Palestine/Israel/Lebanon

• France, 1911: Young Arab nationalists found "Al Fatah" in Paris
• Palestine, november 1917: the "Balfour Declaration" by the British government promises a Jewish homeland in Palestine
• Palestine, 1917: 93% of the population of larger Palestine is Arab
• 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
• Palestine, 1921: Britain appoints Mohammed Amin al-Husseini head of the Supreme Muslim Council of Palestine, and Husseini begins a violent anti-Semitic campaign and a murder campaign of Arab moderates
  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
• 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
• 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
• Palestine, november 1940: Haganah terrorists bomb the boat "Patria" full of Jewish immigrants at the port of Haifa, killing more than 200 people
• 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, novembre 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: scores of Arabs are killed by Hagana in the village of Baldat al-Shaikh in retaliation for 41 killed in Haifa riots
• 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
• Palestine, july 1949: The war ends with Israel winning west Jerusalem and small pieces of land
• 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
• 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
• Soviet Union, february 1953: Stalin breaks off relations with Israel
• Palestine, 1953: Hizb ut-Tahrir is founded by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani to create an Islamic state all over the world and its members spread around the world
• Egypt, 1954: president Gamal Abdel-Nasser bans the Muslim Brotherhood
• Egypt, 1955: Nasser joins the policy of "non-alignment"
• Egypt, 1955: the Soviet block begin to arm the Arab countries
• 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
• Palestine, march 1957: Israel withdraws from the Sinai and the Gaza strip
• Palestine, 1959: Yassir Arafat founds Al Fahta, the Palestinian liberation movement
• Israel, 1962: Israel's nuclear program directed by Shimon Peres produces the first weapon-grade plutonium
  Israel, 1963: Israeli prime minister Ben Gurion resigns
• 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
• Egypt, 1967: Egypt expels UN peacekeepers from the Sinai and closes the Red Sea to Israeli ships
• Palestine, june 1967: Arab countries ammass 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, 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, march 1968: Fatah guerrillas win the battle of Karameh against superiori Israeli forces
• Palestine, 1969: female Palestinian fighter Leila Khaled hijacks a TWA airplane
• 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: PFLP terrorists hijack a TWA jet, a Swissair jet and a Pan Am jet
• Palestine, september 1970: Arafat is appointed supreme commander of the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA), the military arm of the PLO
• Jordan, september 1970: King Hussein of Jordan, fearing for his own country's stability, orders a massive expulsion of Palestinians that results in ten days of civil war with 200 Syrian tanks invading Jordan and 5,000 deaths ("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
• Jordan, november 1971: The Jordanian prime minister Wasfi Tal is killed by Palestinian Black September terrorists while in Cairo
• 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
• 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
• 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, novembre 1974: the United Nations recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to sovereignity and invites Arafat's PLO as an "observer", thereby recognizing Arafat as the leader of the Palestinians
• New York, 1974: Arafat gives an emotional speech at the United Nations begging for Palestinian statehood
• Iraq, 1974: French premier Chirac visits Iraq to negotiate the sale of nuclear technology
• Lebanon, april 1975: Christian and Muslim sects engage in a civil war in Lebanon that will last 16 years
• Austria, 1975: Oil minister of the OPEC countries are kidnapped during a meeting by terrorists led by "Carlos"
• Saudi Arabia, january 1976: A bomb blows up a Lebanese flight over Saudi Arabia, killing all 82 passengers
• Lebanon, april 1976: Syria invades Lebanon to avoid 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
• Israel, october 1977: A German airliner is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and stormed by German paratroopers in Somalia
• Israel, 1977: Ariel Sharon, minister of agriculture, plans Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 war
• Palestine, april 1977: Abu Abbas splits from the PFLP-GC and founds the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF)
• 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
• Israel, march 1979: Sadat of Egypt and of Israel sign a peace treaty and Israel returns the Sinai peninsula to Egypt
• Lebanon, 1979: the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran galvanizes Islamic extremists, especially shiite Arabs
• Syria, 1980: galvanized by the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Muslims riot in Aleppo, Homs and Hama
• Iraq, june 1981: Israel bombs the Iraqi nuclear reactor built by France, to prevent Iraq from building a nuclear weapon
• 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 b y Hosni Mubarak
• Lebanon, december 1981: a member of Islamic Dawa Party blows himself up to attack the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon (first suicide bomber)
• 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
• 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, a moderate, elected president of Lebanon
• Lebanon, september 1982: Gemayel is assassinated
• 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
• Lebanon, november 1982: a suicide bomber blows up 72 Israeli soldiers in Tyre
• Lebanon, april 1983: suicide commandos directed by Imad Mughniyeh (Mugniyah) blow up the US embassy, killing 63 people
• 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.
• Lebanon, october 1983: Hezbollah suicide commandos organized by Iran blow up the US and French barracks killing 241 marines and 58 French soldiers
• 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)
• 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 bombmaker 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
• Israel, 1986: Mordechai Vanunu is jailed for revealing the secret Israeli atomic weapons program
• Palestine, september 1986: Abu Nidal terrorists hijack a Pan Am in Karachi
  France, september 1986: Syria sponsors a string of bombs in Paris
• Israel, 1986: Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician, reveals the Israeli nuclear program
• Lebanon, february 1987: Syria invades Beirut to restore order
• Palestine, july 1988: Abu Nidal terrorists hijack a cruise ship in Greece
• 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
• 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)
• Niger, september 1989: the PFLP-GC blows up a French UTA airliner over Niger, probably on behalf of Libya
• 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 ends (40,000 people have died in 16 years)
• 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
• Egypt, 1992: extremists launch a campaign aimed at ousting president Hosni Mubarak, that will kill 1,100 people in five years
• Lebaonon, 1992: Israel assassinated the leader of Hezbollah, Abbas al-Musawi, and Hassan Nasrallah becomes the new leader of Hezbollah
• Egypt, 1993: scores of Islamic militants are hanged by Mubarak's regime
• 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
• Palestine, february 1994: A jewish extremist kills 29 Muslims in a Hebron mosque
• Israel, april 1994: first Palestinian suicide bomber in Israel
• 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
