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Eight Migrants Found Dead Off Morocco

Hundreds of sub-Saharan African migrants set up their makeshift home on the edge of Morocco's coastal port city of Casablanca © FADEL SENNA / AFP
Hundreds of sub-Saharan African migrants set up their makeshift home on the edge of Morocco's coastal port city of Casablanca © FADEL SENNA / AFP
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Eight Migrants Found Dead Off Morocco

Hundreds of sub-Saharan African migrants set up their makeshift home on the edge of Morocco's coastal port city of Casablanca © FADEL SENNA / AFP
Hundreds of sub-Saharan African migrants set up their makeshift home on the edge of Morocco's coastal port city of Casablanca © FADEL SENNA / AFP

The bodies of eight migrants have been found after their vessel sank off Morocco's northern coast, local authorities said Wednesday, adding that nine others were rescued.

The migrants took off from Morocco's northern Nador region seeking to "cross the Mediterranean aboard an inflatable boat", authorities were quoted by the state news agency MAP as saying.

The boat sank on Tuesday "due to poor weather conditions", it said.

The authorities said "the search is continuing for missing people" after nine had been rescued, and that an investigation had been opened into the incident.

The migrants' nationalities were not immediately specified.

Morocco is a frequent launching point for many irregular migrants who make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean or the Atlantic in a bid to find better lives in Europe.

In the past weeks, the Moroccan navy announced it had intercepted or rescued dozens of migrants during various operations at its southwestern coast.

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Netanyahu Suggests Israel Might Not Complete Withdrawal from Lebanon by Deadline

A rainbow rises near the southern Lebanese border town of Khiam on January 24, 2025. (AFP)
A rainbow rises near the southern Lebanese border town of Khiam on January 24, 2025. (AFP)
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Netanyahu Suggests Israel Might Not Complete Withdrawal from Lebanon by Deadline

A rainbow rises near the southern Lebanese border town of Khiam on January 24, 2025. (AFP)
A rainbow rises near the southern Lebanese border town of Khiam on January 24, 2025. (AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Friday that Israel might not withdraw all of its forces from Lebanon by a deadline set in its ceasefire with Hezbollah.

Under the deal reached in November, Israel is supposed to complete its withdrawal from the country by Sunday. Hezbollah fighters are to pull back to the north of the Litani River, and the Lebanese armed forces are to patrol the buffer zone in southern Lebanon alongside United Nations peacekeepers.

Netanyahu said in a statement that the ceasefire “is based on the understanding that the withdrawal process could possibly continue beyond the 60 days.” It went on to say that the Lebanese government has not yet “fully enforced” the agreement, an apparent reference to the deployment of Lebanese troops.

Israeli officials have held talks in recent days with the United States, which brokered the agreement. There was no immediate response to Netanyahu’s statement from Lebanon or Hezbollah.

The Lebanese government has said it cannot send its forces into areas until Israeli troops have fully withdrawn. Hezbollah has warned that it could resume its rocket fire on Israel if it does not withdraw from Lebanon in accordance with the ceasefire.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are allies of Iran, and Hezbollah said it was acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes, and the sides traded fire for more than a year.