• Saudi Arabia, 1902: Abdul Aziz, at the head of a Bedouin army, conquers Riyadh and begins to unite the kingdom of Arabia (both through military action and marriage with 20 women) under the puritanical Wahhabi Islamic order
• Iran, 1909: British companies begin extracting oil in Iran
• Iran, 1911: British forces occupy southern Iran to protect the oil fields
• Saudi Arabia, 1916: Sharif Hussein leads a revolt against the Ottoman Empire
• Palestine, November 1917: the "Balfour Declaration" by the British government promises a Jewish homeland in Palestine
• Palestine, 1919: Feisal Hussein, King of Iraq and Syria (then the only recognized Arab leader in the world), agrees to the creation of a Jewish nation in Palestine and executes a treaty with Jewish leader Chaim Weizmann
• Palestine, 1919: an American delegation reports on the fast rise of "Zionism" through dispossession of the "non-Jewish inhabitants of Palestine"
• Palestine, 1920: British Mandate in Palestine is established
• Iraq, 1921: Emir Faisal Ibn Hussein, brother of King Abdallah of Jordan, is proclaimed King of Iraq, but still under British protectorate
• Palestine, 1922: Britain receives a mandate from the League of Nations to create a homeland for the Jews in Palestine, which starts large-scale Jewish immigration from Europe
• Egypt, April 1923: a secular constitution is proclaimed in Egypt (previously a British colony) to create a parliamentary monarchy
• Saudi Arabia, 1926: Abdul Aziz becomes king of Saudi Arabia
• Iraq, 1927: huge oil fields are discovered near Kirkuk and oil rights are granted to a British oil company
• Egypt, 1928: Hassan Al-Banna creates "Al-Ikhwan Al-Moslemoon" (Muslim Brotherhood), a quasi-monastic movement that advocates for the entire Arab world a fundamentalist Islamic society like the one created by the Wahabites in Saudi Arabia and therefore advocates rebellion against the westernized King Faruk government (motto: "Quran is our law, jihad is our way, dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope")
• Palestine, 1929: hundreds of people die in clashes between Arabs and Jews in Palestine
• Palestine, 1931: Abraham Tehomi founds the terrorist organization Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization) to liberate Palestine from British occupation and Arabs residents
• Iraq, 1932: Iraq becomes independent under the rule of King Faisal
• Saudi Arabia, 1932: Saudi Arabia becomes independent under the rule of King Abdul Aziz
• Iraq, 1933: King Faisal dies and his son, King Ghazi I, ascends to the throne
• Palestine, 1936: Arabs revolt against British rule in Palestine (first "intifada")
• Egypt, 1936: Farouk becomes king of Egypt, succeeding his father Fuad, and installs a government friendly to the West
• Saudi Arabia, 1938: oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia by an American company
• Iraq, 1939: King Ghazi dies in a car accident while he is preparing an invasion of Kuwait, and is succeeded by the regent Abdallah
• Palestine, November 1940: Haganah terrorists bomb the boat "Patria" full of Jewish immigrants at the port of Haifa, killing more than 200 people
• Iraq, April 1941: Prime minister Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani stages a pro-Nazi military coup
• Iran, 1941: Reza Shah Pahlevi ascends to the throne of Iran when his father is deposed by British and Soviet troops for collaborating with the Nazis
• Syria, 1941: the Ba' ath Party is founded in Damascus by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din Bitar with the mission to unify the whole Arab world in one Arab country
• Lebanon, November 1943: Lebanon becomes independent under the leadership of Bechara El Khoury
• Palestine, July 1946: Jewish terrorists, led by Menachem Begin, bomb and destroy the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the British military and civilian headquarters, killing 91 people
• Palestine, November 1947: the United Nations orders a partition of Palestine in a Jewish state (Israel), an Arab state and an international zone around Jerusalem
• Palestine, November 1947: Jews set to create the state of Israel while Arabs condemn the United Nations decision and refuse to create an Arab state that does not include the whole of Palestine
• Syria, 1947: the Baath Arab Socialist party is founded in Syria
• Palestine, December 1947: hundreds are killed by Hagana in the village of Baldat al-Shaikh
• Palestine, April 1948: Israeli troops occupy Arab towns (Tiberias, Haifa, Jaffa, etc)
• Palestine, May 1948: Palestinians in Jerusalem and Jaffa call a general strike against the partition
