Second Battle of Amgala

Significance

The Second Battle of Amgala, fought at the Amgala Oasis in February 1976, resulted in the defeat of Moroccan forces stationed there, with the garrison reportedly entirely decimated according to historian Maurice Barbier. The engagement demonstrated the capacity of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Polisario Front, to strike Moroccan positions with Algerian military support. The battle deepened the direct antagonism between Morocco and Algeria over the Western Sahara conflict, underscoring that the war was not simply an insurgency but a confrontation involving a neighboring state's conventional forces. This alignment between the Polisario Front and Algeria shaped the broader trajectory of the Western Sahara War, hardening the political and military divide that would define the conflict through its duration.

Commanders (4)