Their success in Iraq's recent elections has less to do with genuine public support and more to do with vote buying through the massive wealth they've accrued through power
Eventually, with enough elected Libyans at the local level pushing for national-level change, they will stand a better chance of challenging the status quo, as it seems unlikely to come from the top.
A meteoric rise has propelled National Rally's young president to the top of French politics. His easy charm and expensive social media set-up now means 1 in 4 young French adults say 'Oui'
This bureaucratic sham is meant to make the Assad regime look credible but instead just demonstrates its sclerosis. Little wonder most Syrians don't bother.
Macron has spent a fortune, bond yields are going up, stocks are falling, Brussels is demanding reform, the IMF is preparing an emergency package, and populists are at the gate... Sacré bleu!
A big pro-EU bloc should still hold sway even if the ultra-nationalists make gains. More broadly, the results will act as a barometer of public mood in the first vote since Russia invaded Ukraine.
The ruling party is not used to coming second at the ballots, so there were emotive words from the president as he sought to understand what went wrong. Meanwhile, the victorious CHP gets on with it.
President Tebboune's decision to bring forward polls to 7 September was influenced by domestic and foreign policy considerations. Wide backing for it indicates officials had gotten a heads-up.
A win for President Erdoğan's AKP party could further marginalise the opposition he defeated in 2023's general election, making constitutional reform more likely
Disruption in the Hormuz can have major implications for global trade, but it also creates opportunities for smaller nations like Iran to become global political players
The Iraq war was viewed as disastrous in retrospect, while the Iran war was unpopular from the get-go. Al Majalla highlights the similarities and differences between the two.
Pipelines have a chequered history in the Middle East, but the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has led US Tom Barrack to conclude that a new route through Syria could solve some problems.