The current parties in power — many backed by militias involved in deadly attacks on protesters — are poised to dominate parliamentary elections scheduled to take place Sunday. Here's what to know.

While some new voices have emerged in the campaigning, it looks like the usual parties will win. One underdog candidate got some voters on her side when she resolved a sewer problem in a Baghdad slum.

The election in Iraq that anti-government protestors gave their lives calling for is this weekend — but it might not lead to the changes people want.

The fall of a Syrian opposition town to the government this week after a siege and threats of air strikes serves as a reminder that the civil war continues.

With areas of Lebanon mired in power cuts and a historic economic crisis, some are getting into the mountains where hiking has started to gain popularity.

The people of Beirut are still reeling from the effects of the deadly port explosion a year ago — and asking that leaders who could have prevented it be held responsible.

As Lebanon marks a year since a huge blast at the Beirut port, the sister of one of the victims is still working to pick up the pieces of her life and continue her search for justice.

A Human Rights Watch report states there's little chance the probe will hold any ranking officials accountable — despite evidence they failed to act on warnings about dangerous chemicals at the port.

Tunisia's president has taken the country's fragile democracy to the brink by shutting parliament down — the latest chapter in the struggle between secular and Islamist factions there.

Tunisia's fragile democracy is put to the test as the president shuts down parliament — drawing praise from crowds in the streets but also accusations of an attempted coup.

President Biden plans to host Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi at the White House on Monday. One of the major topics will be how long the last of the U.S. troops will remain in the country.

The Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha finds people in Lebanon mired in an economic crisis that makes eating or paying rent difficult — let alone taking part in family celebrations.

Lebanon's former prime minister has given up on forming a new government, as the country's political and economic crises continue to worsen.

In Iraq, where COVID-19 is surging, the death toll from a fire in the coronavirus ward of a hospital continues to climb. Officials say more than 90 people have died and dozens more have been injured.

On Monday, flames swept through outbuildings of the al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in Nasiryah that had been set up to isolate COVID-19 patients.

The once-thriving middle class in Beirut, Lebanon, has collapsed amid a historic economic crisis. Banks are freezing withdrawals and pharmacies are running out of medicines.

The U.S. struck militia bases in Syria and Iraq after a series of drone attacks on U.S. bases. Now the region waits to see what will happen next.

Resigned to the apparent hold that the Syrian government has regained over most of the country, the U.S. and others who once sought to unseat the regime appear to be preparing to live with it.

It was a decision that appalled and angered Syrian opposition groups and international medical organizations. On May 28 Syria was appointed to the World Health Organization's Executive Board.

After Syria announced the expected victory of President Bashar Assad in an election widely condemned as fake, three Syrians talk about the country's future.