• Palestine, May 1948: on the same day that Israel declares its independence, the United States recognizes Israel while five Arab countries attack Israel from all sides (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq)
• Israel, July 1948: several massacres of Arabs carried out by Haganah (underground Jewish militia) in Palestine (Lydda, Ramle, Doueimah)
• Palestine, 1948: Palestinian exodus and David Ben-Gurion's ethnic cleansing cause a decrease in the population of Arabs within the borders of Israel and the creation of refugee camps outside its borders
• Egypt, January 1949: members of the Muslim Brotherhood assassinate Egyptian prime minister Mahmud Fahmi al-Nuqrashi
• Egypt, February 1949: Hassan Al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, is assassinated in Cairo
• Palestine, July 1949: The war ends with Israel winning west Jerusalem and small pieces of land
• Iraq, May 1950: the Israeli government airlifts approximately 110,000 Jews to Israel (operations Ezra and Nehemiah, completed in August 1951)
• Iran, 1951: prime minister Mohammed Mossadeq nationalizes the oil industry
• Egypt, July 1952: a military coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser removes King Faruk and founds the republic of Egypt
• Jordan, 1952: members of the Muslim Brotherhood assassinate King Abdullah in Jerusalem and King Hussein becomes the new king
• Saudi Arabia, 1953: King Abdul Aziz dies and is succeeded by Saud bin Abdul Aziz
• Algeria, 1954: Algerian exiles in Egypt create the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) and start the civil war
• Egypt, 1954: President Gamal Abdel-Nasser bans the Muslim Brotherhood
• Egypt, 1955: Nasser joins the policy of "non-alignment"
• Palestine, 1955: Palestinian fedayeen ("those who sacrifice themselves") begin operating from across the border bringing terror into Israel
• Egypt, July 1956: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt nationalizes the Suez canal, thereby becoming the first Arab leader to confront the West and the father of Arab nationalism, thereby moving the Arab world into the Soviet/communist ideological sphere
• Palestine, October 1956: in retaliation for guerrilla attacks sponsored by Egypt, Israel declares war to Egypt (second war) and invades the Sinai and the Gaza strip, while France and Britain seize the Suez canal
• Israel, 1956: Israel sets up a secret nuclear program headed by Shimon Peres, with help from France
• Sudan, 1956: Britain grants Sudan full independence
• Palestine, March 1957: Israel withdraws from the Sinai and the Gaza strip
• Iraq, July 1958: inspired by Gamal Abdel Nasser, officers led by brigadier Abdul-Karim Qassem overthrow the Hashemite monarchy and proclaim a republic
• Palestine, 1959: Yassir Arafat founds Fatah, the Palestinian liberation movement
• Libya, 1959: oil is discovered in Libya
• Saudi Arabia, 1960: Oil developing countries found the OPEC
• Iraq, 1960: Mustafa Barzani leads the Kurdish insurgency against Iraq
• Kuwait, June 1961: Kuwait becomes an independent, with the protection of Britain against the claims of Iraq's leader Abdul-Karim Qassem
• Iraq, 1961: a Kurdish rebellion under the leadership of Mustafa al-Barzani is brutally repressed
• Israel, 1962: Israel's nuclear program directed by Shimon Peres produces the first weapon-grade plutonium
• Sudan, 1962: Christians in the south of Sudan start a civil war (the "Anya Nya" movement)
• Algeria, 1962: After the deaths of about 100,000 French and about 1,000,000 Algerians, Algeria is declared independent
• Israel, 1963: Israeli prime minister Ben Gurion resigns
• Iraq, February 1963: in a military coup the Ba'ath Party seizes power in Iraq
• Syria, 1963: in a military coup the Baath Party seizes power in Syria, outlaws all other parties and embarks in a Soviet-style program of nationalization.
• Saudi Arabia, 1964: Faisal bin Abdul Aziz becomes the third King of Saudi Arabia
• Palestine, June 1964: Arab countries create the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Cairo with the mission to destroy the state of Israel and liberate Palestine
• Palestine, January 1965: Fatah, operating from neighboring Arab countries, launches guerrilla attacks against Israel
• Israel, 1966: Israel produces its first nuclear bomb
• Palestine, June 1967: Arab countries amass troops at the Israeli border and Israel launches a pre-emptive strike (third war) against its neighbors, and in seven days re-conquers the Sinai, the Gaza strip and even the Suez canal in Egypt, invades the Golan Heights in Syria, the West Bank and East Jerusalem in Jordan. The whole of Jerusalem is now under Israeli control. Thousands of Palestinians are displaced and absorbed into Jordan. 18,000 Arab soldiers are killed, 250 Egyptian planes and 50 Syrian planes are destroyed.
