[8] During August and the first days of September 1991, the Royal Moroccan Army (RMA) conducted offensive operations in the areas of Mehaires, Tifariti, Bir Lahlou, Mijek and Agwanit, resulting in multiple Sahrawi civilian casualties, the destruction of Tifariti and Bir Lahlou, poisoning of the wells and subsequently depopulation of the area.

Between 4–5 August, Moroccan troops and aviation attacked the towns of Tifariti, Mehaires and Mijek, destroying infrastructure that had been built for the nomad population of the area and the outcome of the referendum, and while a United Nations military experts mission was in the zone.

On 4 August, a Moroccan Northrop F-5 was shot down by Sahrawi fighters near Tifariti, and his pilot Captain Youssef Megzari captured (he escaped from Tindouf prison in February 2005 along with another POW).

[11] While Polisario Front sources defined the attacks as a "massive terrestrial offensive" and denounced the "systematic destruction of the water wells",[2] MAP stated that since early August there had been "political operations of cleaning and searching in the no man's land", but denying that there were on a "greater scale".

[5] On 27 August, then UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar expressed his confidence on the maintenance of the ceasefire date, while dismissing POLISARIO reports about the attacks.