• Israel, october 1994: Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement begin a series of suicide 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 by French agents 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
• 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: Rabin assassinated by a Jewish fundamentalist
• Israel, 1996: 80 Palestinian protesters die in clashes with Israeli police on a tunnel opened by Israel under the mosque of Jerusalem
• Palestine, march 1996: Arafat cracks down on Hamas, whose terrorists are trying to derail the peace process
• 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 and obtains the release of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin
• 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
• Lebanon, june 2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon
• Palestine, 2000: 70% of Palestinian children interviewed by the Arab psychologist Fadal Abu-Hin want to become martyrs
• 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
• 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
• Palestine, september 2000: the new "intifada" rapidly escalates and gets out of control (319 Israelis will be killed by suicide bombers by april 2002)
• 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
• 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
• Israel, march 2002: Israel is hit by 16 suicide bombings that kill 80 people ("Passover massacres") carried out by suicide bombers of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (possibly under the control of Marwan Barghouti)
• 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
• 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
• 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 rumours 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
• Israel, 2002: the population of Israel is 6 million, of which 1 million are Arabs; the population of the West Bank and Gaza is 3 million; and Palestinian birthrates are much higher than Jewish ones
• Palestine, april 2005: Palestinians claim that Israel killed hundreds of civilians in the Jenin refugee camp, but it turns out to be a lie (the death were 23 Israeli soldiers, 22 Palestinian civilians and 30 Palestinian fighters)
• Israel, 2002: Israel begins construction of a 360-km border fence ("security barrier") that annexes Palestinian land
• 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
• 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
• Israel, april 2003: Israel tries Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti in an Israeli court
• Iraq, april 2003: Abu Abbas is captured by the USA in Baghdad
• Israel, may 2003: Hamas and Al-Aqka Brigades unleash five suicide attacks within 48 hours in Israel the day after the first meeting between Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas
• Israel, august 2003: Israeli air strikes kill members of Hamas' military wing
• Israel, february 2004: Sharon announces Israeli's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza
• Iraq, march 2004: Abu Abbas dies in USA custody
• Palestine, march 2004: Israel kills Hamas' spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who is replaced by Khaled Meshaal
• Palestine, april 2004: Israel kills Hamas' leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi
• Palestine, august 2004: two bus bombs kill 15 people in Israel
• Palestine, november 2004: Arafat dies and is replaced by Muhammad Abbas as chairman of the PLO, who wins the first multi-party elections in Palestine
• Palestine, january 2005: Muhammad Abbas wins the first democratic elections in Palestine and restarts peace negotiations with Israel
• Lebanon, february 2005: a car bomb kills former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, who opposed Syrian occupation of the country and street demonstrations force the resignation of the Syria-installed government
• Israel, february 2005: Israel and Palestinians declare a truce
• Lebanon, april 2005: Syrian troops leave Lebanon
• Israel, april 2005: Vladimir Putin is the first Russian president to visit Israel
• Lebanon, june 2005: The opposition wins the first free elections in Lebanon since the civil war
• Israel, september 2005: Israel withdraws from the Gaza strip
• Palestine, september 2005: a Palestinian terrorist accidentally sets off a bomb in a crowded Palestinian area, killing 22 people
• Syria, october 2005: Ghazi Kenaan, Syria's interior minister, who effectively controlled Lebanon for two decades, "commits suicide"
• Israel, november 2005: Sharon founds a new centrist party in Israel
• Lebanon, december 2005: Lebanese anti-Syrian politician Gibran Tueni is killed by a car bomb
• Israel, january 2006: Israel's prime minister Sharon suffers a stroke
• Palestine, january 2006: terrorist group Hamas wins the first multi-party elections in Palestine and its leader Ismail Haniya becomes the new prime minister
• Israel, march 2006: in the first Israeli elections after prime minister Sharon suffered a stroke, his new party Kadima becomes the biggest party and Ehud Olmert the new prime minister
• Lebanon, april 2006: Lebanon arrests people who were plotting to assassinate the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah
• Israel, april 2006: a suicide bomber by Islamic Jihad kills nine people in Israel, the first major terrorist attack since Hamas won the elections
• Israel, june 2006: Israeli artillery is blamed by Palestinians for the massacre of a family on a beach near Beit Lahiya
• Palestine, july 2006: in response to an incursion by Palestinian militants, Israel invades Gaza killing 220 Palestinians
• Lebanon, july 2006: in response to an incursion by Hezbollah militants, Israel invades southern Lebanon killing more than 1,000 Lebanese civilians while Hezbollah kills 116 Israeli soldiers and 43 Israeli civilians
• Lebanon, august 2006: Israeli forces withdraw after expelling Hezbollah from southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army takes control for the first time of the region
• Palestine, august 2006: Palestinian militants declare a unilateral end to attacks against Israel
• Lebanon, november 2006: Lebanese Christian politician Pierre Gemayel is assassinated
• Palestine, 2006: more than 350 Palestinians are killed in internal fighting in Gaza after Israel withdraws
• Palestine, april 2007: Hamas and the al-Qassam Brigades break a truce with Israel with a sustained barrage of rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel
• Palestine, june 2007: dozens of militants are killed as Hamas defeats Fatah and takes control of Gaza
• Israel, may 2007: Hamas militants shoot rockets at Israel
• Lebanon, may 2007: Lebanon's militant group Fatah Islam kills 23 soldiers in clashes in Tripoli's Palestinian refugee camp, but the army eventually regains control of the camp killing 400 people
• Lebanon, june 2007: a car bomb kills five United Nations peacekeepers
• Britain, june 2007: former British prime minister Tony Blair is appointed Middle Eastern envoy on behalf of the USA, Russia, the UN and the EU
• Syria, september 2007: Israel strikes targets inside Syria for the first time since 2003
• Lebanon, september 2007: a car bomb kills the third anti-Syrian politician in a year, leaving Lebanon's government with only a slim majority over the pro-Syrian opposition
• USA, december 2007: USA president Bush convenes a conference at Annapolis to start talks about an independent Palestinian state
• Lebanon, december 2007: Lebanon's general Francois al-Hajj who had led the attack against the group Fatah Islam is killed by a car bomb while the parties cannot agree on a new president
• France, december 2007: 68 countries in Paris pledge billions of dollars of aid to the Palestinians
• Palestine, february 2008: responding to mortar attacks, Israel attacks Gaza killing more than 100 Palestinians in a few days
• Lebanon, may 2008: Lebanon's opposition led by Shia group Hezbollah seizes of most of western Beirut over a power struggle with the Sunni and Christian members of the government