• Palestine, December 1967: George Habash founds the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization inspired by Marxism-Leninism
• Palestine, March 1968: Fatah guerrillas win the battle of Karameh against superior Israeli forces
• Iraq, July 1968: the pro-Soviet faction of the Ba'ath Party seizes power and appoints Ahmed Hasan al-Bakr president and Saddam Hussein is appointed in charge of internal security
• Palestine, October 1968: Ahmad Jibril splits from George Habash's PFLP and founds the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) with base in Syria
• Palestine, 1969: female Palestinian fighter Leila Khaled hijacks a TWA airplane
• Libya, 1969: Colonel Muammar Qaddafi becomes dictator of Libya after a successful coup
• Palestine, February 1969: Yassir Arafat becomes leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (Fatah takes over the PLO)
• Switzerland, February 1970: A bomb by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine kills all 47 people aboard a Swissair flight
• Jordan, September 1970: King Hussein of Jordan, fearing for his own country's stability, orders a massive expulsion of Palestinians ("black September")
• Palestine, September 1970: the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Yassir Arafat, settles in Beirut, Lebanon
• Egypt, September 1970: Nasser dies and is buried in one of the largest funerals ever, while his deputy Anwar Sadat becomes the new President of Egypt
• Jordan, September 1970: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine carries out simultaneous hijackings to Jordan (Dawson's Field) of TWA, Swissair and BOAC planes for a total of over 300 hostages ("Skyjack Sunday"), which are swapped with Leila Khaled, the leader of the PFLP cell captured in Britain
• Syria, November 1970: Hafez Assad, Shiite leader of the military wing of the Baath Party, overthrows the President of Syria
• Iraq, 1971: Saddam Hussein inaugurates the Iraqi program to build a nuclear weapon
• Jordan, November 1971: The Jordanian prime minister Wasfi Tal is killed by Palestinian Black September terrorists while in Cairo
• Iraq, 1972: the oil industry is nationalized
• Israel, May 1972: A joint attack by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Japanese Red Army at Lod airport (Israel) kills 26 people
• Israel, May 1972: Black September terrorists hijack a Belgian airliner in Tel Aviv and Israeli commandos storm the plane
• Germany, 1972: Palestinian terrorists of the Black September faction kill 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics
• London, 1973: Ilich Ramirez Sanchez ("Carlos the Jackal"), who studied in Russia, performs spectacular terrorist actions on behalf of Palestinian terrorist groups
• Greece, August 1973: Black September terrorists attacks the Israeli airline counter at the Athens airport
• Saudi Arabia, October 1973: OPEC countries impose an oil embargo on the western world that causes an economic crises
• Palestine, October 1973: Egypt and Syria attack Israel (fourth war), but Israel invades again the Sinai
• Italy, December 1973: Palestinian terrorists attack a Pan Am flight in Rome and kill 30 passengers
• Western Sahara, 1973: El-Ouali leads a group of Sahrawi students to form the "Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro", or Polisario, fighting for independence from Spain Palestine,
• 1974: Sabri al-Banna splits from the PLO and founds Abu Nidal
• Morocco, June 1974: the Palestinian National Council (PNC) in Rabat decides to abandon international terrorism
• Palestine, November 1974: the United Nations recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to sovereignty and invites Arafat's PLO as an "observer", thereby recognizing Arafat as the leader of the Palestinians
• Lebanon, April 1975: Christian and Muslim sects engage in a civil war in Lebanon that will last 16 years
• Saudi Arabia, 1975: Khalid bin Abdul Aziz King Khalid becomes the fourth King of Saudi Arabia
• Austria, 1975: Oil ministers of the OPEC countries are kidnapped during a meeting by terrorists led by "Carlos"
• Iraq, 1975: when Iran, the United States and Israel withdraw support to the Kurdish revolt led by Mustafa Barzani, Iraqi troops massacre thousands of Kurdish civilians and rebels after collecting them in "dar al-fana" ("houses of annihilation")
• Western Sahara, 1975: Spain withdraws and Morocco invades Western Sahara with the "green march"
• Saudi Arabia, January 1976: A bomb blows up a Lebanese flight over Saudi Arabia, killing all 82 passengers
• Western Sahara, February 1976: the Polisario proclaims the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and begins an independence struggle against Morocco
• Lebanon, April 1976: Syria invades Lebanon to supposedly protect Christians from an almost certain Palestinian victory
• Palestine, 1976: Wadi' Haddad split from George Habash's PFLP and founds the "15 May Faction", that quickly becomes the leading terrorist organization
• Palestine, 1976: Israeli commandos storm an Air France plane hijacked by Palestinian terrorists in Entebbe
• Algeria, 1976: Algeria is declared a socialist state
• Lebanon, March 1977: The Syrian Secret services assassinate Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt in the Shouf region a few meters away from a Syrian checkpoint, then proceed to commit revenge killings against the Christians of the Chouf which left 250 civilians dead.
