CASUALTY RECORD // August 11, 1979
Battle of Bir Anzarane
Estimated casualties — killed, wounded, captured, and missing — by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Casualties by side
2 sides catalogued · combined 217–750 estimated
RASD
117–500
Medium-confidence figure
Maroc
100–250
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Bir Anzarane was one of the larger conventional confrontations of the Western Sahara War, pitting Polisario Front forces of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic against the Moroccan Armed Forces at the oasis of Bir Anzarane. The engagement involved several hundred combatants on each side, with casualty figures on both sides indicating a sustained and costly exchange. Within the broader conflict over Western Sahara — a disputed territory claimed by both the SADR and Morocco — engagements of this scale reflected the Polisario Front's capacity to mount significant offensive operations against Moroccan military positions. The battle occurred in August 1979, a period when the Polisario was pressing its guerrilla campaign across the territory following Morocco's annexation of the region after Spanish withdrawal.
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