The Gulf

• Saudi Arabia, 1902: Abdul al-Aziz, at the head of a bedouin army, conquers Riyad 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 Husayn leads a revolt against the Ottoman Empire
• Iraq, 1921: emir Faisal ibn Hussain, brother of King Abdallah of Jordan, is proclaimed King of Iraq, but still under British protectorate
• Saudi Arabia, 1926: Abdul al-Aziz becomes king of Saudi Arabia
• Iraq, 1927: huge oil fields are discovered near Karkuk and oil rights are granted to a British oil company
• Iraq, 1932: Iraq becomes independent under the rule of King Faisal
• Iraq, 1933: King Faisal dies and his son, King Ghazi I, ascends to the throne
• Saudi Arabia, 1932: Saudi Arabia becomes independent under the rule of King Abdul al-Aziz
• 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 Abd al Ilah
• 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
• 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
• Saudi Arabia, 1953: King Abdul al-Aziz dies and is succeeded by Saud bin Abdul Aziz
• Iraq, july 1958: inspired by Gamal Abdel Nasser, officers led by brigadier Abdul-Karim Qassem overthrow the Hashimite monarchy and proclaim a republic
• 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
• 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.
• Iraq, february 1963: in a military coup the Ba'ath Party seizes power in Iraq
• Saudi Arabia, 1964: Faisal bin Abdul Aziz becomes the third King of Saudi Arabia
• 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
• Iraq, 1971: Saddam Hussein inaugurates the Iraqi program to build a nuclear weapon
• Iraq, 1972: the oil industry is nationalized
• Saudi Arabia, october 1973: OPEC countries impose an oil embargo on the western world that causes an economic crises
• Saudi Arabia, 1975: Khalid bin Abdul Aziz King Khalid becomes the fourth King of Saudi Arabia
• 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")
• Iran, january 1979: a popular revolution deposes the shah Reza Pahlevi
• Iran, february 1979: Islamic clerics (ayatollahs) seize the power and appoint Ruhollah Kohmeini supreme leader of Iran, just returned from exile
• Iraq, june 1979: Saddam Hussein inherits power in Iraq and begins a ruthless dictatorship
• 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
• Iraq, september 1980: Iraq (Saddam Hussein) attacks Iran
• 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
• Saudi Arabia, june 1982: Fahd bin 'Abdulaziz (11th son of the founder of the Saudi kingdom) ascends to the throne
• Iraq, 1982: Iran provides help to kurds fighting against Saddam Hussein in the north of Iraq and massive repression by Iraqi forces follows
• United Arab Emirates, Sep 1983: A bomb blows up a Gulf Air flight over the United Arab Emirates killing all 112 passengers
• Iraq, 1983: Iraq uses chemical weapons against Iranian troops
• Iraq, 1984: Iraq uses chemical weapons against kurds
• 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
• Libya, december 1988: terrorists of the PFLP-GC backed by Libya blow up a Pan Am plane over Scotland (Lockerbie) killing 270 people probably on behalf of Iran
• 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
• Iran, 1989: Khomeini dies and is buried with one of the largest funerals ever
• Iran, june 1989: Ali Khameini is appointed supreme leader of iran
• Iraq, 1989: German scientist Karl-Heinz Schaab sells German uranium-enrichment technology to Iraq
• Iraq, august 1990: Iraqi troops invade Kuwait
• Saudi Arabia, august 1990: King Fahd calls for US protection against Saddam Hussein
• 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 Bagdad 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)
• 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
• Kuwait, Apr 1993: Iraqi agents attempt to assassinate former president George Bush during a visit to Kuwait
• Iran, may 1997: Mohammad Khatami, a moderate, is elected president with 67% of the popular vote
• Iraq, february 1998: military confrontation between Saddam Hussein and the United States after Iraq halts all work by United Nations arms inspectors
• 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
• Iraq, december 1998: the U.S. and the U.K. bomb Iraq because Iraq is not allowing United Nations inspectors to resume their job
• Iran, august 1999: pro-democracy riots in Iran, following the arrest of pro-democracy intellectuals and the closure of newspapers by ultraconservative ayatollah Khameini
• Yemen, february 2002: dozens of foreign Islamic scholars are expelled as part of a crackdown on suspected al-Qaeda members
• Iraq, march 2003: the USA and the UK invade Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power
• Iraq, march 2003: terrorists blow up the United Nations building in Baghdad, killing 23 people
• Iraq, march 2003: over 85 people are killed by a car bomb in the holy city of Najaf
• Iraq, august 2003: Abu Musab Al Zarqawi begins a terrorist campaign against the USA occupation of Iraq and their Shiite and Kurdish allies
  Iraq, november 2003: terrorists attack an Italian peacekeepers' base in Nasiriya, Iraq
  Iraq, december 2003: Saddam Hussein is arrested by the USA while he was hiding in a hole
  Iraq, february 2004: 181 Shia Muslims die in terrorist attacks in Karbala and Baghdad during the yearly holy festival, and the civil war escalates
  Yemen, 2004: a Shiite Muslim rebellion led by Abdel-Malek al-Hawthi erupts in Yemen, that will kill thousands over the next four years
  Iraq, january 2005: the first democratic elections in Iraq are won by an alliance of Shiite parties (48%), followed by an alliance of Kurdish parties (26%) and by the party of prime minister Allawi (14%)
  Iran, 2005: Anti-USA conservative cleric Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins presidential elections in Iran and calls for the destruction of Israel
• Iraq, march 2006: in march alone, 1313 Iraqi civilians are victims of sectarian violence
• Iraq, 2006: 34,452 Iraq civilians are killed in 2006
• Iraq, december 2006: Saddam Hussein is executed in Iraq for the crimes committed by his regime
• Iraq, july 2007: the USA accuses Iran of helping insurgents kill USA soldiers in Iraq
• Iraq, december 2007: Iraqis have suffered from 667 suicide attacks since may 2005
  Yemen, may 2008: Shiite Muslim rebels led by Abdel-Malek al-Hawthi attack a Sunni mosque and kill 18 people

