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Morocco Will Prioritize Health, Education Spending in 2026 Budget

Morroco's Finance Minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui. (Reuters)
Morroco's Finance Minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui. (Reuters)
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Morocco Will Prioritize Health, Education Spending in 2026 Budget

Morroco's Finance Minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui. (Reuters)
Morroco's Finance Minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui. (Reuters)

Morocco will adjust its upcoming budget to prioritize spending on health and education as well as allocate some additional funds to reduce regional inequalities, Finance Minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui told Reuters.

Youth-led protests spread across the kingdom in recent weeks, revealing deep-seated anger over poverty and public services behind a storyline of ambitious infrastructure projects and modern stadiums opening ahead of the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

"What we've heard from the youth protests is that they want a better education and health," Alaoui said earlier this week, speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Washington.

Alaoui said the government spends just under 9% of GDP on those two areas, and authorities would have to get better at communicating what they are actually doing.

But there was room in the budget to reprioritize upcoming projects, such as getting local hospitals up and running to ensure people don't have to travel long distances to get treatment.

"(We will) reallocate for short-term, quick wins, because people cannot wait for the reform to happen," she said, adding that exact details could not be provided ahead of the presentation of the budget to the parliament. The budget is usually presented and debated in parliament after late October. It will also contain measures to support a push by King Mohammed VI to reduce regional inequalities by giving greater attention to the mountain and oasis regions, Alaoui said.

This effort would mean "probably some additional money, but much more focused on efficiency coordination and not putting at risk at all the macroeconomic balances," she said.

Asked about future plans for Morocco's foreign exchange regime, Alaoui said the ministry was first of all going to launch medium-term inflation targeting and disclose that target in late 2026 or early 2027, which she expected to be between 2%-3%.

Morocco currently publishes its inflation target only annually rather than projecting an aim further in the future.

"Floating (the currency) is another step," she said, adding that small and medium-sized enterprises in the country were not ready for that.

"They're not prepared - the big companies are prepared. The financial sector can be exposed, but we still need to keep the house in order for the smallest one and prepare them for this."

The dirham is pegged to a currency basket of 60% euro and 40% US dollar, but allowed since 2018 to float in a 2.5% band on either side.

Asked about international debt sales, Alaoui said the government had no immediate plan to return to the market, though she expected Morocco would remain a regular issuer.

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Arab World

Syria Says Two Soldiers Killed in Attack in Northeast

A member of Syria's security forces stands under a sign in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
A member of Syria's security forces stands under a sign in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
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Syria Says Two Soldiers Killed in Attack in Northeast

A member of Syria's security forces stands under a sign in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
A member of Syria's security forces stands under a sign in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (AFP)

Syria said two soldiers were killed in an attack by unidentified assailants in the country's northeast on Monday, while a military source told AFP investigations were underway to identify the perpetrators.

In recent months, Syria's new government has expanded its control to parts of the country's north and northeast that were previously held by Kurdish-led forces, including areas near the site of Monday's attack.

The government has also formally joined the international coalition against the ISIS group, which has long launched attacks in those areas.

The two soldiers were killed "and others wounded in a treacherous attack by unknown assailants" on a bus in Hasakeh province, state news agency SANA quoted the defense ministry as saying.

A military source told AFP on condition of anonymity that a military bus "came under gunfire" along the highway between Ras al-Ain in Hasakeh province and Ain Issa in Raqqa province, adding that two soldiers were killed and two others wounded.

Investigations were underway to determine who was behind the attack, the source added.

Once in control of large swathes of Syria and Iraq, ISIS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 in a battle spearheaded by Kurdish-led forces with support from a US-led international coalition.

The extremists however maintain a presence in Syria, mainly in the country's vast desert, and repeatedly attacked Kurdish-led forces while they controlled swathes of the northeast.

In February, after government forces seized control of many of those areas, ISIS urged its members to fight Syria's new authorities.

