In the silent war being fought in the sands of the Sahara, a conflict away from the world's attention, Morocco not only attempted to decapitate the future of the Polisario Front by killing Lahbib Abdelaziz, son of the organization's founder, Mohamed Abdelaziz, but also displayed a technological prowess that is beginning to intimidate its neighbors, including our country.
Lahbib Abdelaziz was eliminated with a state-of-the-art unmanned aircraft in an attack where two other Polisario members also died. These types of bombings, beyond the contact line between the two rivals, have become common since 2021 when the Rabat government began receiving this type of high-tech aircraft, for which there are no effective countermeasures in the case of the Sahara.
This acquisition coincided with the infection of the mobile phone of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, which was hacked with the Pegasus spyware in May 2021.
Morocco then acquired 19 Bayraktar TB2 drones in 2021, and in 2025 began incorporating the Bayraktar Akinci, a technological leap superior to all its regional rivals with a wingspan of 20 meters, 25 hours of autonomy, and the ability to carry precision-guided missiles. Additionally, Rabat also invested in high-tech spy and reconnaissance drones in 2021, such as the Chinese Wing Loong II, a long-range surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, and more recently closed the purchase of the TB-001K, also known as the "Two-Tailed Scorpion." The TB-001K has a 35-hour autonomy and operates at 9,500 meters altitude, allowing it to gather information on the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta, and Melilla.
Due to its good relationship with Israel, the Moroccan Royal Air Force also acquired the WanderB and ThunderB drones from the Israeli company BlueBird Aero Systems, as well as advanced software for what is called "targeting intelligence," that is, target search with Artificial Intelligence from Elbit Systems and IAI companies.
A senior Polisario official states that the first drone attack by the Moroccan army took place on January 5, 2021, shortly after the ceasefire was broken in Guerguerat in November 2020. Since then, 67% of these attacks have been carried out in border areas where Sahrawi and Mauritanian civilians regularly roam. According to the Sahrawi Mine Action Coordination Office, 160 civilian victims of Moroccan drone attacks have been recorded, including 80 fatalities. The UN mission in the Sahara documented up to 18 drone attacks in 2022.
Moroccan drones have not only killed Sahrawi fighters. As Jalil Mohamed, brother of Lahbib Abdelaziz, asserts, since the ceasefire was broken in November 2020, attacks in the buffer zone of Western Sahara have also claimed the lives of citizens from Algeria and Mauritania, countries not directly involved in the conflict. The most serious case, which had significant diplomatic consequences, occurred in November 2021: three Algerian truck drivers transporting construction materials to Mauritania were bombed and killed on the spot. Algeria recalled its ambassador .
The impact on Mauritania has also been documented. In the same November 2021, two Mauritanian gold prospectors - Mohamed Meilid and Mohamed Babou - were seriously injured by missiles in Sahrawi territory. In April 2022, a new attack in Ain Bentili, a town on the border with Mauritania, killed a woman and her son while traveling in a civilian transit area. According to SMACO data, the Sahrawi mine action office, 14.5% of the fatalities from drone attacks are Mauritanians and 8.5% are Algerians, out of a total that has already exceeded a hundred deaths since the conflict began. Morocco has never publicly acknowledged any of these attacks.
Although Spain has a military force globally more potent than Morocco, in the specific field of operational combat drones with real experience in conflicts, Morocco holds a significant short-term advantage over us. This is one of the imbalances highlighted by Spanish defense analysts as a gap that needs to be urgently addressed.
"Regarding Lahbib's combat death, the Polisario is an organization built on the sacrifices of its children. This is what has made the Polisario Front such a solid organization after 50 years," says Jalil Mohamed. "The founding leader, Luali Mustafá Sayed, died at 27. Mohamed Abdelaziz solidified his military leadership with three combat wounds. His son Lahbib [now deceased] earned the admiration of both former and new fighters."