Afghanistan

• Pakistan, 1950: Deobandis Muslims create their own political party, the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI)
• Afghanistan, 1973: in a military coup Zahir Shah (who has been ruling for 40 years) is deposed by former prime minister Mohammed Daud, friendly to the Soviet Union
• Pakistan, 1977: following unrest fed by the Islamic parties, a military coup replaces Zulfikar Ali Bhutto with Mohammad Zia Ul-Haq
• Afghanistan, 1978: general Daud is overthrown and killed in a coup by leftists and Hafizullah Amin seizes the power, causing a civil war between "mujaheddin" and communist forces and eventually the collapse of the army
• Pakistan, 1979: Bhutto executed by dictator Zia
• Afghanistan, december 1979: 130,000 Soviet troops invade Afghanistan, execute Amin and establish a communist government led by Babrak Karmal
• Afghanistan, 1980: American-financed "mujaheddin" and volunteers from the Arab world (including wealthy Saudi scion Osama bin Laden) organize in Pakistan to hamper the Soviet Union's campaign in Afghanistan
• Afghanistan, 1984: in Peshawar (Pakistan) Osama bin Laden co-founds the Maktab al-Khidamat (Service Office) with the Palestinian leader Abdallah Azzam with the goal to recruit fighters and raise money for the Afghan resistance
• 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)
• Afghanistan, 1986: the MAK sets up paramilitary training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan and builds roads, hospitals and bunkers in Afghanistan
• 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
• Afghanistan, 1985: Osama bin Laden, the highest-ranking Saudi to participate in the Afghan struggle against the Soviet Union, is patronized by Pakistani and Saudi intelligence and, with American approval, proceeds to create an international brigade of Islamic fighters
• Afghanistan, 1986: the US supplies the mujahedin with Stinger missiles that shoot down Soviet helicopters in an effort to turn Afghanistan into the Soviet "Vietnam"
• Afghanistan, april 1988: the Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan after losing 40,000 soldiers and causing the death of about one million Afghans
• Afghanistan, 1988: Osama bin Laden splits from Azzam and creates Al Qaeda ("The Base"), meant to become a worldwide alliance of fundamentalist militants, but also based on the teachings of Mohammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (the 19th century founder of the conservative Islamic theology "wahhabism" that is still prevalent in Saudi Arabia) and Sayyid Qutb (an Egyptian philosopher that viewed western civilization as the main enemy of Islam)
• Pakistan, 1988: Zia dies in a plane crash and is succeeded by Benazir Bhutto
• Afghanistan, december 1989: Azzam is killed by a car bomb, and most of the MAK flows into Al Qaeda
• Pakistan, 1990: Pakistani mullahs (clerics) preach Deobandism (a 19th century branch of Sunni Islam) among the Afghans living as refugees in Pakistan. Scores of them become "taliban" (literally "students") of Islamic seminaries in the Islamic schools of Pakistan (the "madrasah"). One such talib is Mulla Umar, enrolled at a Karachi seminary run by the JUI party.
• Afghanistan, 1990: while different factions bicker about the future of Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden leaves Afghanistan for Saudi Arabia but continues to organize his international coalition of terrorists
• 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
• Afghanistan, 1992: mujahidin guerrillas led by general Shah Masood dislodge the communist regime from Kabul
• Pakistan, 1992: emergence of the JUI under the leadership of Maulana Fazalur Rehman, son of Maulana Mufti Mahmud, the original leader of the JUI, with strong ties to the Taliban and a strong anti-American stance
• Afghanistan, 1993: mujahedin factions form a coalition and create a multi-ethnic government led by Burhanuddin Rabbani, but almost immediately internal fighting erupts among the various militias
• Pakistan, 1993: the JUI party joins briefly the government with new prime minister Benazir Bhutto
• Pakistan, october 1993: Islamic fundamentalists form Harakat al-Ansar, a militant group based in Pakistan whose mission is to liberate Kashmir from Indian occupation
• Britain, 1994: Osama bin Laden travels to London under a Saudi passport and establishes London as the political and financial headquarter of al-Quaeda 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
• Afghanistan, late 1994: funded by wealthy Saudi families close to ultraconservative Wahhabism, the Taliban emerge as a Messianic movement with the mission to restore peace in Afghanistan, establish law and order, disarm the population, and impose sharia (Islamic law)
• Pakistan, 1994: The JUI party becomes a recruiter of Pakistani and foreign students to fight for the Taliban (an estimated 100,000 Pakistanis will fight in Afghanistan in the next six years)
• Pakistan, february 1995: Pakistan arrests the terrorist responsible for the World Trade Center bomb (Ramzi Yousef), who was living in a house owned by Osama bin Laden
• Sudan, may 1996: under pressure from the US and Saudi Arabia, Sudan expels Osama bin Laden
• Afghanistan, may 1996: Osama bin Laden returns to Afghanistan, befriends the Taliban and recruits the foreign Arab militants still in Afghanistan after the war against the Soviets, and hundreds of wanted terrorists from all over the world, creating the "055" brigade
• Afghanistan, august 1996: Osama bin Laden calls for worldwide attacks on Americans, including civilians, while his commandos spread around the world, from Somalia to the USA, very few remaining in Afghanistan or Sudan
• Afghanistan, september 1996: the Taliban militia (mainly ethnic Pushtun) dislodges the mujahedin government from Kabul and installs one of the most fundamentalistic Muslim governments in the world, while the remaining troops of Shah Masood retreat to the north and form the Northern Alliance
• Afghanistan, february 1997: the Taliban reject an American request to deliver Osama bin Laden to American authorities in exchange for international recognition
• Afghanistan, march 1997: two bombs fail to kill Osama bin Laden but kill 50 people in Jalalabad, and Osama bin Laden moves to Kandahar, the Taliban's stronghold (and site of its supreme leader, Mulla Omar)
• Afghanistan, 1997: as they establish control over most of the country, the Taliban, led by the cleric Mullah Omar, create a regime characterized by the massacre of ethnic minorities, by collaboration with drug traffickers (that turn Afghanistan into the largest market for heroin), public executions and amputations, a ban on women and girls going to school or having a job, restrictions on the access of women to health care, and the outlawing of television, film and popular music
• Afghanistan, 1997: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia recognize the Taleban government, but the rest of the world including the United Nations continues to recognize the government in exile of Rabbani that supports the multi-ethnic Northern Alliance in the north of the country led by Shah Masood
• Afghanistan, 1997: Taliban-inspired groups carry out sabotage inside Iran
• Afghanistan, 1997: Iran and Uzbekistan lend military support to the Northern Alliance, largely drawn from Afghanistan's ethnic Tajiks and Hazaras
• Afghanistan, 1998: Osama bin Laden helps the Taliban capture the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif from the Northern Alliance
• 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 Jihadand 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
• Afghanistan, 1998: the Taliban overrun much of northern Afghanistan, pushing the Northern Alliance into the northeast
• Afghanistan, 1998: the Taliban execute nine Iranian diplomats in Mazar and Iran threatens to invade Afghanistan
• Pakistan, 1998: pro-Taliban parties are a major influence in northwester provinces of Pakistan, where they follow the Taliban in banning television and videos, forcing women to wear the veil, imposing sharia punishments (such as stoning and amputation) and massacring shiites (massacres mainly conducted by extremist fringes of the JUI party)
• Afghanistan, 1999: the United Nations impose sanctions against the Taliban to force them to hand over Osama bin Laden for trial
• Aghanistan, 1999: the population of Afghanistan is estimated at 18 million, down from 1990's 24 million, while millions live in exile in Pakistan and Iran
• Afghanistan, 1999: Afghanistan's production of opium doubles in 1999 (three times more opium than the rest of the world put together), making the Taliban the largest heroin producer in the world
• Pakistan, october 1999: reacting to widespread disgust for political corruption, general Pervez Musharraf seizes power in Pakistan with a coup
• Afghanistan, march 2001: the Taliban destroy two giant Buddhas, one of the greatest monuments in the world, despite an international outcry
• Afghanistan, may 2001: Taleban order religious minorities to wear tags identifying themselves as non-Muslims
• Pakistan, april 2001: invited by the JUI party, hundreds of thousands of Muslims attend the first ever festival for the 134th anniversary of the founding of an Islamic religious seminary in the village of Deoband near Peshawar
• Afghanistan, september 2001: tensions between the Taliban and foreign aid workers lead the Taliban to arrest eight foreigners with the accusation of promoting Christianity
• Afghanistan, september 2001: the military leader of the Northern Alliance, Ahmed Shah Masood (Mas'ud), is killed by Algerian suicide bombers
• Afghanistan, october 2001: in retaliation for Osama bin Laden's terrorism, the USA conducts a bombing campaign against the Taliban of Afghanistan, removes them from power, installs a new provisional government (led by Hamid Karzai) and hunts Al Qaeda fighters
• Afghanistan, september 2002: Harim Karzai narrowly escapes an assassination attempt and a bomb kills 25 people in Kabul
• Afghanistan, august 2003: a videotape by Ayman al-Zawahri calls for Pakistani to rise up against president Musharraf
• Pakistan, december 2003: Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf survives two assassination attempts
• Afghanistan, 2005: More than 1,400 people are killed in Afghanistan, the worst toll since the USA ousted the Taliban
• Afghanistan, 2006: Iraq-style suicide bombers kill hundreds of people in the Afghanistan
• Afghanistan, 2007: after Italy negotiates the release of a kidnapped Italian, abductions of foreigners by Taleban multiply leading to ransom payments and prisoner releases

