Rena Netjes is a Dutch journalist and researcher who has reported extensively from Syria throughout its war. She was previously the Cairo correspondent for Parool newspaper and BNR radio in the Netherlands.
Iran has long supported a wide range of armed groups to destabilize nations and advance its interests—particularly in Syria. Militant groups backed by Tehran include Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis in Yemen, multiple Iraqi armed groups and the Afghan Fatemeyyoun and Pakistani Zainabiyyoun militias. Today's Syria, attempting to transition from nearly 14 years of war, faces a daunting task in addressing remaining fighters from these groups as it maneuvers transitional justice efforts.
Less known, but equally important to transitional justice efforts, is that Iran's proxy network in Syria included the Polisario Front, an Algeria-backed politico-military organization in Northwest Africa that strives to end the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.
Iran's long-term strategic aim in Syria was to create a land bridge linking it to the Mediterranean. The 2011 conflict offered Tehran an opportunity. Through a network of routes and alliances, Tehran supported the Assad regime by strengthening its influence in Syria through these groups and by enhancing its ability to supply Hezbollah.
Since the war ended, more clarity surrounding these Iran-backed groups has emerged. Recent reports, including an April Washington Post article citing regional and European officials, confirm that fighters from the Algeria-based Polisario Front were also present in Syria and trained by Iran, with hundreds now detained by Syria's new security forces.
In May, Deutsche Welle Arabic showcased rare images of Polisario fighters in Syria, although their exact location remained unclear. The report included a document discovered at the headquarters of the Syrian intelligence services, confirming the presence of 120 Polisario soldiers in the country at an early stage of the Syrian opposition offensives.
The 2012 document, which Syrian experts confirmed as authentic, was from Syrian Security Service 279. It confirmed the presence of 120 Sahrawi fighters from four brigades in Syria, integrated into army units of the Syrian Arab Army. The document also mentioned talks between Polisario leaders and the "resistance" (Hezbollah) in Beirut in January 2011—the early stages of the Arab Spring.
In 2018, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, after severing diplomatic relations with Iran, alleged that Iran and Hezbollah provided weapons and training to the Polisario Front. The top Moroccan diplomat told reporters that Tehran used its embassy in Algiers to send an arms shipment to the Polisario.
In addition to supporting the Syrian army, Polisario militants travelled to Syria to receive military training from Hezbollah, Syrian researchers told the author last month.
According to the researchers, following the collapse of the Assad regime, some of the Polisario fighters fled to Lebanon. It was not an organized withdrawal. As the regime crumbled on Dec. 8, Hezbollah fighters and regime military personnel fled to Lebanon while Iranian backed militias, such as the Fatimeyyoun and Zeinabiyyoun, crossed the border into Iraq with many of Assad's generals.
Since the war ended, more clarity surrounding these Iran-backed groups has emerged. Recent reports, including an April Washington Post article citing regional and European officials, confirm that fighters from the Algeria-based Polisario Front were also present in Syria and trained by Iran, with hundreds now detained by Syria's new security forces.
- Rena Netjes
Iraq has since handed Syrian generals and fighters over to Damascus. Military expert Mohamed Yaseen, a former member of the Syrian National Coalition (Etilaf) now serving as a member of the transitional authority's Higher Election Committee, told the author that they are detained.
"I do not know where the Polisario fighters are," Yaseen said, echoing the response of other researchers and experts in Syria. Few Syrians are interested in the fate of the Polisario fighters, and the topic is not discussed in local media.
There are bigger files to tackle, many say.
"The Syrian Ba'athist regime of Hafez and Bashar al-Assad has always supported separatist groups to exert pressure on states," according to Wael Olwan, Manager of the Research Department at Jusoor Studies in Damascus, in an interview. "They supported the PKK against Turkey, the Houthis against Saudi Arabia, Haftar's forces against the government in Tripoli and the Polisario Front against Morocco."
"Morocco was against Bashar al-Assad, while Algeria fully supported Assad. It was therefore to be expected that the regime would be willing to receive fighters from the Polisario Front, despite the fact that it had little to gain in terms of security and military, and vice versa. This is above all a political issue," Olwan continued.
"For the Polisario Front, the office in Syria was crucial. It's their main office in the Middle East and their representative was in charge from Damascus on the whole region," a Western security source told the author.
"The Polisario Front had its offices here in Damascus. A few were detained, but most of them fled the country with Hezbollah. They had ties to Iran through Hezbollah," said Abbas Sherifa, a Syrian researcher, in an interview. According to Sherifa, Syria held a "political office" for the Polisario, and military training did not take place in-country.
"The military training was organized by Hezbollah at training camps in the south of Lebanon, in the Bekaa Valley. Here, they had an office for political relations," he explained.
Sherifa did not know the exact number of Polisario fighters within the ranks of the Assad regime, but said it fit the regime's modus operandi to use the Polisario to exert pressure on the United States and Morocco. "It also gave a card to Algeria, which strongly defended the Assad regime and was one of the first countries to demand its return to the Arab League," Sherifa added.
