Morocco Bound

Algeria summoned the French Ambassador to protest the planned “Chergui 2025” Franco-Moroccan military exercises scheduled for September near the Algerian border. Tensions between the nations have escalated following France’s support for Morocco’s position on Western Sahara.

Morocco is rapidly expanding its railway infrastructure ahead of co-hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Spain and Portugal, securing nearly $3 billion in financing for 168 new trains. Foreign companies from France, Spain and South Korea are lined up to deliver and install the trains.

Morocco is nearing completion of a 93-kilometer road linking Es-Semara to the Mauritanian border, a project touted as a boost for regional connectivity. However, with no immediate link to Mauritanian infrastructure and no confirmed plans for its extension, the road currently leads to a dead end.

Moroccan security services arrested 12 operatives of the so-called “Lions of the Caliphate in the Maghreb Al-Aqsa” after a yearlong investigation. Authorities say the terror cell, linked to Daesh in the Sahel, had a weapons cache in Errachidia and planned attacks in Morocco.