• Palestine, April 1977: Abu Abbas splits from the PFLP-GC and founds the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF)
• Israel, October 1977: A German airliner is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and stormed by German paratroopers in Somalia
• Egypt, November 1977: Sadat is the first Arab leader ever to visit Israel
• Israel, March 1978: Al Fatah terrorists hijack two buses in Israel killing 37 people
• Lebanon, June 1978: Israel invades the southern part of Lebanon, but then withdraws
• Palestine, September 1978: the Camp David agreement brokered by President Jimmy Carter of the USA prescribes a timetable for solving the Palestinian issue, but Jordan refuses to negotiate on behalf of Arafat and Israel refuses to negotiate directly with a terrorist like Arafat
• Palestine, 1978: Israel begins resettling Jews in the Arab areas of the West Bank
• Iran, January 1979: a popular revolution deposes the shah Reza Pahlevi
• Iran, February 1979: Islamic clerics (ayatollahs) seize the power and appoint Ruhollah Khomeini supreme leader of Iran, just returned from exile
• Israel, March 1979: Sadat of Egypt and of Israel sign a peace treaty and Israel returns the Sinai peninsula to Egypt
• Iraq, June 1979: Saddam Hussein seizes power in Iraq and begins a ruthless dictatorship
• Lebanon, 1979: the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran galvanizes Islamic extremists, especially Shiite Arabs
• Iran, November 1979: Iranian students take 52 Americans hostage at the American embassy
• Saudi Arabia, November 1979: Dozens of Islamic fanatics seize the Grand Mosque in Mecca taking hundred of pilgrims hostage
• Iran, April 1980: American troops fail to liberate the American hostages
• Iran, September 1980: Iraq (Saddam Hussein) attacks Iran
• Syria, 1980: galvanized by the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Muslims riot in Aleppo, Homs and Hama
• Libya, 1980: increasingly anti-American propaganda by Qaddafi
• Algeria, 1980: Berbers demonstrate against Arab domination in Algeria ("Spring of Kabyle")
• Iran, January 1981: by trading weapons for hostages, the new American president, Ronald Reagan, obtains the release of the Americans held in Iran for 444 days
• Iraq, June 1981: Israel bombs Iraq's Osirak reactor that is producing enriched uranium fuel and plutonium that can be used for nuclear weapons
• Libya, August 1981: two Libya airplanes are downed by the USA on the Mediterranean
• Egypt, October 1981: Sadat is assassinated by a radical Muslim organization (the Egyptian Islamic Jihad) led by Khalid al Islambouli and Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri, and is succeeded by Hosni Mubarak
• Syria, February 1982: Assad orders the bombing of Hama, one of Syria's major cities, for 27 days, killing more than 20,000 people, to stem an uprising of the Muslim Brotherhood
• Saudi Arabia, June 1982: Fahd bin 'Abdulaziz (11th son of the founder of the Saudi kingdom) ascends to the throne
• Lebanon, 1982: Hezbollah (Party of God) is founded by a radical Shiite group with the mission of creating an Iranian-style Islamic republic in Lebanon, supported by Iranian revolutionary guards
• Lebanon, June 1982: Israel invades Lebanon trapping the Palestine Liberation Organization and its leader Yassir Arafat in Beirut
• Lebanon, August 1982: Iran sends "volunteers" to fight Israel in Lebanon
• Lebanon, August 1982: Arafat and his forces are allowed to leave Beirut
• Lebanon, September 1982: Bashir Gemayel elected President of Lebanon
• Lebanon, September 1982: Gemayel is assassinated by Syrian sponsored elements at his party's headquarters
• Lebanon, September 1982: Israeli-backed Phalange christian militiamen under Elie Hobeika with the support of Israeli troops (under the command of Ariel Sharon) massacre 1,000 unarmed Palestinian and Lebanese civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in west Beirut
• Lebanon, September 1982: Ronald Reagan, President of the USA, sends the marines to restore order in Lebanon; French and Italian troops join
• Iraq, 1982: Iran provides help to Kurds fighting against Saddam Hussein in the north of Iraq and massive repression by Iraqi forces follows
• Lebanon, April 1983: Syrian agents blow up the American embassy in Beirut killing and injuring many.
• Lebanon, May 1983: Syria directs a mutiny within Arafat's Fatah that will force Arafat to leave Lebanon
• Palestine, July 1983: the Mufti of Jerusalem issues a fatwa to kill Assad in retaliation to his campaign against the Palestine Liberation Organization.
• United Arab Emirates, Sep 1983: A bomb blows up a Gulf Air flight over the United Arab Emirates killing all 112 passengers
• Lebanon, October 1983: suicide commandos blow up the US and French barracks killing 241 marines and 58 French soldiers
• Iraq, 1983: Iraq uses chemical weapons against Iranian troops
• Sudan, 1983: Christian leader John Garang leads the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) in a new civil war against the Sudanese government
• Lebanon, February 1984: Americans, French and Italians withdraw from Lebanon
• Lebanon, February 1984: Militias fight for control of Beirut, which has become the most dangerous city in the world (car bombs, kidnaps, assassinations)
• Iraq, 1984: Iraq uses chemical weapons against Kurds
• Lebanon, 1985: Syria and Iran sponsor Hezbollah guerrilla against Israel in Lebanon
• Tunisia, 1985: Israel raids the PLO headquarters in Tunis, killing 60 people
• Syria, 1985: Syria directs a world-wide terrorist campaign aimed at sabotaging the agreement between Jordan's King Hussein and Yassir Arafat
• Palestine, 1985: the "15 May Faction" is dissolved and its leader and notorious bomb maker Muhammad Al-Amri joins the PFLP-GC
• Israel, May 1985: 1.260 Palestinian prisoners (among them Sheikh Ahmed Yassin) are released from Israeli jails in a prisoner exchange between Israel and Ahmad Jibril's PFLP-GC that has hijacked an American passenger plane
• Lebanon, June 1985: Israel withdraws to the southern part of Lebanon, which officially cedes to friendly Christian militias
• Lebanon, June 1985: Hezbollah terrorists hijack a TWA flight and exchange the hostages for 435 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel
• Palestine, October 1985: Palestinian terrorists led by Abu Abbas hijack the Achille Lauro cruise ship and kills one passenger, but are helped to escape by the Italian government
• Palestine, December 1985: Abu Nidal terrorists kill 13 people during an attack on El Al's offices in Rome and 3 people in a similar attack in Vienna
• Palestine, December 1985: Abu Nidal terrorists carries out attacks at the Rome and Vienna airports in December 1985