Days later, state media said four Syrian security personnel were killed in an ISIS attack in the northern city of Raqqa, which had been recently taken by Damascus's forces.

Arab World

UN: Sudan Drone Strikes Killed at Least 880 Civilians between January and April

Sudanese Army elements celebrate after seizing control of an area in northern Khartoum Bahri on January 25, 2025 (Reuters)
Sudanese Army elements celebrate after seizing control of an area in northern Khartoum Bahri on January 25, 2025 (Reuters)
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UN: Sudan Drone Strikes Killed at Least 880 Civilians between January and April

Sudanese Army elements celebrate after seizing control of an area in northern Khartoum Bahri on January 25, 2025 (Reuters)
Sudanese Army elements celebrate after seizing control of an area in northern Khartoum Bahri on January 25, 2025 (Reuters)

At least 880 civilians were killed in drone strikes in Sudan between January and April this year, the UN said Monday, warning such strikes were pushing the conflict towards a "new, even deadlier phase".

Drone attacks by both Sudan's army and paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war since April 2023, have intensified across the country in recent months, reported AFP.

The United Nations rights office said that its Sudan team had determined that "drone strikes accounted for at least 880 civilian deaths -- more than 80 percent of all conflict-related civilian deaths -- between January and April this year".

"Armed drones have now become by far and away the leading cause of civilian deaths," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in the statement.

A growing use of drones allows fighting to continue "unabated" in the rainy season, which in the past has seen a lull, he said.

"An intensification of hostilities in the coming weeks... risks hostilities expanding even further to central and eastern states, with lethal consequences for civilians across enormous areas," he said.

More than three years of civil war in Sudan have already killed tens of thousands, displaced over 11 million and thrust several areas into famine.

But now, Turk warned that "unless action is taken without delay, this conflict is on the cusp of entering yet another new, even deadlier phase".

Most of the civilian deaths attributed to drone strikes in the first three months of the year were recorded in the Kordofan region and Darfur.

Those strikes have continued, with most recently on May 8 drones striking Al Quoz in South Kordofan and near El-Obeid in North Kordofan, reportedly killing 26 civilians and injuring others, the rights office said.

It said belligerents had used drones to repeatedly strike civilian objects and infrastructure, "diminishing access to sufficient food, clean water and health care".

Markets have been repeatedly targeted, with at least 28 such attacks resulting in civilian casualties in the first four months of the year.

Health facilities have been hit at least 12 times, it added.

Now, the rights office said, drone strikes by the RSF and the Sudanese army were increasingly spreading beyond Kordofan and Darfur, to Blue Nile, White Nile and Khartoum.

Turk warned that heightened violence would disrupt provision of critical humanitarian assistance. 

"Much of the country, including Kordofan, is now facing an increased risk of famine and acute food insecurity," he said, adding that the situation was being exacerbated by fertilizer shortages linked to the Middle East war. 

Arab World

Israel Says Soldier Killed Near Border with Lebanon

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of Israeli bombardment that targeted the village of Tair Harfa on May 11, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of Israeli bombardment that targeted the village of Tair Harfa on May 11, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Says Soldier Killed Near Border with Lebanon

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of Israeli bombardment that targeted the village of Tair Harfa on May 11, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of Israeli bombardment that targeted the village of Tair Harfa on May 11, 2026. (AFP)

Israel's military said Monday that one of its soldiers had died in fighting near the border with Lebanon, bringing its losses to 18 personnel since the war with Hezbollah began in early March.

Sergeant Major Alexander Glovanyov, 47, "fell during combat near the Israel-Lebanon border", the military said.

He was killed on Sunday.

Since the war began, one Israeli civilian contractor has also been killed in addition to the 18 soldiers.

Israel and Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah have been trading fire in south Lebanon despite a ceasefire in place since April 17 between Israel and Lebanon that aimed to halt the fighting.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East conflict on March 2 when it launched rockets at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion. Its troops are operating behind an Israeli-declared "yellow line" that runs around 10 kilometers (six miles) north of Lebanon's border.