Lehbib Mohamed Abdelaziz

Lehbib Mohamed Abdelaziz (1989 – June 2026) was a Sahrawi military commander and member of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front. He was the youngest son of Mohamed Abdelaziz, former president of the Sahrawi Republic.

Abdelaziz enlisted in the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army in 2011. In the 2020s, he became a rising figure within the Polisario Front's ranks, leading to media speculation that he would be a potential successor to the current Sahrawi leadership. In June 2026, Abdelaziz was killed by a Moroccan drone strike during renewed Western Saharan clashes.

Early life Lehbib Mohamed Abdelaziz was born in the Sahrawi refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria, in 1989. Abdelaziz was of the eastern Reguibat tribe and born into an elite Sahrawi family. However, unlike his siblings who grew up in the camps, he was later raised in his grandfather's home. Abdelaziz studied international relations at the University of Algiers, receiving his degree in 2011. Weeks later, he was promoted to sit on the military council in charge of directing the ongoing Western Sahara clashes. Media outlets described Abdelaziz as Ghali's potential successor.

Death In November 2020, low-intensity clashes resumed between Morocco and the Polisario Front, with the latter declaring that the 1991 ceasefire was void. Morocco uses drone warfare to attack Sahrawi targets; there are no effective countermeasures in Western Sahara against the drones.

On June 7, 2026, Abdelaziz and two other combatants were killed by a Royal Moroccan Armed Forces drone strike while riding in a military vehicle near Mijek, Western Sahara. Other combatants were injured in the strike as well. Though Morocco did not publicly acknowledge the operation, Le Monde reported that there was "little doubt" that Morocco was responsible. Following the killing, Moroccan news website Yabiladi described Abdelaziz's brother Khalil Mohamed Abdelaziz as an emerging "significant figure" ahead of the Polisario Front's next congress.

The UN deputy spokesman for the Secretary-General, Farhan Haq, reported that MINURSO was "seeking security clearances from the parties to conduct an investigation" of the incident. Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares defended Spain's decision not to comment on the drone strike, stating that "no country in the world has commented on it" and that it was in Spain's best interests to maintain good relations with Morocco and other neighboring states. European Commission vice-president Kaja Kallas declined to open an investigaton into the drone strikes and instead emphasized close Morocco–European Union relations.