• Egypt & Saudi Arabia, 1985: the Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK) opens branches in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, helping recruit and transport thousands of volunteers from over 50 countries (mainly Saudi Arabia, but also Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon) to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan (the Egyptian contingent, Jamaat al Islamiya, which includes cleric Omar Abdel Rahman's two sons, is particularly respected for its bold behavior)
• USA, 1985: in New York the Egyptian politician Mustafa Rahman and Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, spiritual leader of Jamaat al Islamiya, establish Al Kifah (The Struggle), a refugee center, for the purpose of recruiting and funding for mujahedin to fight in to Afghanistan, de facto a branch of the MAK
• Libya, August 1986: American planes bomb Libya trying to assassinate a defiant Qaddafi
• Palestine, September 1986: Abu Nidal terrorists hijack a Pan Am in Karachi
• Israel, 1986: Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician, reveals the Israeli nuclear program
• Lebanon, February 1987: Syria invades Beirut
• Libya, 1987: Ahmad Jibril's PFLP-GC organization fights with Libya in Chad
• Palestine, December 1987: Palestinians in the occupied territories begin an uprising against Israeli occupation forces using mainly rocks (the first "intifada") mainly protesting continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian areas of the West Bank
• Palestine, December 1987: Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, backed by donors in the Gulf states, creates the civilian and military organization Hamas in Gaza as the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, with the goal to drive Israel out of the Middle East and establish an Islamic state
• Iraq, 1987: missiles shot by Saddam Hussein's Iraq kill 37 American sailors in the Persian Gulf
• Iran, July 1988: a missile fired by an American warship downs an Iranian civilian plane and kills all 290 passengers aboard
• Iran, August 1988: end of the war between Iraq and Iran that has cost about one million lives (600,000 Iranians and 400,000 Iraqis)
• Iraq, September 1988: Iraqi forces attack Kurdish forces with chemical weapons, destroying nearly 4,000 of the 5,000 Kurdish villages and killing tens of thousands of civilians
• Libya, December 1988: terrorists of the PFLP-GC backed by Libya blow up a Pan Am plane over Scotland killing 259 people probably on behalf of Iran
• Palestine, May 1989: Ahmed Yassin, leader of Hamas, is arrested and condemned to life in prison, and his successor Musa Abu Marzook separates the civilian and military wings of Hamas (Salah Shihada establishes Hamas' military apparatus)
• Lebanon, May 1989: The Syrian Intelligence Services assassinates the Sunni Mufti of the republic, Sheikh Hassan Khaled after he notified the Kuwaiti ambassador that the Syrian artillery is the one responsible for shelling both the Christian and the Moslem sides of the city, and that the Syrians, from their positions in Aramoun, are responsible for the massacres at Unesco.
• Iran, 1989: Khomeini dies and is buried in one of the largest funerals ever
• Iran, June 1989: Ali Khameini appointed supreme leader of Iran
• Iraq, 1989: German scientist Karl-Heinz Schaab sells German uranium-enrichment technology to Iraq
• Libya, September 1989: A bomb planted by Libyan agents blows up a French flight over Niger killing all 171 passengers
• Libya, September 1989: Qaddafi publicly renounces terrorism and orders Ahmad Jibril to close his offices in Tripoli
• Western Sahara, 1989: Morocco and the Polisario sign a truce and begin peace talks
• Sudan, 1989: Hassan al-Turabi seizes power with a coup and becomes Sudan's Islamist philosopher and dictator, intent on building a pure Islamic society
• Lebanon, November 1989: The Syrians assassinate president-elect Rene Moawad due to disputes he had with the Syrian leaders and his refusal to obey their orders.
• Iraq, August 1990: Iraqi troops invade Kuwait
• Saudi Arabia, August 1990: King Fahd calls for US protection against Saddam Hussein
• Lebanon, October 1990: the last Christian leader to fight Syria and the Muslims in Lebanon, General Michel Aoun, surrenders to Syria (after a battle that killed 700 Christians), and the civil war officially ends
• Saudi Arabia, October 1990: Saudi Arabia, afraid that Saddam Hussein may turn against them after invading Kuwait, joins the U.S.-led coalition and for the first time ever allows troops of a non-Muslim country to deploy on its soil
• Iraq, January 1991: George Bush, President of the USA, leads an international coalition that attacks Iraq from all sides and liberates Kuwait
• Iraq, February 1991: The US-led coalition stops short of reaching Baghdad and leaves Saddam Hussein in power but controlling only the central part of Iraq (the southern and northern part are off-limits to Iraqi planes in order to protect the Shiite and Kurdish minorities)
• Jordan, 1991: Mohammed Nazzal, a Jordan-based leader of Hamas, with the help of Osama bin Laden terrorists, unleashes a campaign of terrorist bombings and assassinations aimed at toppling the regime of King Hussein
• Lebanon, December 1991: the last American hostage is freed from Lebanon
• Saudi Arabia, 1991: Osama bin Laden protests the use of Saudi Arabia by American troops and denounces the royal Saudi family as traitors of Islam
• Saudi Arabia, 1991: Saudi Arabia expels Osama bin Laden for his anti-government stance
• Sudan, 1991: Osama bin Laden finds shelter in Sudan, under the protection of the Islamic government of Hassan al Tourabi, sets up headquarters for Al Qaeda in Khartoum and contributes to construction and agricultural projects
• Algeria, January 1992: The Algerian army cancels national elections won by the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) and seizes power, while Islamic radicals of the Arme` Islamique du Salut (AIS), the military wing of the FIS, begin a guerrilla campaign
• Iraq, May 1992: Fouad Masoum is elected leader of the regional Kurdish government, which controls northern Iraq and is de facto independent from Saddam Hussein
• Egypt, September 1992: the extremist movement Gama'a al-Islamiya (Islamic Group) warns tourists not to enter the province of Qena, where most monuments are, and begins a terrorist campaign against tourists
• Egypt, 1992: extremists launch a campaign aimed at ousting President Hosni Mubarak, that will kill 1,100 people in five years
• Lebanon, 1992: Lebanon is now under full control of a Saudi sponsored, Syrian executed regime blessed by the United States of America..