"The regime oversaw this file, but in collaboration with Hezbollah and the Iranian [Revolutionary] Guard," said Olwan. "For example, the Houthis did not come directly to Syria. They came from Iran, via Iraq to Damascus. They received some training and went back."
According to Olwan, the Polisario fighters coming to Syria would not use their real names. Many other foreign fighters would also arrive via Iraq, claiming to visit the Shiite Shrine of Sayyida Zeinab. "Among the pilgrims who recently returned from Iraq, under an agreement with Iraq, we identified an Iraqi militia leader who fought in Syria. He is under surveillance and staying in a hotel in the area around Sayyida Zeinab," a military source told the author in April.
In February, Algerian Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmed Attaf visited Damascus and requested that the Syrian authorities release Algerian military personnel and Algeria-backed Polisario fighters. Syrian Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, however, declined the request, reportedly informing the Algerian foreign minister that Algerian military personnel with the rank of brigadier general and approximately 500 soldiers from the Algerian army and Polisario militias would be put on trial.
Several sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed that Polisario fighters were arrested south of Aleppo during the military offensive at the end of last year. "The group is now in Idlib," an independent local journalist told the author. Another source confirmed this information, saying: "In December, they arrested 70 Polisario fighters and Algerian military personnel south of Aleppo, near the Abu Zohour military airport in eastern Idlib province."
The presence of Hezbollah-trained Polisario fighters in Syria, deployed alongside Assad's forces, represents an example of the unaddressed layers of foreign intervention, proxy warfare and war crimes that continue to haunt post-conflict Syria.
- Rena Netjes
A third independent source explained the silence of the authorities: "Most of the Polisario are in prison. A few fled to Lebanon. During investigations, some Polisario members admitted their links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Iranian and Algerian intelligence. They are still being interrogated in prisons, and during the investigation, most of them admitted war crimes against Syrian civilians."
A fourth independent source, based in Idlib, reconfirmed these details: "On the day after the liberation of Aleppo, about 58 Polisario fighters were arrested near the Abu Zohour Airport, and they are now being held in detention in Idlib."
The author reached out to Al-Nana Labat Al-Rashid, advisor to the Polisario's president and responsible for media and Arab affairs. In the group's official response, she said: "Perhaps answering [your question] will provide an opportunity to stop repeating the lies of Moroccan propaganda. Incidentally, I would like to point out that the Washington Post has withdrawn the article in which it accused the Polisario of interfering in Syrian affairs."
But The Washington Post has not withdrawn the article. Rather, they added a correction that they had not reached out to the Polisario Front ahead of their reporting.
According to Al-Rashid, "Syria and the Sahrawi Republic had advanced diplomatic relations, during which the Sahrawi state had an embassy in Damascus. However, all that ended with Bashar's accession to his father's throne, and relations between the two countries have been severed to this day."
"On the other hand, non-interference in the affairs of other countries is a clear principle of the Polisario Front, and there is no justification for this," she concluded.
Syrian and other Arab media, however, have reported that the Polisario offices were closed recently—in May.
The presence of Polisario fighters, amid thousands of foreign fighters in the country that fought on all sides in the conflict, raises serious questions about transitional justice in the country.
The Head of the Syrian Transitional Justice Commission, Abdel Basset Abdel Latif, revealed that the commission is working to build bridges with the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and all relevant international bodies to pursue Bashar al-Assad. That effort includes "perpetrators" from his family like his brother, Maher al-Assad, commander of the Fourth Division, and other major regime figures.
In an interview with al Arabiya on Aug. 5, Abdel Latif did not exclude the accountability of individuals from cross-border militias, including members of Hezbollah, who have been involved in shedding Syrian blood.
The presence of Hezbollah-trained Polisario fighters in Syria, deployed alongside Assad's forces, represents an example of the unaddressed layers of foreign intervention, proxy warfare and war crimes that continue to haunt post-conflict Syria. While the Assad regime's collapse opened the door to long-awaited change, the Syrian state's failure to transparently investigate or prosecute crimes committed by such foreign proxies underscores the persistent vacuum in transitional justice facing the country today.
Although the Transitional Justice Commission has a mandate to investigate war crimes, the effort is severely lacking thus far. Foreign fighters on all sides of the conflict, including those with the Polisario, are implicated in abuses against Syrian civilians. The detentions in Idlib, although notable, have not been followed by transparent trials, reparations for victims or acknowledgement of wrongdoing by those who hosted or coordinated such fighters. That includes Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Justice is no easy endeavor, but it is also not a geopolitical luxury. It is a necessity for the people of Syria, who have suffered not just under one regime, but the weight of multiple foreign agendas and militant invasions. Syrians want more than the erasure of their suffering, especially amid fears of the corrupt deals or regional politicking of the past.
Many want truth, accountability and the chance to rebuild a society where foreign militias—whether from Tehran, Beirut, Baghdad, Western Sahara, Algiers, Uzbekistan, Egypt or Qandil—are not the ones who decide their fate.
