Amgala

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Amgala is an oasis in Western Sahara. It is situated between Tifariti and Smara, to the east of the Moroccan Wall, in the Polisario-held part of Western Sahara.

In February 1976, a battle took place in Amgala involving Polisario Front guerrilla forces supported by units from the Algerian Army, facing units from the Moroccan Army, nearly 300 km from the Algerian border. Morocco took several Algerian soldiers as prisoners, and both sides took casualties.

This is the only known occasion when Algerian units have been directly involved in combat with Morocco in the Western Sahara conflict, even though Algeria has supported the Polisario's demands for Sahrawi self-determination and independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) since mid-1974. Algeria claims that these forces were only in the area to render humanitarian assistance to Sahrawi refugees headed for the refugee camps at Tindouf, in western Algeria, after the joint Moroccan-Mauritanian invasion that began in late 1975. Morocco, on the other hand, contends that it was an example of direct military intervention by Algeria on the side of Polisario.

During the 1975-91 war years, Amgala was the scene of several Polisario-Moroccan battles. Today it is largely deserted.