• Egypt, 1993: scores of Islamic militants are hanged by Mubarak's regime
• USA, February 1993: Islamic terrorists, led by under the orders of Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel Rahman, bomb the World Trade Center killing 6 people, the first major international terrorist attack on U. S. soil.
• USA, 1993: the FBI suspects Ramzi Yousef, an Egyptian terrorist, of organizing the bombing of the World Trade Center and finds ties with a blind sheik in Jersey City named Omar Abdel Rahman, a radical Egyptian group and Afghan war hero Wali Khan Amin Shah, a close ally of Osama bin Laden
• Kuwait, Apr 1993: Iraqi agents attempt to assassinate former president George Bush during a visit to Kuwait
• Egypt, August 1993: Islamic terrorists try to assassinate two ministers in three months
• Palestine, September 1993: following secret negotiations in Oslo, the Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat sign an agreement to start a peace process
• Somalia, October 1993: terrorists led by Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri, new leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad that killed Sadat, and affiliated to Osama bin Laden , working in collaboration with Somali warlord Muhammed Farrah Aidid, trap American troops in Mogadishu, shoot down three helicopters and kill 18 American soldiers
• Algeria, 1993: A group of of Algerian "Afghans" (Islamic fighters who received their military training in Afghanistan) forms the Group Islamique Arme` (GIA) with the mission to exterminate all infidels (basically Jews and Christians) and begins targeting foreign nationals in Algeria, murdering two Frenchmen
• Sudan, 1993: Omar Hassan al-Bashir is appointed President, while Hassan al-Turabi remains the most powerful man in the country
• Sudan, 1993: a senior Bin Laden associate negotiate the purchase of enriched South African uranium with the mediation of Sudanese officials
• Palestine, February 1994: A Jewish extremist kills 29 Muslims in a Hebron mosque
• Palestine, May 1994: The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are turned over by Israel to the Palestinian Authority under the command of Yassir Arafat, who is, de facto, recognized as the leader of the future Palestinian state
• Yemen, mid 1994: during the civil war between communists and democratic forces, president Ali Saleh enjoys the support of Islah (Islamic Reform Party), an offshoot of the Hashed tribes in northern Yemen headed by radical Sheikh Abdul Mejid Az Zindani
• Israel, September 1994: a Jewish settler kills 30 Palestinians in a mosque
• Israel, October 1994: Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement begin a series of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, including 22 people in October 1994, 19 people in January 1995, 58 people in 1996, 24 people in 1997 (mostly suicide bombings)
• Sudan, October 1994: Ilich Ramirez Sanchez ("Carlos the Jackal") is arrested in Sudan and jailed in France
• Palestine, November 1994: Arafat's police clashes with Hamas rioters
• Jordan, December 1994: Hamas terrorists that plotted to overthrow King Hussein are executed
• Algeria, December 1994: an Air France Airbus A300 is hijacked at Algiers airport by Islamic terrorists of the Group Islamic Army with the plan to blow it up over Paris, but the plane was stormed by French police in Marseille
• Algeria, 1994: chaos reigns as the Group Islamic Army (GIA), led by Tayeb al Afghani, an Afghan veteran, kills scores of foreigners and Algerian intellectuals in and around Algiers, while the Movement Islamic Army (MIA), also led by Afghan veterans, attacks military and government targets in the western and eastern regions of Algeria, while the Kataeb al Mout death squads, led by Afghan veteran) Sherif Gousmi (aka Abu Abdallah Ahmed), specialize in assassinations of government officials and several French citizens
• Philippines, 1994: Ramzi Yousef, Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin Shah, all three ex Afghan fighters working under Kuwait-born Al Qaeda terrorist and Yousef's uncle Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, plan terrorist attacks (to blow up several civilian U.S. airplanes over the Pacific, to attack the CIA headquarters in the US with a plane loaded with explosives, to blow up two Boeing 747 airliners as they approached Hong Kong from different directions, and to blow up 11 US airliners simultaneously as they attempted to land at various American cities)
• Britain, 1994: Osama bin Laden travels to London under a Saudi passport and establishes London as the political and financial headquarter of al-Qaeda organization (his international coalition of terrorists, the Jihad Committee, runs the Islamic Information Observatory Center and the Advisory and Reformation Body, both based in London), while his financial resources are administered by lawyers in Switzerland
• Philippines, January 1995: Osama bin Laden terrorists led by Ramzi Youssef and his uncle Khalid Mohammed plan to assassinate the Pope during a visit in Manila
• USA, February 1995: Pakistan and the FBI arrest Ramzi Yousef and uncover terrorist plans against the US, but his uncle Khalid Mohammed escapes to Afghanistan
• Ethiopia, June 1995: Osama bin Laden terrorists try to assassinate Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa during his official visit