Central Asia

• Tajikstan, 1993: Afghan guerrilla infiltrate into Tajikstan and are repelled with the help of Russian troops
• Russia, december 1994: Russian troops invade Chechnya, an Islamic republic trying to secede from the Russian federation
• Russia, 1995: fierce resistance by Muslim separatists in Chechnya led by Aslan Maskhadov and by independent warlords like Shamil Basayev
• Russia, 1996: Boris Yeltsin orders the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya, after tens of thousands of people died, and Chechnya is de facto independent
• Uzbekistan, february 1999; Hizb ut-Tahrir is blamed for a string of bombs in Tashkent, Uzbekistan that kill 16 people in an assassination attempt against Uzbek president Islam Karimov
• Uzbekistan, 1999: Tahir Yuldashev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbeldstan (IMU) that tried to assassinate president Islam Karimov, flees to Afghanistan
• Russia, july 1999: Chechnya-based militants (including Arabs, Afghans, and Pakistanis) invade parts of neighboring Dagestan
• Kyrgyzstan, august 1999: 800 Uzbek and Tajik gunmen led by UMI leader Juma Namangani, invade southern Kyrgyzstan on their way to invade Uzbekistan
• Russia, september 1999: prime minister Vladimir Putin launches a military campaign to return Chechnya to Russia, Russian warplanes strike oil and gas facilities in Chechnya, Russian troops mobilize along the Chechen border and thousands of civilians flee the capital city
• Russia, september 1999: Chechnya-based militants detonate bombs in Moscow apartment buildings killing nearly 300 people
• Russia, august 2000: bomb in Moscow
  Russia, 2002: Chechen guerrillas take 700 Russians hostage in a Moscow theater (118 die when Russian soldiers storm the theater with poisonous gas)
  Russia, 2002: Suicide bombers kill 52 people in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya
  Russia, 2003: 59 people die in a bomb attack on Russians in Chechnya
  Russia, 2003: Chechen suicide bombers hit a rock concert in Moscow and kill 15 people
  Russia, 2003: 50 people are killed in a suicide bombing at a military hospital in North Ossetia
  Russia, 2003: Russia bans Hizb ut-Tahrir
  Russia, 2003: Chechen rebels blow up a train and kill 40 people
  Russia, 2004: Chechen rebels kill 92 people in neighboring Ingushetia
  Russia, 2004: Chechen terrorists blow up two airplanes killing 89 people, blow up a bomb in a Moscow subway and take more than 1,000 hostages in a Beslan school and kill 335
• Russia, july 2003: Chechen suicide bombers hit a rock concert in Moscow and kill 15 people
• Russia, 2003: 50 people are killed in a suicide bombing at a military hospital in North Ossetia
• Russia, 2003: Chechen rebels blow up a train and kill 40 people
• Russia, 2004: Chechen terrorists bomb the Moscow underground, killing 39 people
• Russia, 2004: Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed by terrorists
• Russia, 2004: Chechen rebels kill 92 people in neighboring Ingushetia
• Russia, 2004: Chechen terrorists led Shamil Basayev take more than 1,000 hostages in a Beslan school and kill 335, mostly children
• Russia, october 2005: 50 Chechen militants are killed when they attack the southern Russian city of Nalchik
• Russia, july 2006: Chechen leader Shamil Basayev is killed

Indian subcontinent

• India, october 1947: the Maharajah of Kashmir decides to join India and not Pakistan, pending a plebiscite
• Pakistan, october 1947: following rioting by the Muslim majority in Kashmir, Pakistani troops attack India and occupy part of Kashmir
• India, 1948: India refuses to allow the plebiscite in Kashmir and Kashmir separatism is born
• India, 1957: despite opposition by its Muslim population, India annexes Kashmir
• India, april 1965: India and Pakistan fight another war over Kashmir
• India, 1971: following civil war in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) India and Pakistan fight a third war in Kashmir that ends with the defeat of Pakistan
• India, august-november 1994: Muslim separatists plant bombs in Kashmir, killing dozens
• 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)
• India, august 2000: Muslim separatists (Hizbul Mujahideen) plant a car bomb that kills ten people in Kashmir
• India, october 2001: Muslim separatists attack the Parliament of Kashmir (25 people killed)
• Pakistan, december 2004: ten people are killed in a bomb blast in Quetta
• Pakistan, september 2005: Asif Chotto, head of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi that killed hundreds of Pakistani shiites, is arrested
• India, october 2005: bombs set by Kashmiri` militants kill 59 people in New Delhi
• India, may 2006: Islamists kill 35 hindus in Kashmir
• India, july 2006: Multiple terrorist bombs in Mumbai kill 186 people, and India accuses Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI of planning the attacks and the Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba of carrying them out
• Pakistan, january 2007: A suicide bomber kills 15 people at a Shiite mosque in Peshawar
• India, february 2007: bombs kill at least 64 people on a Pakistan-bound train in northern India
• Pakistan, april 2007: A suicide bomber kills 32 people at a political rally
• Pakistan, may 2007: A suicide bomber kills 22 people at a restaurant in Peshawar
• Pakistan, july 2007: 73 students and clerics are killed in clashes between security forces and militants (led by cleric Abdul Aziz) holed in the Lal Masjid/ Red Mosque of Islamabad, Pakistan, and hundreds of people are killed in subsequent bombings by Islamists
• India, august 2007: 42 people are killed in Hyderabad (India) by two twin bombings credited to Islamic fundamentalists
• Pakistan, september 2007: 25 people are killed near Islamabad (Pakistan) by two suicide bombers
• Pakistan, december 2007: suicide bombers kill more than 140 people at Benazir Bhutto's welcome event in Karachi and weeks later kill her
• Pakistan, january 2008: A suicide bomber in Lahore kills 24 people
• Pakistan, february 2008: a suicide bomber kills ten people at a Shia mosque in Peshawar
• See a timeline of modern India

