Morocco - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

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Rabat

Morocco

June 16, 2026

Rabat 2:41 am

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Morocco's midfielder Azzedine Ounahi celebrates scoring with teammates during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group E African qualification football match between Morocco and Niger at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat on September 5, 2025. (Photo by Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP)

Culture

10 MENA teams at 2026 World Cup: Morocco eyes title, Iran faces visa hurdles

Jordan is competing in its first World Cup, while Iraq is making only its second appearance, as teams from the region seek to advance against European and Latin American powerhouses.

Crops of wheat and barley in Terbol village on May 10, 2022, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

Analysis

MENA wheat importers face food security risks as Hormuz crisis festers

Home to many of the world's largest wheat importers, the Middle East and North Africa face acute food security risks as the US-Israel-Iran war disrupts global fertilizer flows and pushes up prices.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Archaeologists at the entrance of the Contrebandiers (Smugglers) Cave, some 12 miles from the Moroccan capital, Rabat, Sept. 18, 2021.

Culture

Fossil discovery repositions Morocco at center of human evolution 800,000 years ago

Once overlooked, Morocco has emerged as a focal point of human prehistory, with new discoveries and a landmark report reshaping what we know about our species’ evolution.

An emergency vehicle drives through flood waters as residents are evacuated and relocated to other towns as preventive and emergency evacuations are carried out to move residents living near flood-prone areas following the weather alert and the rise in the water level of the Loukkos River, with flooding expected in the coming days, in Ksar El Kebir on Feb. 1, 2026.

Storm Leonardo displaces 140,000 as heavy floods hit northern Morocco

Heavy rains from the storm have flooded northern Morocco, prompting mass evacuations and straining emergency services.

Latest News

From Egypt to Lebanon: What’s at stake for regional states on Trump’s visa ban list?

Culture

Morocco’s next generation of writers fights for a place on the shelf

A customer browses books at a bookshop in the Moroccan capital Rabat on August 9, 2018. On the main arteries of old Rabat, dozens of itinerant booksellers offer books in French, Arabic, and sometimes in English, up to ten times cheaper than their originals. Despite being prohibited, the pirated-books market is largely tolerated in cities across the North African kingdom. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP) (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Morocco’s markets rise as World Cup spending fuels largest IPO in decades

CASABLANCA, MOROCCO - AUGUST 20: In this handout image from Populous, digital renderings of the proposed Stade Hassan II stadium in Morocco, projected to be the largest football stadium in the world with 115,000 capacity are depicted on August 20, 2024 in Casablanca, Morocco. The stadium design is by Populous and Oulalou + Choi (Photo by Populous via Handout/Getty Images)

Naima Morelli

In Rome, reporting on Middle East culture

Francisco Serrano

In Lisbon, reporting on North Africa business

Morocco's King Mohamed VI and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) speak during the presentation of a solar energy project in Ouarzazate November 2, 2009. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante (MOROCCO ROYALS POLITICS ENVIRONMENT) - RTXQ9YQ

Is Hillary Clinton taking 'blood phosphate' money from Morocco?

Critics of a $1 million Clinton Foundation gift see a ploy to build support for illegal exploitation of the "last colony in Africa."

Sahrawis shout slogans for the freedom of Western Sahara before a demonstration organised by officials from the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) to show the hazards of mined territory near Tifariti, in the Sahara desert in southwestern Algeria, February 28, 2011. Over 150,000 Sahrawis live in several refugee camps dispersed in the Algerian desert 35 years after Morocco annexed the disputed territory of Western Sahara. REUTERS/Juan Medina (ALGERIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR2J9HB

Russia shows interest in Western Sahara

Russia's desire to play an active role in the Middle East extends beyond Cairo and Damascus to longstanding issues further south.

10 Middle East artists to watch

Many female artists in the Middle East and North Africa are redefining their mediums.

A view of Djamaa Lafna square and its restaurants in Marrakesh's old city December 18, 2014. Picture taken December 18, 2014. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal (MOROCCO - Tags: SOCIETY TRAVEL) - RTR4KAMQ

Why did Iran, Morocco resume relations?

Economics, Iran's desire for greater international standing, the Islamic State and Western Sahara may be factors in Iran naming an ambassador to Morocco after a nearly six-year break in ties.

People watch a television interview broadcast on CBC and ONTV with presidential candidate and Egypt's former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, at cafe in Cairo May 6, 2014. Sisi, who is expected to win a presidential election this month, said in a television interview broadcast on Tuesday that costly energy subsidies could not be lifted quickly. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS MILITARY) - RTR3O2A9

Tensions increase between Egypt, Morocco

Cordial relations between Egypt and Morocco have been hampered by a media brawl between both countries’ official TV channels, as Egypt moves closer to Algeria.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives at Rabat airport at the start of a tour of the Maghreb region, June 3, 2013. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal (MOROCCO - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX10AEE

Erdogan’s heavy hand in Turkish media

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s personal call to a TV station to immediately stop a news scroll reveals the extent of the restrictions on press freedom in Turkey.

The handcuffs of inmates are seen during a play at a public theatre in Lima, June 20, 2012. About 20 young inmates of Ancon prison put on stage their own theatrical script, based on their testimonies in jail, outside prison after four months of rehearsal. The event, organized by prison authorities, aims to help them reintegrate into society when they get released in future. REUTERS/Enrique Castro-Mendivil (PERU - Tags: SOCIETY CRIME LAW) - RTR33Y1I

Israeli criminals make their way to Morocco

Lacking an extradition treaty with Israel, Morocco has become an unlikely sanctuary for Israeli mobsters looking to make money or avoid police investigations.

Diplomats from the United States and Israel are silhouetted as they join about 100 mourners at a ceremony, held on Thursday in memory of veteran Jewish leader Carmen Weinstein, at Sha'ar Hashamayim (Gate of Heaven) synagogue in downtown Cairo, April 18, 2013. Weinstein, 82, died last Saturday at her home in Cairo where she was known over the past two decades for leading efforts to preserve the overwhelmingly Muslim country's Jewish heritage. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih (EGYPT - Tags: RELIGION POLITICS OBITUARY) -

Jews from Arab countries: the forgotten refugees

A UN conference addresses the status of Jews from Arab states who were expelled from their homeland after the creation of the state of Israel.