Algerian President Rejects Mediation to End Row with Morocco

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP)
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Algerian President Rejects Mediation to End Row with Morocco

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP)

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune confirmed that his country would reject any mediations to restore diplomatic relations with Morocco.

Tebboune gave a lengthy interview on national television, in which he discussed the dispute with Rabat and Algiers’ decision to sever relations.

In response to a question about alleged mediations, which countries may offer to bring the two Maghreb neighbors closer, Tebboune said: “We cannot put on the same footing, the aggressor and the aggressed.”

“We reacted to an aggression, constant since our independence in 1962, and of which we are not at the origin,” added Tebboune, describing Morocco’s actions as “hostile and repeated.”

Tebboune claimed that his country did not “utter anything that affects the territorial integrity of Morocco.”

“Whoever searches for us will find us. We are a resistant people, and we know the value of war and gunpowder and the value of peace. Whoever assaults us will regret the day he was born,” warned the president.

Observes described Tebboune’s statements as unusually firm since the dispute with Morocco intensified and led to the severing of diplomatic ties.

Furthermore, Tebboune demanded France’s “total respect,” following a row over visas after Paris decided to drop the number of visas granted to Algerians from 70,000 to less than 35,000 annually.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s statements about the descendants of the 1954-1962 Algerian War of Independence were considered “offensive to Algeria’s reputation and history,” added Tebboune.

Macron said Algeria was ruled by a “political-military system” and described the country’s “official history” as having been “totally re-written” to something “not based on truths” but “on a discourse of hatred towards France.”

Algeria withdrew its ambassador from Paris after these developments and barred French warplanes from using its airspace.

Tebboune said: “We forget that it (Algeria) was once a French colony... History should not be falsified.”

In reference to the French colonial past, he remarked: “We can’t act as though nothing happened.”

Asked about the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline, whose fate remains uncertain, the president announced that his country would supply Spain with gas through Medgaz until the contract expires at the end of October.

“If there is any malfunction, all our ships will go to Spain to deliver liquefied natural gas.”

He said that there is no decision regarding the supply of gas to Morocco, knowing that Rabat receives 97 percent of its natural gas needs from Algeria.



Syria’s Reconciliation Committee Prioritizes Stability after Anger Over Prisoner Releases

Member of the High Committee for National Reconciliation Hassan Soufan and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Facebook)
Member of the High Committee for National Reconciliation Hassan Soufan and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Facebook)
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Syria’s Reconciliation Committee Prioritizes Stability after Anger Over Prisoner Releases

Member of the High Committee for National Reconciliation Hassan Soufan and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Facebook)
Member of the High Committee for National Reconciliation Hassan Soufan and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Facebook)

Syria’s High Committee for National Reconciliation has defended recent controversial prisoner releases, saying the decision aims to preserve national stability amid ongoing tensions.

Committee member Hassan Soufan confirmed that several officers recently freed had voluntarily surrendered in 2021 at the Iraqi border and in the Al-Sukhna region, under a formal request for safe conduct.

Speaking at a press conference in Damascus on Tuesday, Soufan addressed public backlash following the releases and acknowledged the deep pain felt by victims’ families.

“We fully understand the anger and grief of the families of martyrs,” he said. “But the current phase requires decisions that can help secure relative stability for the coming period.”

The controversy erupted after the Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday the release of dozens of detainees in Latakia, many of whom were arrested during the “Deterrence of Aggression” operation, which contributed to the fall of the Assad regime.

Among those involved in the mediation effort was Fadi Saqr, a former commander in the regime’s National Defense Forces, who has been accused of war crimes, including involvement in the Tadamon massacre in southern Damascus.

Soufan explained that the released officers had undergone investigation and were found not to have participated in war crimes. “Keeping them imprisoned no longer serves a national interest,” he said. “It has no legal justification.”

He stressed that Syria is in a delicate phase of national reconciliation, in which balancing justice and peace is critical.

“There are two parallel tracks - transitional justice and civil peace - and today, the priority is civil peace, as it lays the groundwork for all other strategic efforts,” he said.

Soufan added that the committee has requested expanded powers from the Syrian president, including the authority to release detainees not proven guilty and to coordinate directly with state institutions.

He insisted that the aim is not to bypass justice, but to prevent further bloodshed. “Vengeance and retribution are not paths to justice,” he said. “They allow real criminals to slip away while deepening divisions.”

While affirming that transitional justice remains essential, Soufan noted that it should focus on top perpetrators of atrocities, not individuals who merely served under the regime. “Justice means accountability for those who planned and carried out major crimes, not blanket punishment.”