[3] The Polisario Front, a political movement demanding the independence of Western Sahara, initiated armed conflict with Mauritanian and Moroccan neighbors as early as 1975.

As early as 1885, the Moorish religious leader Ma El Aïnin called for a holy war against the French and Spanish colonizers in the region.

Spain could finally consolidate its control over the territories of Río de Oro and Seguia el-Hamra, as well as northern Morocco, Cap Juby, and the enclave of Ifni.

Operation Écouvillon, initiated on February 10, 1958, jointly by French and Spanish armies, ultimately vanquished the ALN fighters, who were compelled to retreat northward.

Meanwhile, Morocco, which had laid claim to Western Sahara as early as the late King Mohammed V's visit to M'Hamid El Ghizlane in 1958, continued to advocate for the Spanish withdrawal, while Mauritania also began to express interest in the territory.

[L 9][L 10] On October 16, 1975, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion that reaffirmed the historical ties between the populations of Western Sahara and Morocco, as well as the Mauritanian entity.

[L 12] The frequency of the raids increased until the overthrow of Moktar Ould Daddah's regime on July 10, 1978, by a collective that favored the Polisario, which concluded the war.

The fighters no longer hesitated to mobilize large numbers of troops and significant equipment for deadly assaults deep into uncontested Moroccan territory.

[9] The Battle of Tan-Tan, which involved 1,700 combatants and 200 vehicles belonging to the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, proved to be a significant political victory for the Polisario Front.

[11] On August 5, 1979, Mauritania declared a unilateral ceasefire against the Polisario Front due to a military coup that had overthrown former president Moktar Ould Daddah a year earlier.

The costly war had severely damaged the Mauritanian economy, leading Mauritania to abandon the southern Río de Oro, which was immediately annexed by Morocco.

[1][12] In retaliation for the annexation of the Río de Oro, the Polisario Front launched a new series of deadly attacks in uncontested Moroccan territory.

[1] On September 16, the independence fighters launched a deadly attack on Lemgat in the vicinity of the stronghold of Zag, resulting in significant casualties among the Moroccan army.

[L 18] On September 24, Sahrawi Defense Minister Brahim Ghali alluded to the imminence of "new and important operations," yet most observers postulated that the subsequent target would be Zag.

[14] Smara is located at a crossroads where desert routes converge, from east to west from Tindouf to Laâyoune and from north to south from Morocco to Bir Moghreïn and Atar in Mauritania.

[L 22] Moroccan troops, under the command of Colonel Ahmed Dlimi, invaded the city on November 27, 1975, following the Green March and the Madrid Accords,[15] despite opposition from the Polisario.

Colonel Mohamed Ghoujdami, the commander of the 6th RIM, asserted that the Smara garrison was inferior to the attackers in terms of numerical strength and firepower.

However, under the administration of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, France delivered twenty units of the Mirage F1, representing a portion of the fifty aircraft ordered.

The Mirage F1 is a single-seat combat aircraft equipped for ground attack with two cannons firing twenty-seven shells and capable of carrying fourteen 250 kg bombs, one hundred and forty-four rockets, or guided air-to-ground missiles.

[L 26] The Polisario Front initiated a diversionary attack at dawn on October 5, 1979, on Zag, resulting in the deaths of approximately one hundred Moroccan soldiers and the destruction of two forward posts.

Moroccan authorities promptly denied the city's fall but acknowledged that Smara, the second-largest town in Western Sahara, was "harassed" by the Polisario.

[1] Moroccan military officials were able to ascertain that some Polisario units had originated from positions situated close to the Mauritanian border, a mere 40 kilometers away.

As the Polisario elements were retreating to their positions after the fighting, they were pursued by Moroccan aviation, which bombed them and made the passage from Smara to Tifariti, from where Sahrawi reinforcements were dispatched, difficult.

[8] An official statement from the Moroccan Ministry of Information confirmed the extreme violence of the fighting, emphasizing the decisive intervention of the air force, which changed the outcome of the battle.

[L 1] The American newspaper The Christian Science Monitor has reported that the Battle of Smara was a decisive victory for the Royal Moroccan Air Force.

Moroccan pilots demonstrated their ability to operate the sophisticated Mirage F1, which they praised for its superior performance compared to the older American Northrop F-5E aircraft.

[1] A total of 716 Sahrawi civilians were "liberated" by the Polisario and relocated to refugee camps in Tindouf, including Smara deputy Mohamed Ali Ould Sidi Bechir.

Secondly, on October 12, 1979, the 42 Moroccan soldiers captured and the 716 Sahrawi civilians rescued during the battle were presented to the "French Friendship Association with the SADR" and the foreign press.

[L 31] Moreover, the defection of the Smara deputy constituted a significant setback for Morocco, as the individual had been presented to the inquiry commission of the Organization of African Unity a few months earlier as a Sahrawi who was firmly convinced of his Moroccan identity.

[L 32] According to the Spanish daily El País, the battle which pitted 600 to 1,200 Moroccan soldiers against 2,000 to 4,000 Polisario fighters was a significant defeat for Morocco.