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Polisario Chief Back in Algeria After Spain-Morocco Row

Ghali's hospitalization in Spain set off a diplomatic standoff with Rabat - AFP
Ghali's hospitalization in Spain set off a diplomatic standoff with Rabat - AFP
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Polisario Chief Back in Algeria After Spain-Morocco Row

Ghali's hospitalization in Spain set off a diplomatic standoff with Rabat - AFP
Ghali's hospitalization in Spain set off a diplomatic standoff with Rabat - AFP

The leader of Western Sahara's independence movement returned to Algeria Wednesday after six weeks of medical treatment in Spain that unleashed a tetchy diplomatic standoff between Rabat and Madrid.

Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali flew out of Pamplona airport in northern Spain overnight, with a Spanish government source telling AFP on Wednesday morning he was "in Algeria".

Ghali arrived in Algiers at around 3:00 am (0200 GMT), where he will continue his recovery from a severe case of Covid-19, top Polisario official Abdelkader Taleb Omar told Algeria's APS news agency.

He added that Ghali's improving health meant he no longer needed hospitalization in Spain.

However Ghali was nonetheless immediately admitted to a military hospital in Algiers, where he was visited by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and army chief of staff Said Chengriha, Algerian public television showed.

Tebboune described the visit as "his duty" and reaffirmed his support for Ghali's cause, APS reported. The Algerian president also thanked Spain for welcoming Ghali and for the "delicate" care he had received.

Algeria is the main supporter of the Polisario Front, which has for decades fought Morocco for the independence of Western Sahara, a desert region bigger than Britain which was a Spanish colony until 1975.

Ghali's imminent departure had been announced late Tuesday by Spain's foreign ministry -- who had informed their Moroccan counterparts -- without saying where he was going.

His departure came hours after he was quizzed by a Spanish judge over allegations of torture and genocide, which he denied, in a video hearing from a hospital in the northern town of Logrono.

During the hearing, the judge declined to issue any precautionary measures such as seizing Ghali's passport or holding him in preventative custody, saying there were no "clear indications of his involvement" in the alleged crimes.

Critically ill, Ghali secretly landed in Spain on April 18 aboard a medicalized Algerian government plane, sparking a diplomatic standoff with Morocco.

The incident triggered a string of terse exchanges which sharpened after up to 10,000 migrants surged into Spain's North African enclave Ceuta, as guards in neighboring Morocco looked the other way.

The Socialist government of Pedro Sanchez accusing Rabat of "blackmail" and "aggression" over the influx.

It was not immediately clear how Ghali's departure from Spain would affect the tension -- although Madrid appeared to be easing its tone on Wednesday, with Sanchez's deputy Carmen Calvo speaking of "respectful and constructive relations" and "common interests".

Rabat remained silent, although it too had sought to step back from the crisis on Tuesday, with King Mohammed VI saying Morocco wanted to "settle definitively" the situation of the unaccompanied minors still in Ceuta.

However, on Monday it had said the crisis between the two countries "would not be resolved with (Ghali's) departure" because it was linked to Spain's position on Western Sahara which was "a sacred issue for the Moroccan people".

Speaking to AFP, a diplomatic source said the Moroccans had been "threatening to break off diplomatic relations with Spain for a few days now.

"But the question is whether they will go that far, and if not, what options are on the table after the rhetorical outburst of the last few days."

Isaias Barrenada, an expert on international relations at Madrid's Complutense University, said Ghali's departure meant Morocco had nothing left to complain about.

Ghali's presence in Spain "was just an easy pretext... to put pressure on Madrid and its position on the Sahara," he told AFP.

Morocco's authorities have long wanted Spain to acknowledge their authority over Western Sahara, as Washington did in December under former president Donald Trump.

But Spain says a solution to the status of the disputed territory can only come from a United Nations-brokered agreement.

Considered a war criminal by Morocco, Ghali has headed the Polisario Front since 2016 and is president of the Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic, a self-declared state in an almost-landlocked area flanking Mauritania's border.

It covers around a fifth of Western Sahara, while the rest is run by Morocco.

Rabat has offered Western Sahara autonomy but insists that the territory, which is rich in phosphates and offshore fishing, is part of the Moroccan kingdom.

