Lebanon: The Polisario promotes itself in Beirut, at the expense of the Palestinians

The Lebanese capital hosted, on Thursday, June 5, a conference organized by the Polisario representative in Syria, Mohamed Lamine El Kattab, of Mauritanian origin, who shuttles between Syria and the Basque Country in Spain, where his family is settled. The General Secretary of the Polisario women movement made the trip to Beirut.

The meeting, placed under the confusing umbrella theme: «From Western Sahara to Palestine, the genocide continues», was made possible thanks to the support of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. This political formation present in Lebanon and Syria is known for its fascist inspirations.

Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, on October 7, 2023, the Polisario has been piggybacking on the tragedy of the Palestinians to promote its ideas to Arab opinions, still reluctant to accept them.

Even though Lebanon officially supports the territorial integrity of the Kingdom - a position reaffirmed in November 2023 in Fez by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdallah Rashid Bouhabib - the Polisario has managed to forge strong ties with Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, also Shiite, and the Lebanese communists.

The first official contacts between these parties date back to 1985 in Beirut and have since grown further. In 2014, Hezbollah members of parliament welcomed a Polisario delegation in their stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut. In 2016, a «Lebanese committee of solidarity with the Sahrawi people» was established.

The Kingdom indeed accuses the Lebanese Hezbollah, close to Iran, of financing and arming the separatist movement. As a reminder, Syria and Iran recognize the self-proclaimed «SADR».