Iraq’s top Sunni cleric Rafi al-Rifa’i has returned to Baghdad after 11 years, sparking sectarian tensions and legal disputes amid shifting political and regional dynamics.

As Iraq’s parliamentary elections draw closer, political factions are stepping up their media campaigns, using crises and incidents to discredit rivals, even at the cost of civilian lives.

In light of the 12-day Israeli war on Iran, Iraq’s Shiite religious authority renewed its call for arms to be limited to the state alone and warned against returning to what it described as “eras of oppression and tyranny."

Two years after its launch, Iraq’s Development Road project has yet to see any real progress on the ground, despite its major strategic importance in connecting Asia and Europe through Iraq and Turkiye.

Syria’s Shia community is seeking to preserve positive relations with the new state leadership following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, after years of drawing closer to Iran both religiously and militarily.