Syria’s government agreed to a ceasefire deal on 22 February announced by the US and Russia with the conditional acceptance of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), the leading opposition group. The deal does not apply to terrorist groups such as IS and al-Nusra Front. The deal calls for a ‘cessation of hostilities’ and will take effect at midnight on 27 February Damascus time. In a change to earlier ceasefire statements, Russia and the US have agreed to act as direct monitors of the cessation of hostilities. Violations of the ceasefire will be reported on a co-chaired US-Russia hotline which will have power to block warring parties from the agreement, opening it to military attack. The US continues to insist that Assad stands down at the end of the process, but Iran and Russia have spoken instead of decentralisation, and Assad being left with a more titular role. Additionally, Assad called a parliamentary election for 13 April. Elections are held every four years in Syria with the last one held in 2012.

After Iranians raided Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Teheran last month for executing a Shi'ite Muslim cleric, Saudi Arabia has now cancelled arms deals worth of €4bn to Lebanon for not supporting Saudi resolutions against Iran. While the relationship between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia extends for well over nine decades, Lebanon’s political division between the Sunni-led coalition and the Iran-backed Shia Hezbollah movement has proven a strong obstacle in their diplomatic relations. Saudi Arabia long has been suspicious of Iran, which supports Hezbollah and Syria’s embattled President Bashar Al Assad. The United Arab Emirates stand by Saudi Arabia’s decision and both countries have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon. Lebanon's Prime Minister Tammam Salam is hoping for reconsiderations.

After voting in favour of a UN-sponsored peace deal with an overwhelming majority in December, Libya’s internationally recognized parliament (House of Representatives) in Tobruk voted to reject the United Nations-backed unity government (Government of National Accord). Out of the 104 members attending the session, 89 voted against the proposal. The main reasons for opposing the proposal are fears that powerful army chief General Khalifa Haftar will be removed from his post. The rival parliament (General National Congres) in Tripoli also opposes the agreement. Western nations see the unitary government as a condition for their military deployment in the country to tackle the growing threat of the so-called Islamic State (IS).

On 16 January, the UN nuclear watchdog confirmed that Iran had fulfilled its initial commitments under the nuclear deal which was signed on 14 July 2015. For Iran, this is the day a large part of the reduction in economic sanctions would really kick in. The first stage was for Iran to dismantle significant parts of its nuclear programme and ship around 10,000kg of enriched uranium to Russia – 98% of its stockpile. Completion early this month far exceeded expectations and appears to have been heavily motivated by the belief that early sanction relief would give President Rouhani’s supporters a boost in the February 26 elections for the Majlis, the Iranian parliament. A concern by the international community is that the suspension of sanctions will reduce Iranian incentives for strict compliance in the future while supporters believe Iran will not risk to reverse the benefits it has just began to realize.

Libyan politicians have signed a UN-sponsored peace deal in Skhirat, Morocco, that is supposed to unify the country’s two rival governments into a single Government of National Accord (GNA). Around 80 of 188 lawmakers from Libya’s internationally recognised House of Representatives (HoR) based in Tobruk and 50 of 136 members of the Islamist Tripoli-based General National Congress (GNC) signed the agreement. The deal is however seen as illegitimate by certain groups in the government due to it being forced on Libya by external powers and due to the speakers of the two parliaments being absent from the voting. Under the agreement, a nine-member Presidency Council and a seventeen-member interim Government of National Accord are to be formed, with a view to holding new elections within two years.

These are the first elections since the military coup in 2013. They were held under the presidency of former army chief Abdel Fattah el Sisi (Abd Al-Fattah Sisi). The Muslim Brotherhood was declared illegal and the Upper House of Parliament was dissolved. However, critics say most candidates are supporters of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and the new parliament is likely to strengthen his control. The second round of the elections was held between the 30th of November and the 2nd of December. In some areas the second round was postponed due to administrative defects in the first round.