Northern Africa

• Algeria, may 1945: Algerians massacre 103 Europeans and the French kill 1,300 in retaliation
• Algeria, november 1954: Algerian exiles in Egypt create the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) and start the civil war led by Ben Bella
• Algeria, august 1955: the FLN adopts a policy of genocide against the French and French paratroopers kill 1,273 insurgents in retaliation for the "Philippeville incident"
• Sudan, 1956: Britain grants Sudan full independence
• Algeria, january 1957: France allows torture in Algeria and French general Jacques Massu wins the "battle of Algiers" using nazi-style methods against the Algerian rebels
• Algeria, 1957: in the first two years of war the FLN kills 1,035 Europeans and 6,352 Arabs in Algeria
• Libya, 1959: oil is discovered in Libya
• Algeria, january 1961: former French officers led by general Raoul Salan form the Organisation de l'Armee Secrete (OAS) to fight Arabs in Algeria, killing 12,000 Arab civilians in one year
• 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
• Libya, 1969: colonel Muhammar Qaddafi becomes dictator of Libya after a successful coup
• 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
• Western Sahara, 1975: Spain withdraws and Morocco invades Western Sahara with the "green march"
• Western Sahara, february 1976: the Polisario proclaims the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and begins an independence struggle against Morocco
• Algeria, 1976: Algeria is declared a socialist state
• Libya, 1980: increasingly anti-American propaganda by Qaddafi
• Algeria, 1980: Berbers demonstrate against Arab domination in Algeria ("Spring of Kabyle")
• Libya, august 1981: two Libya airplanes are downed by the USA on the Mediterranean
• Sudan, 1983: Christian leader John Garang leads the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) in a new civil war against the Sudanese government
• Libya, august 1986: American planes bomb Libya trying to assassinate a defiant Qaddafi
• Libya, 1987: Ahmad Jibril's PFLP-GC organization fights with Lybia in Chad
• Libya, december 1988: terrorists backed by Libya blow up a Pan Am plane over Scotland killing 259 people probably on behalf of Iran
• 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 philospher and dictator, intent on building a pure Islamic society
• 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
• 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
• France, 1994: Algerian terrorists of the GIA hijack an Air France plane and try to crash it into the Tour Eiffel
• France, 1995: Algerian terrorists of the GIA kill eight people in the Paris metro
• Sudan, 1993: Omar Hassan al-Bashir is appointed president, while Hassan al-Turabi remains the most powerful man in the country
• 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
• Algeria, december 1994: Algerian terrorists hijack a French plane
• 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
• Algeria, 1999: Abdelaziz Bouteflika is elected president of Algeria after all other candidates withdraw or are disqualified
• Algeria, 1996: Hassan Hattab leaves the GIA and founds the Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et le Combat (GSPC), opposed to murdering civilians
• 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)
• Sudan, may 2000: Christian churches are destroyed by the Sudanese government
• 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
• Sudan, january 2002: The Sudanese government and the Christian rebels of the SPLA sign a ceasefire agreement
• Algeria, january 2003: 47 soldiers are killed in an ambush by Islamic terrorists, the worst carnage in six years
• Libya, august 2003: Libya accepts responsibility for the Lockerbie terrorist bombing and accepts to pay reparation to the families
• Libya, december 2003: Qaddafi of Libya admits a broad program of weapons of mass destruction and accepts to destroy it in return for an end to USA sanctions
• Algeria, 2003: Nabil Sahraoui, leader of the Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et le Combat (GSPC), announces an alliance with Al Qaeda
• Algeria, october 2004: Islamic fundamentalists kill 16 people
• Algeria, june 2004: the Algerian army kills the leader of the Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et le Combat (GSPC), Nabil Sahraoui

Kurds

• Turkey, 1920: at the end of World War I the Treaty of Sevres calls for the establishment of an independent Kurdish state
• Turkey, 1978: Abdullah Ocalan creates the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) to fight Turkish oppression of the kurdish minority
• Turkey, 1984: Abdullah Ocalan and the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) wage war to the Turkish state
• Turkey, 1995: the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), led by Abdullah Ocalan, unleashes a terrorist campaign in Turkey
• Turkey, march 1995: Turkey invades northern Iraq to fight the kurdish insurgency
• Turkey, 1998: dozens killed in wave of bombings and attacks by the PKK
• Turkey, february 1999: elite Turkish forces capture PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya
• Turkey, 1999: Abdullah Ocalan renounces violence, after a 15-year war that has claimed the lives of 27,000 Kurdish rebels, thousands of turkish soldiers, hundreds of Turkish civilians and unknown numbers of Kurdish civilians
• Turkey, 2005: Kurdish rebels in Turkey call off the 1999 truce and begin an offensive against Turkish soldiers
• Turkey, 2006: a Kurdish militant group claims responsibility for bombs in several Turkish cities that wound several people
• Turkey, may 2003: a bomb kills 6 people in Ankara
• Turkey, september 2007: Following the killing of a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader, Kurdish separatists kill 12 people in Turkey