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Arab World

At Least 25 Killed as Russian, Syrian Jets Intensify Bombing of Syrian Opposition Territory

An ambulance rushes to the scene of a Syrian regime airforce strike that targeted a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 1, 2024.(Photo by MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
An ambulance rushes to the scene of a Syrian regime airforce strike that targeted a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 1, 2024.(Photo by MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
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At Least 25 Killed as Russian, Syrian Jets Intensify Bombing of Syrian Opposition Territory

An ambulance rushes to the scene of a Syrian regime airforce strike that targeted a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 1, 2024.(Photo by MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
An ambulance rushes to the scene of a Syrian regime airforce strike that targeted a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 1, 2024.(Photo by MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

At least 25 people were killed in northwestern Syria in air strikes carried out by the Syrian government and Russia, the Syrian opposition-run rescue service known as the White Helmets said early on Monday.
Russian and Syrian jets struck the opposition-held city of Idlib in northern Syria on Sunday, military sources said, as President Bashar al-Assad vowed to crush insurgents who had swept into the city of Aleppo.
The army also said it had recaptured several towns that opposition factions had overrun in recent days.
Residents said one attack hit a crowded residential area in the center of Idlib, the largest city in an opposition enclave near the Turkish border where around four million people live in makeshift tents and dwellings.
At least seven people were killed and dozens injured, according to rescuers at the scene. The Syrian army and its ally Russia say they target the hideouts of insurgent groups and deny attacking civilians.
Ten children were among the dead in the air strikes in and around Idlib and other targets in opposition-held territory near Aleppo on Sunday, according to the White Helmets.
The total death toll from Syrian and Russian strikes since Nov. 27 had climbed to 56, including 20 children, the group added in a statement on X.
The insurgents are a coalition of Türkiye-backed mainstream secular armed groups along with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group that has been designated a terrorist outfit by the US, Russia, Türkiye and other states.
The insurgents seized control of all of Idlib province in recent days, the boldest opposition assault for years in a civil war where front lines had largely been frozen since 2020.
Insurgents also swept into the city of Aleppo, east of Idlib, on Friday night, forcing the army to redeploy.
In remarks published on state media, Assad said: "Terrorists only know the language of force and it is the language we will crush them with".
The Syrian army said dozens of its soldiers had been killed in the fighting in Aleppo.
Russian war bloggers reported on Sunday that Moscow had dismissed Sergei Kisel, the general in charge of its forces in Syria, after insurgents swept into Aleppo. Reuters has requested comment from the Russian defense ministry.
In a joint statement, the United States, France, Germany, and Britain urged "de-escalation by all parties and the protection of civilians and infrastructure to prevent further displacement and disruption of humanitarian access".
LEAVING ALEPPO
Inside Aleppo city, streets were mostly empty and many shops were closed on Sunday as scared residents stayed at home. There was still a heavy flow of civilians leaving the city, witnesses and residents said.
Opposition fighters waving the opposition flag drove through the city, Yusuf Khatib, a resident, told Reuters by phone. Some of the opposition took up positions on street intersections, he added.
Ahmad Tutenji, a merchant in the affluent New Aleppo neighborhood, said he was surprised how quickly the army left. "I am shocked at how they fled and abandoned us."
Abdullah al Halabi, a pensioner whose neighborhood was bombed near the central area of Qasr al Baladi, said people were terrified they would see a repeat of the Russian-led bombing that killed thousands of people before driving out the opposition a decade ago.
Syrian troops who had withdrawn from the city were now regrouping and reinforcements were also being sent to help in the counter-attack, army sources said.
Aleppo had been firmly held by the government since a 2016 victory there, one of the war's major turning points, when Russian-backed Syrian forces besieged and laid waste to opposition-held eastern areas of what had been the country's largest city.
The opposition said on Sunday they had pushed further south of Aleppo city and captured the town of Khansir in an attempt to cut the army's main supply route to Aleppo city.
Opposition sources said they had also captured Sheikh Najjar estate, one of the country's major industrial zones.
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield accounts.
The war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced many millions, has ground on since 2011 with no formal end. Most heavy fighting halted years ago after Iran-backed militias and Russian air power helped Assad win control of all major cities.
A lack of that manpower contributed to the speedy retreat of Syrian army forces in recent days, according to two army sources.
The opposition gains came after Israel stepped up its strikes on Iranian bases in Syria and Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. Militias allied to Iran, led by Hezbollah, have had a strong presence in the Aleppo area.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, visiting Damascus on Sunday, said the situation in Syria was "difficult" but the Assad government would prevail.