• India, July 1995: Islamic fundamentalists kidnap and later kill five western tourists i Kashmir (linked to Harakat al-Ansar, a militant group based in Pakistan that is led by Fazlur Rehman Khalil)
• Malta, October 1995: Fathi Shqaqi, founder of the Islamic Jihad, is assassinated by Israeli agents, possibly with the collaboration of the PLO, and is replaced by Ramadan Shalah whose base is in Syria
• Israel, November 1995: Yitzhak Rabin assassinated by a Jewish fundamentalist
• Sudan, May 1996: under pressure from the US and Saudi Arabia, Sudan expels Osama bin Laden
• Libya, 1996: the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a fundamentalist Islamic group, carries out a failed assassination attempt against Qaddafi
• Sudan, 1996: an Islamic militant of Takfir wal Hijra kills 12 people in a mosque
• Saudi Arabia, 1996: 19 American soldiers killed in the bombing of the air force barracks in Saudi Arabia
• Iran, May 1997: Mohammad Khatami, a moderate, is elected President with 67% of the popular vote
• Saudi Arabia, July 1997: Saudi police kills hundreds of Iranian fundamentalist pilgrims at Mecca's Grand Mosque
• Palestine, October 1997: upset by a failed assassination attempt by Israeli secret agents against Hamas' leader in Jordan (Khaled Mishal), that threatens the peace treaty between the two countries, Jordan's King Hussein demands the release of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin
• Egypt, 1997: Muslim terrorists attack foreign tourists in Cairo and Luxor (56 tourists killed in the two attacks)
• USA, January 1998: Yousef is sentenced to 240 years for his role in the World Trade Center bombing
• Iraq, February 1998: military confrontation between Saddam Hussein and the United States after Iraq halts all work by United Nations arms inspectors
• Pakistan, February 1998: Harakat ul-Mujahidin, led by Fazlur Rehman Khalil, who has contacts with Osama Bin Laden, calls for attacks against the US
• Afghanistan, February 1998: Osama bin Laden announces the creation of the "International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders", an international alliance of terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Pakistan-based Harakat al-Ansar, and Muhammad Atif (aka Subhi Abu Sitta, aka Abu Hafs Al Masri) is named commander of their military operations
• Kenya & Tanzania, August 1998: two truck bombs destroyed the American embassies, killing 213 people in Kenya and 11 in Tanzania (very few Americans, many Muslims)
• Afghanistan & Sudan, August 1998: the U.S. bombs Sudan for helping terrorists and Afghanistan's camps where Osama bin Laden trains his militants
• Iraq, December 1998: the U.S. and the U.K. bomb Iraq because Iraq is not allowing United Nations inspectors to resume their job
• USA, 1998: Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri are named suspects in the bombings of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
• Germany, 1998: Egyptian student Mohammed Atta and Yemeni terrorist Ramzi Binalshibh, who reports to Kuwaiti terrorist Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, become roommates in Hamburg, and Atta becomes the leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist cell in Germany
• Jordan, February 1999: King Hussein of Jordan dies and is succeeded by his son Abdullah
• Israel, May 1999: Ehud Barak campaigns on a peace platform and is elected prime minister of Israel
• Iran, August 1999: pro-democracy riots in Iran, following the arrest of pro-democracy intellectuals and the closure of newspapers by ultraconservative ayatollah Khameini
• India, October 1999: Osama bin Laden calls for a jihad against India over the disputed territory of Kashmir
• Jordan, December 1999: Jordanian police arrests terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden planning attacks against western tourists
• USA, December 1999: an Algerian terrorist with links to Afghanistan tries to enter the US and bomb the millennium celebrations in Seattle
• Algeria, 1999: Abdelaziz Bouteflika is elected president of Algeria after all other candidates withdraw or are disqualified
• Algeria, 1999: The GIA and the AIS approve peace talks with the Algerian government (150,000 people have been killed in the civil war since 1992)
• Afghanistan, 1999: Kuwaiti terrorist Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, head of Al Qaeda's military committee in Afghanistan, plans a terrorist attack inside the USA and assigns it to Yemeni terrorist Ramzi Binalshibh, who recruits a terrorist cell in Germany (his housemate Atta and others)
• Sudan, May 2000: Christian churches are destroyed by the Sudanese government
• Syria, June 2000: Assad of Syria dies and is succeeded by his son Bashir
• Palestine, July 2000: Arafat and prime minister Ehud Barak of Israel fail to reach a peace accord at Camp David mainly on the status of Jerusalem
• USA, July 2000: Mohammed Atta and the other members of his cell move to the USA, where they take flight lessons
• Palestine, August 2000: As peace talks break down, a visit of Ariel Sharon to a holy Muslim site near Jerusalem causes widespread riots among Palestinians because Sharon is widely considered responsible for atrocities against Palestinians
• Palestine, September 2000: the new "intifada" rapidly escalates and gets out of control
