accompanies the Polisario Front Army in one of its military operations against Morocco after the breakdown of the cease-fire in the Saharawi conflict.
- Brahim Gali asks Spain to complete the decolonization of Western Sahara.
(19-January-2022)
A Polisario Front soldier next to several rockets about 8 kilometers from the Moroccan wall. Áxel Álvarez
Gabriela Sanchez
A rocket flies over the desert towards the wall. The sun begins to fall when a loud boom warns of the pink flare advancing towards a Moroccan watchtower erected on the sand barrier of more than 2,000 kilometers, surrounded by thousands of anti-personnel mines, which separates the territories under Saharawi control from those occupied by Morocco. On the other side, several soldiers of the Polisario Front try to make out, lying on top of a dune, the place of their fall.
It does not reach the sentry box but, in fact, its main target was not the watchtower which detects the enemy movement. This rocket, launched this Friday by the Saharawi Army, was intended to demonstrate to the world the existence of a war denied by Morocco since the breaking of the cease-fire of the historical conflict. The soldiers of the Polisario Front, deployed about 8 kilometers from the Moroccan wall, were not alone. They were accompanied, for the first time and for almost 24 hours, by a dozen Spanish journalists, including elDiario.es, who witnessed the Moroccan response.
A Saharawi army soldier prays next to his weapon and a pick-up truck a few kilometers from the front. Áxel Álvarez
The crossfire took place in the military sector of the Mahbes region, where 83% of military operations have taken place since the return to arms of the Saharawi conflict, according to a recent report of the UN Secretary General. The retort from the Moroccan side did not take long to provoke a heavy detonation which led to the retreat of the Saharawi side.
The first mortar, a 120 mm mortar, fell less than a kilometer from the Polisario position. "Run", shouted several of the deployed soldiers, who withdrew from the area in a few minutes, aboard several pick-up trucks. According to the Polisario Front, the Moroccans launched two other bombs in the same direction, which collided at points closer to the place where the soldiers were leading the operation, accompanied by the press. The soldiers were zig-zagging across the desert to avoid being detected by a drone whose presence could not be verified by this media. Morocco denies the use of combat drones.
Under the shade of a tree, on a green cushion placed on the sand, the military chief of this point of the wall, Baali Hamudi, explains the details of a different war. A war of attrition, he says, waged on the almost smooth surface of the desert, sheltered only by the orography drawn between its dunes. The Saharawi side has been carrying out since November 13 "a chain of harassment" with the aim of damaging military bases, personnel or Moroccan military weapons.
The AK-47s carried by the soldiers in the operation date from 1978 and the artillery vehicles, visibly old, are confronted with a more developed war technology of the Moroccan side. "In spite of the usual war material, we are facing a new one coming from Israel, which includes drones, thermal or infrared cameras, we still maintain the ability to maneuver and adapt to the new situation," says the general, a former soldier with experience in the previous war in Western Sahara. The Polisario Army is dedicated to attacking certain strategic targets, while Morocco generally takes a defensive stance. On occasion, the Moroccan side has taken down "detected targets" without a prior Moroccan incursion, the military chief assures.
The military chief at this point on the wall, Baali Hamudi, chats with a colleague at the front. Áxel Álvarez
The return to arms in the Saharawi conflict was, for almost a decade, desired and requested by the majority of young people in Western Sahara, that generation that has not been born - and most of them have not set foot in - the country for which, as children, they were told, they were supposed to fight. On November 13, 2020, after a group of refugees from the Tindouf camps staged a protest for weeks at the Guerguerat pass, which connects Morocco to Mauritania, the Alawite army decided to break up the gathering. The operation was interpreted by the Polisario as the breaking of the cease-fire, after having trusted for 20 years in the diplomatic way for the resolution of the conflict which, according to the United Nations, passes through the holding of a referendum of self-determination of Western Sahara.
Omar Deidih, 23, sits in the back of one of the vehicles as a dusting of sand rises during their retreat. With his face half-covered with a dark green turban, the young Saharawi warned his superior of the possible presence of drones. On November 16, two days after the cease-fire broke down, Deidih volunteered to learn for three months in the Saharawi army in the military schools located in the Saharawi refugee camps and enlist to fight on the front.
"The announcement caught me studying in Algeria. I had finished my exams, but I had other studies. The struggle of my people is more important. I can't be anywhere else while my people are at war," says the young man. Most of his fellow soldiers are young volunteers like him. For the past few years, Omar has been overlapping his studies. He used to study telecommunications engineering, which he never finished because he started an international course in web development. He is also interested in medicine and literature. At 22, he has lived in Cuba, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya. While at the front, he received notice of a new scholarship to study medicine at the University of Moscow, according to his account.
