Experts Warn of Further Escalation btn Morocco's Forces, 'Polisario' 

Algerian experts expected an escalation of military confrontations between the Moroccan forces and fighters of the "Polisario Front" in the coming days, with the aim of pressing for the imposition of the referendum.

The front seeks to establish an independent state in Western Sahara but Morocco claims sovereignty over the province.

According to experts, the region will witness military tensions between the two sides, especially since the front canceled its commitment to the ceasefire agreement with Morocco about a year ago.

The Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Ibrahim Ghali, threatened the Moroccan army with new defeats, similar to those it experienced during the 16 years of the last war.

At the beginning of this month, Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura assumed his duties as UN special envoy for the Western Sahara issue.

De Mistura (74 years old) was appointed as the UN special envoy for the Western Sahara issue, and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres considered the agreement of the parties a "positive sign".

On his part, Akram Kharif, an Algerian security expert, said that the Polisario Front will escalate its attacks in the coming period, especially after the incident between Algeria and Morocco.

He added that the front canceled a ceasefire agreement about a year ago, as skirmishes continue along the wall between the front and the Moroccan army.

Kharif believes that the confrontations between the Polisario and Morocco cannot be described as a "war by proxy" since the front has been in Algeria since 1975 and there has been no direct intervention from Algeria, which supports all liberation movements.

While the former Algerian parliamentarian, Dr. Omar Mahsas, said that Ibrahim Ghali is free in all his decisions and that the matter concerns Algeria, neither by proxy nor directly.

He believes that the situation will tend to escalate between the front and Morocco, in order to impose the referendum on independence as soon as possible

At the end of last October, the UN Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, MINURSO, for another year expires on October 31, 2022.

In its new resolution, the UN Security Council stressed the need to achieve a realistic, practical, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution (Morocco and the Polisario) to the issue of Western Sahara.