Far East

• Malaysia, 1983: the Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir founds Jemaah Islamiyah, a clandestine organization whose goal is the establishment of a pan-Islamic state all over Southeast Asia.
• Philippines, 1992: when the Moro National Liberation Front, the main Muslim movement fighting for Muslim self rule in the Mindanao region, accepts peace talks with the government, a hard-line splinter group of radical Muslism creates Abu Sayyaf (named after an Afghan mujahedin hero)
• Philippines, september 1992: Abu Sayyaf unleashes a campaign of bombings, assassinations, massacres, kidnappings
• Philippines, december 1994: Abu Sayyaf terrorists hijack a Philippines Airlines Boeing 747 on a flight from Manila to Tokyo
• Philippines, 1996: Fathur Rohman al Ghozi, a member of Abu Bakar Bashir's Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia, joins the Moro National Liberation Front
• Indonesia, 1999: Abu Bakar Bashir returns to Indonesia from exile and founds the Mujahideen Council, a federation of terrorist groups with the aim to make Indonesia a purely Islamic state, that begins training a private army to help Muslims persecuting Christians in the Moluccas (hundreds of Christians are massacred by Islamic militia)
• Philippines, 2000: Abu Sayyaf terrorists kidnap foreigners for ransom
• Philippines, december 2000: Moro terrorists and Indonesian terrorists of Jemaah Islamiyah, led by Fathur Rohman al Ghozi, blow up a train in Manila killing 22 people
• Indonesia, december 2000: a bomb planted by Islamic terrorists trained in Afghanistan kills 18 people in Jakarta
• Singapore, january 2002: Singapore arrests a group of Muslim extremists, affiliated with Jemaah Islamiyah, who were plotting to bomb foreign embassies
• Indonesia, june 2002: Omar al-Faruq, a Kuwaiti member of Al-Qaeda and of Jemaah Islamiyah, is arrested in Indonesia
• Indonesia, october 2002: a bomb planted by Abu Bakar Bashir's Jemaah Islamiyah and Al Qaeda operatives (led by Iman Sumudra and masterminded by Riduan Isamuddin Hambali and Malaysian bomb expert Azahari Husin) kills 182 people in a disco of Bali
• Philippines, october 2002: bombs are planted by Abu Sayyaf around the country
• Philippines, february 2003: the USA dispatches 1,700 soldiers to the Philippines, to help fight the Abu Sayyaf terrorists
• Philippines, march 2003: Moro terrorists attack the airport of Davao City, killing 21 people
• Indonesia, august 2003: a bomb by Jemaah Islamiyah kills 13 people at a major hotel in Jakarta
• Indonesia, august 2003: Riduan Isamuddin Hambali, a chief operative of Jemaah Islamiyah and Al Qaeda, is captured
• Philippines, february 2004: a suicide bomber of Abu Sayyaf blows up a ferry in the Philippines and kills 119 passangers
• Indonesia, september 2004: a bomb kills nine in Jakarta
• Philippines, december 2004: a bomb kills 14 at a crowded market in the southern Philippines
• Indonesia, 2004: Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is tried for a number of terrorist attacks in Indonesia
• Indonesia, october 2005: bombs planted by Jemaah Islamiyah and Al Qaeda operatives led by Abu Dujana kill 19 people in Bali
• Indonesia, november 2005: Malaysian bomb expert Azahari Husin commits suicide rather than surrender to the Indonesian police
• Indonesia, june 2007: Indonesia arrests Abu Dujana

