Battle of Smara

1979 CE.

Shown on the map at 26.739°, -11.670°.

The Battle of Smara occurred between October 5 and 8, 1979, during the Western Sahara War at Smara, between the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces and the Polisario Front. Both sides asserted divergent narratives of the battle. The Polisario Front, a political movement demanding the independence of Western Sahara, initiated armed conflict with Mauritanian and Moroccan neighbors as early as 1975. This conflict arose from the Green March and the Madrid Accords, which divided the territory between the two countries. The independence fighters concentrated their efforts on the weak link of the alliance, Mauritania, until its neutralization in the conflict in 1978. In 1979, they launched a deadly offensive against Morocco, forcing it to abandon several localities in the eastern part of the territory. Smara, a holy city and the second-largest town in Western Sahara, was of paramount importance politically and strategically. Losing this city would be a catastrophe for Morocco.

Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Smara (1979), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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