A Polisario Front soldier waits with his weapon during one of the maneuvers of the operation. Áxel Álvarez
He has many plans, his ambitions are accumulating, but participating in the military offensive is, he says, a duty: "Now the battle is the responsibility of intellectuals and young Saharawis. Now there is a generational change, I believe that the young Saharawis are going to be important in this new stage of the war, and they have much to learn from the experience of the previous warriors", he explains in Spanish, learned also during his summers in Spain - through the program vacations in peace.
One of those teachers from whom Deidih learns is Mahmud Salama, head of military health in Region 6 of the wall. The veteran fought for nearly a decade in the previous Western Sahara war, which lasted from 1975 to 1991, after the beginning of the Moroccan occupation of the former Spanish colony. From the guerrilla warfare fought then, the soldier now learns to dodge state-of-the-art weaponry that, according to the Polisario Front, the Moroccan army possesses.
"In war there is no difference. You change the material, but war is war," Salama assures, before pointing to one of the bushes scattered across the desert. "If you touch this branch and there is something that bothers you, you don't touch it again. That's how you learn in war," he says, referring to the thorns that cover the plant's stem. The best strategies for dodging drone attacks, he says, he learned through the Internet.
Salama, as he walks toward the wall, thinks of fallen comrades from the previous war. "I can't get that out of my mind. I think about it more than I think about my children," says the veteran, who looks in the direction of the wall, still indistinguishable. He remembers Sidi: "He died in front of me with a bullet in his head".
Polisario Front soldiers light a fire in the late afternoon. Áxel Álvarez
The Saharawi ranks have suffered, for almost a year now, nine casualties, according to Mohamed Hamida, a military veteran who works in the military leadership of the Polisario Front. The wounded, he says, do not exceed twenty. One of them is Lahsan Salek.
Behind a tea set, leaning against the wall of the house where he lives, Salek shows the wounds which have prevented him from returning to the front since November 22, the first week of his return to arms. In one of the war operations, which was intended to hit several military bases in region 5 of the wall, the Moroccan soldiers responded with artillery to stop their advance, he says.
On the 48-year-old soldier's tibia, an external iron fixation protrudes to treat the rupture suffered due to the impact of artillery debris, he explains.
"What I want is to heal so I can go back," says the injured soldier in the vicinity of the wall to which Saleck wants to return. His wife, Zruga Mohamed, was seven months pregnant when her husband fell wounded. "When they called me from the hospital, I was so scared. I couldn't believe it until I saw him in the hospital," she says, dressed in a melfa of flowers. The woman, a month after giving birth, had to take care of her six other children alone, with the support of her neighbors and relatives. Her baby was born while Saleck was still hospitalized, she says.
Arabia Sidahmed, 37, remembers the day she learned of her only brother's death Gabriela Sanchez
In the refugee camp of Boujdour (Tindouf), 37-year-old Arabia Sidahmed remembers the day he met the death of his only brother. Representatives of the Polisario Ministry of Defense came to her house to inform her that Chej Sidamed's name was on the list of fatalities. He fell, she says, in a military operation in the Tifariti area. "He had gone to war three times - they usually combine one month at the front and two months off - he was happy to go, he was dedicated to the life of the people. He sacrificed his only life to achieve freedom," he explains.
On the last day before leaving his home and moving to the vicinity of the wall, Arabia accompanied Chej to to the camp's town hall, the meeting point for soldiers leaving for the combat zone. Her brother asked her to take care of his five-year-old son. The woman covers her face with her melfa: "Since he died I'm not interested in anything anymore, only in the war".
https://www.eldiario.es/desalambre/...3QzcFRQY2ZUWVlXUDhZYnQta3owY05pLXUzQW16ajZJMA..
Montuno
...como el Son...
Biden negotiates with Maduro to lift sanctions on Venezuela in exchange for more oil and to distance him from Putin regime.
Oil, gas and electricity prices approach dreaded 'breakout prices': if they don't fall, economy would enter recession :
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.20...nciones-a-venezuela-a-cambio-de-mas-petroleo/
Oil, gas and electricity prices approach dreaded 'breakout prices': if they don't fall, economy would enter recession :
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.20...nciones-a-venezuela-a-cambio-de-mas-petroleo/
Montuno
...como el Son...
Maduro acknowledges rapprochement with U.S. amid Ukraine invasion.
Venezuelan president downgrades his enthusiastic support for Russia and resumes negotiations with opposition in Mexico :.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/elpais...de-la-invasion-de-ucrania.html?outputType=amp
Venezuelan president downgrades his enthusiastic support for Russia and resumes negotiations with opposition in Mexico :.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/elpais...de-la-invasion-de-ucrania.html?outputType=amp
Three Berries
Active member
Iran too!
Anyone at all??
It might have been a MEDBED tarp and a miracle cure. What do you think?
Damn! I thought it was a MEDBED tarp and a miracle cure.
