On the heels of Soleimani's death, pending elections will likely yield a more decisively hard-line parliament. But lingering economic anxieties and anti-government sentiment will limit its effectiveness.
In an effort to appease the country's protest movement, the new government is likely to offer short-term solutions that won't address the country's long-term issues.
For eastern Libya's field marshal, control over energy is an ace up the sleeve to put pressure on his Tripoli-based foes.
Turkey's threat to kick the U.S. military out of a key base could put the wider region on a slippery slope toward nuclear proliferation.
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis fought Saddam Hussein, engineered attacks on Western embassies and took on the Islamic State. His death in the same strike that killed Iran's Qassem Soleimani increased local hostility to the U.S. presence in Iraq.
Accelerating economic deterioration and continued political paralysis are beginning to manifest in more extreme expressions of protest anger.
By Ryan Bohl