Osama bin Laden/ Al Qaeda

• See the timeline for Afghanistan for the birth of Osama bin Laden's organization
• 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
• Jordan, 1991: Al Zarqawi returns from Afghanistan, where he has fought against the Soviet Union
• Jordan, 1992: Al Zarqawi is arrested for planning to overthrow the Jordanian government
• Argentina, march 1992: a bomb by Imad Mughniyeh (Mugniyah) kills 29 people at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires
• 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
• USA, february 1993: Islamic terrorists, 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.
• India, march 1993: Bombs set by Islamic fundamentalists destroys the Bombay stock exchange and other buildings, killing 257 people
• 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
• Sudan, 1993: a senior Bin Laden associate negotiate the purchase of enriched South African uranium with the mediation of Sudanese officials
• 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
• Argentina, july 1994: an anti-Israel bomb by Imad Mughniyeh (Mugniyah) kills 85 people in Buenos Aires
• 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
• 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 Youself'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)
• 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
• Saudi Arabia, 1995: a bomb kills five American soldiers in the capital of Saudi Arabia
• Saudi Arabia, 1996: 19 American soldiers killed in the bombing of the airforce barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (Khobar Towers)
• Egypt, 1997: Muslim terrorists affiliated to Ayman al-Zawahiri attack foreigners in Cairo and Luxor, killing 62 people
• Saudi Arabia, july 1997: Saudi police kills hundreds of Iranian fundamentalist pilgrims at Mecca's Grand Mosque
• Kenya & Tanzania, august 1998: Al Qaeda terrorists led by Fazul Abdullah Mohammed destroy the American embassies, killing 213 people in Kenya and 11 in Tanzania (very few Americans, many Muslims)
• USA, January 1998: Yousef is sentenced to 240 years for his role in the World Trade Center bombing
• 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 Jihadand 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 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, 1999: Al Zarqawi is released in an amnesty by the Jordanian government and flees to Afghanistan
• Afghanistan, 1999: with the approval of Osama bin Laden, 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)
• USA, 1999: London-based Egyptian-born radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri tries to establish a terrorist-training camp in Oregon, USA
• 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: Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian terrorist with links to Afghanistan, tries to enter the US and bomb the Los Angeles airport
• India, december 1999: Muslim separatists of the Harakat ul-Mujahidin hijack an Air India flight and win the release of Maulana Masood Azhar
• Afghanistan & Sudan, august 1998: the U.S. bombs Sudan for helping terrorists and Afghanistan's camps where Osama bin Laden trains his militants
• USA, july 2000: Mohammed Atta and the other members of his cell move to the USA, where they take flight lessons
• Yemen, october 2000: Islamic terrorists with ties to Osama bin Laden attack 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 under the supervision of Saudi-born Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri)
• USA, september 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
• Afghanistan, october 2001: Ayman al-Zawahri issues a videotape in which he claims that Andalusia (southern Spain) must return to the Muslims
• Pakistan, october 2001: Pakistan arrests Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, the forner director of its nuclear program, under suspicion that he may have provided nuclear information to Osama Bin Laden
• India, december 2001: Muslim separatists (Lashkar-e-Toiba) attack the Parliament in New Delhi
• Afghanistan, december 2001: Al Zarqawi flees Afghanistan and moves to Iran
• United Arab Emirates: Saudi-born Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri is arrested in the United Arab Emirates
• 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)
• Tunisia, april 2002: Al Qaeda terrorists kill 25 people at a synagogue of a tourist resort
• Iraq, may 2002: Al Zarqawi is expelled from Iran and relocates to Iraq
• 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
• Pakistan, september 2002: Yemeni terrorist Ramzi Binalshibh, suspected of being the link between Al Qaeda and the September 11 cell, is arrested in Pakistan
• Kenya, november 2002: Al Qaeda terrorists loyal to Fazul Abdullah Mohammed carry out an attack against Israeli tourists in Kenya
• 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
• Western Europe, december 2002: the CIA foils a plan by Al Zarqawi's group to carry out poison attacks in several European capitals
• Pakistan, february 2003: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is arrested at the house of Ahmed Abdul Qadoos, a leader of Pakistan's party Jamaat-e-Islami
• Saudi Arabia, may 2003: 34 people die in a suicide bombing attack on westerners in Riyahd, Saudi Arabia
• Morocco, may 2003: 41 people die in a suicide bombing attack on westerners in Casablanca, Morocco, carried out by Al Qaeda-affiliate Salafia Jihadia
• Pakistan, february 2004: 43 Shiite Muslims die in a bombing masterminded by Khalid's nephew Musaad Aruchi
• Saudi Arabia, november 2003: 17 people die in a suicide bombing attack on foreign Arab workers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Turkey, november 2003: bombs in synagogues kill 25 people in Istanbul, Turkey
• Turkey, november 2003: bombs against western institutions kill 58 people in Istanbul
• Spain, march 2004: 202 people are killed by synchronized bombs planted on trains near Madrid by Islamic terrorists (led by Serhane ben Abdelmajid Farkhet and Rabei Osman Ahmed), and, two days later, their target, prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, is defeated by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the first time that Islamic terrorists decide the outcome of a European election
• Uzbekistan, march 2004: 23 people are killed by terrorist attacks in Tashkent and Bukhara
• Uzbekistan, march 2004: the Philippines foil a massive terrorist attack by Abu Sayyaf against stations and malls in Manila
• Britain, march 2004: Britain foils a massive terrorist attack by Islamic extremists in London
• Britain, april 2004: Britain foils a chemical terrorist attack by Islamic extremists in London
• Jordan, april 2004: Jordan foils a terrorist attack by Islamic extremist Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi that would have detonated a chemical bomb
• Spain, april 2004: Serhane ben Abdelmajid Farkhet blows himself up rather than surrender to the police
• Saudi Arabia, april 2004: a car bomb explodes in Saudi Arabia's capital
• Britain, may 2004: London-based Egyptian-born radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri is arrested
• Saudi Arabia, may 2004: terrorists attack a compound for foreigners in the eastern Saudi Arabian city of Khobar killing 22 people
• Italy, june 2004: Rabei Osman Ahmed, mastermind of the Madrid bombing, is arrested in Italy
• Saudi Arabia, june 2004: the head of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, is killed by the police and Saleh al-Oufi succeeds him
  Iraq, 2004: car bombs set by Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's terrorists and by Saddam Hussein loyalists explode in several cities of Iraq killing hundreds of civilians
  Pakistan, 2004: Khalid's nephew Musaad Aruchi is arrested
  Yemen, september 2004: Yemeni forces kill fundamentalist cleric Hussein al-Houthi and hundreds of his supporters
  Egypt, october 2004: Islamic terrorists attack an Egyptian hotel killing 34 people
• Saudi Arabia, december 2004: terrorists attack the USA consulate in Jeddah, and then two bombs explode in the capital
  Iraq, 2005: car bombs set by Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's terrorists and by Saddam Hussein loyalists kill hundreds of civilians in Iraq
  Britain, july 2005: four Pakistani suicide bombers kill 55 people in London
  Egypt, july 2005: suicide bombers kill 83 people at the tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt
  Britain, august 2005: Britain bans Hizb ut-Tahrir
  Bangladesh, august 2005: 350 bombs are detonated by Islamic fundamentalists of Jamayetul Mujahedin
• Saudi Arabia, august 2005: police kill Saleh Awfi, Al Qaeda's leader in Saudi Arabia
• Bangladesh, august 2005: 434 bombs by Islamic terrorists of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen target politicians, journalists and judges in Bangladesh
• Australi, november 2005: Australia foils a terrorist attack, arresting 17 people including Muslim cleric Abu Bakr
• Jordan, november 2005: Iraqi suicide bombers affiliated with Abu Musib al-Zarqawi kill 57 people in three Amman hotels
• Bangladesh, november 2005: Seven people are killed by Islamic terrorists of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen in Bangladesh, the first suicide bombing in the country's history
• Saudi Arabia, february 2006: The leader of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, Fahd Bin Faraj Al Joweir, is killed by the police
• Bangladesh, february 2006: Bangladesh arrests Abdur Rahman, leader of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen
• India, march 2006: bombs kill more than 20 people in Varanasi
• Saudi Arabia, march 2006: two terrorists are killed in Saudi Arabia before they could detonate bombs against the Abqaiq oil complex
• Egypt, april 2006: bombs kill 23 people at the tourist resort of Dahab, Egypt
• Canada, june 2006: Canadian police arrests Islamic terrorists who were planning targets in and around Toronto
• Iraq, june 2006: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is killed by USA bombs in Iraq
• Britain, august 2006: British police disrupts a plot by Islamic terrorists to blow up planes in flight from the Britain to the US
• Qatar, september 2006: Al Jazeera broadcasts a video of 2001 in which Osama bin Laden is shown planning the terrorist attacks on the USA
• Afghanistan, 2006: Taliban militants adopt the suicide attacks used by insurgents in Iraq and launch 78 suicide bombings across Afghanistan in the first nine months, killing close to 200 people
• Algeria, august 2006: Al Qaeda strikes an alliance with the Algerian terrorists of the Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et le Combat (GSPC) and declares war against France
• Afghanistan, 2007: suicide bombers launched a campaign of terror in Afghanistan similar to the one staged in Iraq
• Algeria, january 2007: the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) renames itself as Al Qaeda In The Maghreb and begins a campaign of terrorist attacks in Algeria
• Algeria, april 2007: A bomba by Al Qaeda In The Maghreb kills 33 people in Algiers
• Saudi Arabia, april 2007: Saudi Arabia foils a suicide terrorist attack against its oil fields and military bases
• Britain, april 2007: British Muslims are convicted of planning to attack civilian targets with a giant fertiliser bomb
• Afghanistan, may 2007: al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, calls on Muslims in North Africa to cleanse their lands of Spanish and French citizens
• Britain, june 2007: explosives-rigged cars are found in London
• Yemen, july 2007: seven western tourists are killed by a suicide bomber in Yemen
• Algeria, july 2007: a suicide bomber kills 10 Algerian soldiers
• USA, july 2007: USA government agencies declare that Al Qaeda has regrouped in Pakistan and that the terrorist threat against the USA has increased
• Denmark, september 2007: Denmark arrests Muslims who were plotting a terrorist attack
• India, august 2007: 42 people are killed in Hyderabad (India) by two twin bombings credited to Islamic fundamentalists
• Pakistan, september 2007: 25 people are killed near Islamabad (Pakistan) by two suicide bombers
• Algeria, september 2007: suicide bomber kills 20 in Batna and 28 in Dellys, Algeria
• Algeria, september 2007: Israel bombs a secret nuclear site in Syria built with help from North Korea
• Pakistan, september 2007: Osama bin Laden urges a revolution against Musharraf in Pakistan
• Iraq, 2007: at the peak Al Qaeda carries out more than 30 suicide bombings per month in Iraq
• Saudi Arabia, november 2007: Saudi Arabia thwarts several planned terrorist attacks and arrests 208 Al Qaeda terrorists
• Algeria, december 2007: 37 people are killed by two bombs in Algiers
• Pakistan, december 2007: suicide bombers kill more than 140 people at Benazir Bhutto's welcome event in Karachi and weeks later kill her
• Iraq, december 2007: Iraqis have suffered from 667 suicide attacks since may 2005
• Pakistan, january 2008: A suicide bomber in Lahore kills 24 people
• Syria, february 2008: a car bomb kills Imad Mughniyeh (Mugniyah)