How The Military Regime of Algiers Hijacks History and Symbols

Last week, state-controlled media outlets in Algeria, including public and private, ENTV, Algerian Radio Ennahar, Echorouk, TSA-Algerie, and Observalgerie, covered widely a counter-terrorism training exercise at Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers. The simulation, conducted by the Police’s Special Operations Group (GOSP), featured a mock hostage rescue operation involving a staged hijacking of an Air Algérie aircraft. The media coverage was notably celebratory in tone, highlighting the capabilities of the security forces.

Wide media coverage of a hostage rescue simulation exercise at Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers, exactly day by day 30 years after the GIGN raid of the hijacked Air France in Algiers.

While such exercises are indeed crucial for maintaining counter-terrorism readiness and improving coordination between security units, the orchestrated widespread media coverage raises questions about its underlying purpose. The timing of the exercise (24 December 2024) is particularly noteworthy, as it coincides exactly with the 30th anniversary of the Air France Flight 8969 hostage crisis, when France’s GIGN special forces successfully stormed a hijacked plane in Marseille on 24 December 1994.

Striking similarity: (Left) 2024 GOSP’s theatrical reenactment in Algiers 30 years after the actual 1994 GIGN operation in Marseille (Right).

To add insult to injury, while the Algerian regime engages in this spectacle at home, it simultaneously publishes revisionist articles on Algérie Patriotique, its propaganda echo-chamber listed by media watchdog Conspiracy Watch as a conspiracy and disinformation platform. This website, created by Khaled Nezzar, indicted for war crimes by the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office and managed by his son Lotfi Nezzar (himself convicted by the Algerian courts), serves as the regime’s primary outlet for conspirationist propaganda. The regime uses this outlet to distort historical facts “Que faisait Ferhat dans l’avion détourné par la DGSE à Alger il y a trente ans?” This revisionist piece audaciously claims that the 1994 Air France hijacking was orchestrated by France’s intelligence services (the DGSE) as a false-flag operation, rather than the well-documented act of terrorism carried out by members of the GIA (Armed Islamic Group of Algeria). The article goes further by suggesting that the hijacking was somehow linked to the presence of Ferhat Mehenni, a Kabyle singer and political dissident founder of the Movement for Kabyle Selfdetermination (MAK), on board the plane. It speculates wildly that Mehenni’s survival was evidence of a conspiracy, even insinuating that the event was staged to serve anti-Algerian objectives. Such baseless accusations seek to rewrite history, discredit well-documented facts, and redirect blame away from the GIA, an organization that arose during Algeria’s “Black Decade” and was responsible for countless atrocities against civilians, itself known to have been a false-flag entity controlled by the DRS.

Screenshot from Algérie Patriotique (December 25, 2024): ‘What was Ferhat doing in the plane hijacked by the DGSE in Algiers thirty years ago?’ – A revisionist headline that attempts to rewrite the well-documented 1994 Air France hijacking as a DGSE conspiracy, complete with baseless insinuations about passenger Ferhat Mehenni’s survival.

These revisionist claims are particularly egregious given the well-documented reality of the GIGN operation. While the GIGN’s focus was solely on saving lives, which they did with the 173 hostages in remarkable efficiency, the regime’s focus today is purely on saving face through elaborate theatrical productions. Let’s be clear about one fact: to this day, the GIGN’s intervention remains one of the most studied hostage rescue cases and is described as one of the most successful anti-terrorist operations in history, inspiring numerous books, documentaries, movies, and analyses of counterterrorism tactics. The 17-minute assault involved 30 GIGN operators executing a simultaneous three-point entry against four heavily armed terrorists. The hijackers possessed over 1,200 rounds of ammunition, 20 sticks of dynamite, Kalashnikov rifles, Uzi submachine guns, and homemade grenades. Despite the confined space of the aircraft and temperatures exceeding 45°C, the GIGN managed to neutralize all threats while sustaining only nine wounded operators. The precision of the operation was remarkable – the team fired 85 rounds in the heated cockpit battle, successfully rescued all 173 remaining hostages, and prevented the aircraft’s intended use as a suicide weapon against the Eiffel Tower. The operation, which marked the first-ever use of flash-bang grenades inside an aircraft, revolutionized aircraft intervention tactics and remains a cornerstone case study in aviation counter-terrorism. Major Denis Favier’s methodical approach, from the deployment of fiber-optic surveillance, to eavesdropping the plane, to the strategic negotiation that positioned hostages away from the assault zones, exemplifies the highest standards of special operations planning and execution.

The 4-man terrorist GIA commando: led by Abdul Abdullah Yahia (alias El Amir), a 25-year-old former greengrocer and associate of Djamel Zitouni, along with Makhlouf Benguetaff,Salim Layadi, Mustafa Chekienne – all neutralized during the GIGN assault in Marseille

This pattern of symbolic appropriation is foundational to the military regime’s approach, it represents not just a diplomatic strategy but the very DNA of a system that requires others’ achievements to legitimize itself while simultaneously working to undermine them. The choice to stage and heavily publicize with extensive media coverage this specific type of exercise on this particular anniversary appears deliberate rather than coincidental, and can be interpreted as a provocative gesture towards France meant for political point-scoring. It also reflects the nature of the military regime of Algiers: diplomatic insolence the “passive-agressive” governance and diplomatic style.

Hostage rescue simulation opening ceremony: Leadership of Police, Gendarmerie and Airport Authority in solemn ceremonial standing for the national anthem

The hostage rescue simulation at the Algiers airport is not merely a training exercise; it is a calculated propaganda effort. The Algerian regime seeks to imprint on the public consciousness images that mimic those of the GIGN’s successful operation in Marseille. The goal is twofold: first, to symbolically “reclaim” the historical event and insert the Algerian security forces into the narrative, and second, to bolster the regime’s image as a competent and prepared actor in counterterrorism. This is, effectively, visual name-dropping: an attempt to associate the Algerian regime with a globally recognized event to enhance its own legitimacy and credibility.

Souvenir stage picture of a counter-terrorist hostage rescue simulation

By staging this theatrical display and pushing revisionist narratives, the military regime of Algiers demonstrates its willingness to distort history and exploit symbolism to maintain its grip on power. However, no amount of propaganda and conspiracy theories can erase the truth: while the GIGN actually saved 173 lives on 24 December 1994, the military regime of Algiers is only trying to save itself 30 years later.

By: Abderrahmane Fares.