The Army of Liberation (; ) was an organization of various loosely united militias fighting for the independence of Morocco from the French-

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

protectorate. It was founded in 1955 as an attempt to organise the various factions of rural Moroccan armed resistance after the assassination of the Tunisian labor unionist

Farhat Hached Farhat Hached (; 2 February 1914 – 5 December 1952) was a Tunisians, Tunisian labor unionist and activist who was assassinated by ''La Main Rouge'', a France, French terrorist organization operated by French foreign intelligence. He was one of ...

and the forced exile of King Mohamed ben Youssef.

History

Founding

It was founded in 1955 as an attempt to organise the various factions of rural Moroccan armed resistance that swept the country as a result of the assassination of

and the exile of king Mohamed ben Youssef. Abdelkrim El Khattabi played an important role in the instigation of the army, through commanders such as Abbas Messaadi and Sellam Amezian. Rural pre-Sahran Jews provided support to the Army of Liberation of the South.

Ifni War

In 1956, units of the Army, which started to move its staff from North Spanish Morocco, began infiltrating

Ifni The Territory of Ifni () was a Spanish province on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, south of Agadir and across from the Canary Islands. It had a total area of , and a population of 51,517 in 1964. The main industry was fishing. The present-day Mor ...

and other enclaves of Spanish Morocco, as well as

Spanish Sahara Spanish Sahara (; ), officially the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara from 1884 to 1958, then Province of the Sahara between 1958 and 1976, was the name used for the modern territory of Western Sahara when it was occupied and ruled by Spain bet ...

(today

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

), to claim them as being part of Morocco. Initially, they received important backing from the Moroccan government. In the Spanish Sahara, the Army rallied Sahrawi tribes along the way, and triggered a large-scale rebellion. In early 1958, the Moroccan king reorganized the Army of Liberation units fighting in the Spanish Sahara as the ''"Saharan Liberation Army"'' , also known as 'the Southern Liberation Army' (Armée de Libération du Sud), sometimes abbreviated as ALS. The ALS had prestigious leaders such as

Abderrahmane Youssoufi Abderrahmane Youssoufi ( ; ; 8 March 1924 – 29 May 2020) was a Moroccan politician and human rights lawyer who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Morocco from 1998 to 2002, serving under King Hassan II and King Mohammed VI. He was the Secr ...

Fqih Basri Mohamed Basri () widely known as Fqih Basri ( ; 1927 in Demnate, MoroccoOctober 14, 2003 in Chefchaouen, Morocco) was a lifelong political activist and Moroccan regime opponent. Mohamed Basri was nicknamed 'Fqih Basri', since he had begun his s ...

and Bensaid Aït Idder. The revolt in the Spanish Sahara was put down in 1958 by a joint French and Spanish offensive. Upon their retreat, the guerrilla fighters were, surprisingly, hindered by the regular Moroccan Army, which allowed Spanish and French forces to neutralize them.Le Journal Hebdo
/ref> The

King of Morocco The king of Morocco (; ) is the monarch and head of state of Morocco. The kings of Morocco are members of the Alawi dynasty. It is one of the country's most powerful offices. Mohammed VI ( Sidi Mohammed bin Hassan al-Alawi) is the current kin ...

then signed an agreement with the Spanish, where Spain returned the province of Tarfaya (until that agreement, part of Spanish Sahara) to Morocco. Part of the Army of Liberation was absorbed into the Moroccan armed forces. Morocco sees the Army of Liberation battles in Western Sahara, and the fighting under Moroccan flag of Sahrawis as a proof of Western Sahara's loyalty to the Moroccan crown, whereas sympathizers to the

Polisario Front The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Spanish language, Spanish: ; ), better known by its acronym Polisario Front, is a Sahrawi nationalism, Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to end the occupatio ...

view it only as an anti-colonial war directed against the Spanish. Sahrawi veterans of the Army of Liberation today exist on both sides of the Western Sahara conflict, and both the Kingdom of Morocco and the

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also known as the Sahrawi Republic and Western Sahara, is a partially recognized state in the western Maghreb, which claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara, but controls only ...

celebrate it as part of their political history. Some parents of founder members of Polisario were members of the Army of Liberation , most notably the father of Mohammed Abdelaziz the president of Polisario and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, who is living in Morocco and is a member of CORCAS..

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moroccan Army of Liberation Military history of Morocco Rebel groups in Morocco Western Sahara conflict 1955 establishments in Morocco

History

Founding

Ifni War

See also

References