• Yemen, October 2000: Islamic terrorists damage an American aircraft off the port of Aden killing 17 sailors (the bomb was made by Lebanon-based terrorist organization Hezbollah and delivered through the radical cleric Sheik Abdul Majid Zandani, who has ties to Osama bin Laden)
• Sudan, December 2000: an Islamic militant of Takfir wal Hijra kills 20 people in a mosque
• Sudan, February 2001: the Sudanese government arrests several leaders of the Islamist party (Popular National Congress), including its leader Hassan al-Turabi
• Israel, February 2001: Ariel Sharon wins the elections and becomes prime minister of Israel
• Palestine, June 2001: suicide bombings in several Israeli cities are carried out by Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) and the Syria-based Islamic Jihad (the deadliest suicide bombings kill 20 people in June 2001, 15 people in August 2001, over 20 in November)
• Israel, 2001: Sharon retaliates against the new Palestinian intifada and growing numbers of suicide bombings and thousands of Palestinians are killed (including assassinations of influential Palestinians) in the worst fighting since the first intifada
• USA, September 11, 2001: Islamic terrorists led by Mohammed Atta hijack four planes that crash into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, killing 4,000 people
• USA, September 2001: reports emerge that Osama Bin Laden's network of terrorists may be planning chemical and/or biological attacks on the American population
• France, September 2001: Interpol issues a warrant for Ayman al-Zawahri, now considered Osama Bin Laden's number two man and main ideologue of his organization
• Pakistan, October 2001: Pakistan arrests Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, the former director of its nuclear program, under suspicion that he may have provided nuclear information to Osama Bin Laden
• Palestine, November 2001: Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, leader of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank, is killed by an Israeli missile
• Lebanon, January 2002: former militia leader Elie Hobeika is killed in Beirut
• Sudan, January 2002: The Sudanese government and the Christian rebels of the SPLA sign a ceasefire agreement
• Yemen, February 2002: dozens of foreign Islamic scholars are expelled as part of a crackdown on suspected al-Qaeda members
• Israel, March 2002: Passover massacres carried out by suicide bombers of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (possibly under the control of Marwan Barghouti) against Israeli civilians cause a massive retaliation against Arafat by Israel
• Lebanon, March 2002: the League of Arab States approves a proposal by Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel and make peace in return for all the occupied lands
• Pakistan, March 2002: Abu Zubaydah, a Palestinian born in Saudi Arabia and a chief operative of Al Qaeda, is captured in Pakistan and reveals that Kuwaiti terrorist Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was the mastermind of the September 11 attacks
• Oman, March 2002: Al Qaeda terrorist Mohammed Mansour Jabarah is arrested in Oman and reveals plans by Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah to attack bars and discos popular with westerners in Southeast Asia (his associates Omar al-Faruq and Riduan Isamuddin Hambali are still at large)
• Israel, April 2002: Israel invades Palestinian territory and arrests thousands of suspected terrorists, including Marwan Barghouti, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), now led by Ahmad Jibril, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), now led by Ahmed Sa'adat
• Indonesia, June 2002: Omar al-Faruq, a Kuwaiti member of Al-Qaeda and of Jemaah Islamiyah, is arrested in Indonesia, and reveals plans to attack targets in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia
• Palestine, July 2002: Sheik Salah Shehada, founder of the military wing of Hamas (Izzedine al Qassam), is killed by an Israeli missile
• Iraq, August 2002: Abu Nidal is assassinated in Baghdad, amid rumors that he was plotting a coup against Saddam Hussein
• Palestine, September 2002: in retaliation for suicide bombings in Israel, Israeli troops demolish Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah
• Pakistan, September 2002: Yemeni terrorist Ramzi Binalshibh, suspected of being the link between Al Qaeda and the September 11 cell, is arrested in Pakistan
• Yemen, November 2002: the USA kills Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi (Abu Ali), one of Al Qaeda's top operatives, and capture Al Qaeda's chief of operations in the Persian Gulf, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri
• Algeria, January 2003: 47 soldiers are killed in an ambush by Islamic terrorists, the worst carnage in six years
• Palestine, February 2003: Israel increases its raids in Gaza and the West Bank to quell the two-year-old intifada that has already cost the lives of 1,800 Palestinians and 700 Israelis
• Pakistan, February 2003: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is arrested at the house of Ahmed Abdul Qadoos, a leader of Pakistan's party Jamaat-e-Islami
• Palestine, March 2003: Ibrahim al-Maqadma, a senior leader of Hamas, is killed by an Israeli missile
• Palestine, March 2003: Mahmoud Abbas, a critic of the Palestinian intifada, is appointed prime minister of the Palestinian Authority

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