The shocking collapse of Hezbollah in its recent war with Israel echoed throughout Tehran. Yet Iran’s response to the collapse wasn’t defeat; it was redirection. For instance, deep in Algeria’s western desert, another proxy is on the rise: the Polisario Front, which is reportedly fortified by Iran via Hezbollah-trained instructors and drone systems, turning the long-standing Morocco-Western Sahara dispute into a theater for Tehran’s comeback.
Two U.S. lawmakers have already sounded the alarm: Reps. Joe Wilson (R‑SC) and Jimmy Panetta (D‑CA). Citing the same Iran-Hezbollah nexus that now links the Polisario Front to the Syrian battlefield, they introduced bipartisan legislation last month to classify the Polisario Front as a foreign terrorist organization.