With global attention focused on the Middle East and the Ukrainian crises, the Western Sahara feud has been evolving into a low-intensity conflict pitting Morocco to the Sahrawi militants who are seeking full independence. Morocco has been using drones to monitor the territories it controls and hit targets of the Sahrawi People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). In the latest such use of drones, Moroccan media reports that four Malian gold miners were killed on Thursday, 8 February 2024, near the locality of El Moug, in the Sahara buffer zone. Moroccan media outlet Ya Biladi quoted a Mauritanian media source that attributed the deaths to a Moroccan military drone strike. Low-intensity tensions have been noticed in the Western Sahara region recently, with the Sahrawis who oppose Morocco, also reporting actions against the Moroccan army.
