Faisal Qassim: The Sahara is Moroccan, Algeria in the ‘Embrace’ of Iran
PERSISMA, Rabat – Faisal Qasim, the TV host of the popular Arabic-language talk show “The Opposing Perspective,” said the Western Sahara belongs to Morocco and that Algeria has fallen into the “embrace” of Iran – the majority-Shiite country the Arab world considers to be one of its greatest rivals.
Two days after King Mohammed VI’s strong speech at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Riyadh, Qasim posted a statement on Facebook affirming that most Arab countries support Morocco in its struggle against separatists led by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.
“Most Arabs agree that the Western Sahara is the legal possession of Morocco,” he wrote. “What were the Algerian generals expecting from Arabs after they fell in the embrace of Iran.”
More than 18 thousand of Qasim 9.6 million Facebook followers “liked” the post and almost 800 people had commented on it at the time of this article’s writing.
Relations between Algeria and Iran have been particularly strong over the past few months, especially after the North African country refused to take part in the Islamic Alliance for Countering Terrorism, which was composed of mainly Sunni countries, at Saudi Arabia’s invitation. Algeria also refused to support the Saudi Arabia-led political opposition to Hezbollah, a Shiite-run political party in Lebanon.
Algeria’s opposition to Saudi Arabia’s regional agenda is tied to the Syrian civil war as well. Morocco’s easterly neighbor decided to maintain its political relationship with Syria after the Saudi king launched a program opposing President Bashar Al-Asad’s regime. Algeria’s move sided the country with Iran, one of the major financial supporters of the murderous Syrian regime. (Zainab Calcuttawala)
