Always piously dressed in a black turban and religious robe, Iran's ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi has been in office during a tumultuous period of confrontation abroad and mass protest at home.
On Sunday, there were fears for the 63-year-old after Iranian state media said his helicopter had an accident in poor weather in a remote western mountain region, with no news on Raisi's condition.
Israel goes to the polls Tuesday for the fifth time in under four years, with veteran right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu seeking to make a comeback as premier.
The vote comes at a time talks to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict have long since stalled and as violence has flared again in the occupied West Bank.
AFP takes a look at four years of political turmoil that started at a time when Netanyahu, after a decade as prime minister, was dogged by corruption allegations which he denies.
- April 2019: Dead heat -
Israel's right-wing veteran Benjamin Netanyahu, who has served as the country's prime minister longer than anyone else, has described protecting the Jewish state from its enemies as his "life's mission".
His critics and allies alike concede that the gravel-voiced security hawk is a tireless campaigner in pursuit of an office -- the Israeli premiership -- which he believes he is uniquely qualified to hold.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad oversaw a merciless crackdown on a pro-democracy revolt that morphed into one of the bloodiest wars of the century.
After facing down nationwide protests demanding his ouster and an armed rebellion that he all but crushed, he had until this month taken back control of much of Syria in the civil war that began in 2011.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian held in Iran for six years on charges of plotting to overthrow the government and taking part in a rally, is on her way home after Britain secured her release.
We look back at her battle to be reunited with her family in England.
- Airport arrest -
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, is arrested on April 3, 2016, with her 22-month-old daughter Gabriella at Tehran airport after visiting relatives for Iranian New Year.
Israel, which holds parliamentary elections on November 1, has been in conflict with the Palestinians and some neighbouring Arab states since it was founded in 1948.
Established as a homeland for the Jewish people in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust during World War II, it has since emerged as the Middle East's military powerhouse.
Here are some key facts about the country.
- Wars -
Israel is considered the leading military power in the Middle East and is widely believed to possess the region's sole, if undeclared, nuclear arsenal.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was held against her will for six years in Iran, but has now returned to her husband and young daughter after a tireless campaign for her release.
The 43-year-old project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the media and data agency, finally landed back in the United Kingdom in the early hours of March 17, after years of false hopes.
Together with fellow freed British-Iranian Anoosheh Ashoori, Zaghari-Ratcliffe flew from Tehran to Muscat, before travelling on to England's RAF Brize Norton.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has shaken up his conservative kingdom with head-spinning reforms while quashing any threats to his status as de facto ruler -– a role he assumed five years ago.
The hard-charging heir has earned plaudits for allowing women to drive and envisioning an economy less dependent on oil, but he has also drawn widespread revulsion over the gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and other state abuses.
Lebanon, a small Mediterranean country wracked by political and economic turmoil and the fallout of the decade-old Syrian conflict next door, holds parliamentary elections on May 15.
Here are some key facts about Lebanon.
- Multi-confessional -
The country with the cedar tree flag is one of the smallest in the Middle East, at about 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 square miles).
Israel's Defence Minister Benny Gantz, a former army chief, has put his security credentials at the centre of his latest attempt to become prime minister.
"More than ever, Israel needs leadership with security experience," he has said during the campaign ahead of Israel's election on Tuesday, its fifth in less than four years.
The 63-year-old, an elite military officer with a relaxed, deliberate manner, has been a central player in the effort to lock Benjamin Netanyahu out of power throughout Israel's four years of unprecedented political deadlock.
