Rabat – An unverified viral video has sparked mounting concerns over Poliario’s suspected links to last weekend’s coordinated attacks in Mali and rising insecurity in the West African country.
The footage shows a man reportedly affiliated with the separatist group backed by Algeria’s regime, in which he claimed he arrived at the “battlefield” in the Kidal region, which Touareg rebels took over this weekend following sustained armed clashes with the Malian army and their Russian partners from the Kremlin-linked Africa Corps.
“The operation is already ongoing,” one man appeared to say in the video, which also shows another vehicle carrying armed groups.
While Morocco World News could not independently authenticate the video, the footage adds to converging reports suggesting that Polisario-linked fighters may be participating in armed operations that undermine Mali’s sovereignty at a time when the region can least afford further destabilization.
The news came barely two weeks after Mali decided to suspend recognition of Polisario’s self-styled “republic” in southern Morocco. The Malian government also announced its decision to back Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the only political solution to end the dispute over Western Sahara.
Observers have argued that Mali’s support for Moroccan territorial integrity triggered Polisario’s decision to join armed attacks against its territory by unidentified armed terrorist groups that targeted locations and barracks in the capital Bamako and other major cities.
The Malian army has “irrefutable evidence proving the involvement of Polisario elements alongside the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims during the events of Saturday and Sunday,” Algerian analyst Oualid Kebir told Morocco World News.
Kebir stated that the Algerian military establishment is delusional if it thinks last weekend’s attacks will force Mali to return to the Algiers agreement, which Bamako has long denounced as favorable to rebellion and separatist in northern Mali. under these developments.
The Algerian analyst referenced the recent tension between Algeria and countries in the Sahel region.
Read also: Morocco Reaffirms Solidarity With Mali, Observers Point to Algeria’s Shadow War
Mali’s military terminated the Algiers-brokered Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali in 2024 after Bamako accused the Algerian regime of interference in Malian affairs, a long-standing accusation that persists among Malian officials.
In September 2025, Mali said it turned to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to challenge Algeria, accusing its neighbor of shooting down a Malian armed drone in early April inside Malian territory.
Bamako confirmed that it had submitted a formal application to the ICJ. Malian authorities denounced the destruction of the drone as “an act of aggression” and “a hostile gesture” that violated international law.
This is not the first time reports have indicated Polisario’s involvement in destabilizing armed activities in the Sahel.
Earlier this year, the US officially expressed concern over reports linking Polisario with Iran amid congressional bills warning Washington about the security risks posed by the separatist group across the Sahel.
“We share concerns about the Polisario Front and its impact in the CT space. What I can say with confidence in an open hearing is that the region where the Polisario Front operates sits near trafficking and militant activity in the Sahel and that this creates vulnerabilities that external actors, including Iran, could seek to exploit,” Monica Ager Jacobsen, Senior Bureau Official for the Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT), said in a hearing.
She also reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to monitoring the situation, stating that her country is “vigilant to those threats.”
In 2017, Morocco’s security services identified 100 Polisario members associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
In 2021, French authorities killed Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, a former Polisario member who had turned leader of a terror group known as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS).
Recently, members of the US Congress, both representatives and senators, have repeatedly urged the US to designate Polisario as a terrorist group. Two bills are gaining momentum as co-sponsors from the Republicans and the Democrats from supporting the designation of Polisario as a terrorist group.