18 Mar 11
Forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi regained control of rebel towns in the east and west of Libya. Western powers discussed the imposing of a no-fly zone over Libya. The move was endorsed by the Arab League together with Britain and France. Russia and others are still voicing doubts.
Saudi Arabia sent 2,000 troops to Bahrain to help curb a growing protest movement. Martial law was declared after police opened fire on a crowd of mainly Shia demonstrators.
Protests continued in Yemen against the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, but were met with a fierce crackdown.
16 Mar 11
Fighting between supporters of Muammar Qaddafi and rebel troops continued in Libya. The colonel’s forces appear to have regained control of Zawiya, a city near Tripoli. Ras Lanuf, an oil port held by the rebels, came under heavy aerial bombardment.
Debate outside Libya about imposing a no-fly zone intensified. The USA said the UN must endorse the idea, whilst Russia seems determined to oppose.
At least 13 people died in Cairo, Egypt, in a sectarian row whereby Coptic Christians protested against the burning of a church on the outskirts of Cairo.
06 Mar 11
Ahmed Shafiq, Egypt’s prime minister, stepped down as did Tunisia’s prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi. Protests continued in both countries as pro-democracy campaigners complained about the slow pace of reform and the presence of allies of the former regimes.
Protests in Yemen grew fiercer and a reported 27 people are believed to have been killed since the demonstrations began a few weeks ago.
Fighting between forces loyal to Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi and his opponents intensified. Gaddafi remains in control of Tripoli and is battling to seize back towns under rebel control.
An estimated 100,000 refugees fleeing Libya are believed to be in makeshift camps across the borders with Egypt and Tunisia. The UN suspended Libya from the Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into possible crimes against humanity committed by Libya’s leaders.
Protests by jobless and ill-paid workers in the Oman port of Sohar resulted in one death. Days later, thousands of Omanis took to the streets in support of Sultan Qaboos, who has promised reform.
Stockmarkets throughout the Middle-East tumbled amid continuing instability in the region. Saudi Arabia’s index fell to a 23-month low, while Dubai and Kuwait hit six-year lows.
28 Feb 11
A popular revolt against the regime in Libya turned violent as Muammar Gaddafi deployed tanks and fighter jets in an attempt to put down the protests. Rebels gained large swathes of territory in eastern Libya after taking heavy losses estimated to be at least 1,000. International pressure on Gaddafi to step down has mounted, yet the ruler of four decades refuses to step down.
Open defiance of protesters against authoritarian governments in the Middle-East spread to Morocco and Iraqi Kurdistan. In Bahrain protesters were met with fierce retaliation from the royal family, resulting in several casualties. After heavy criticism it relented and vowed to work towards political reform.
The chief prosecutor in Egypt called for the freezing of assets of deposed President Hosni Mubarak.
Oil prices soared as a result of the political strife in Libya. Brent crude traded at well above US$ 115 a barrel.
19 Feb 11
Hosni Mubarak stepped down as President of Egypt following 18 days of popular revolt. He handed power over to a group of senior military men who would oversee the writing of a new constitution. Elections are to be held within six months.
The collapse of the Mubarak regime inspired political upheavals across the Middle-East including Yemen, Libya, Algeria and Bahrain. Protesters faced fierce resistance from government forces.
10 Feb 11
Anti-government protests in Egypt continued with Tahrir Square in Cairo as the symbolic epicentre. Clashes between pro- and anti-Mubarak demonstrators persisted and an explosion on a gasline in the Sinai was attributed to saboteurs exploiting the unrest. President Mubarak refused to relinquish power as his actions of political reform remained cosmetic.
Tunisia’s interim president assumed the power to rule by decree, as the Constitutional Democratic Rally (the former ruling party) was suspended. Its officials are no longer allowed and its offices are to be closed down.
Revelations about torture in prisons in Kuwait led to the resignation of Kuwait’s interior minister. The Kuwaiti emir accepted the resignation amid a growing demand for political reforms in the wake of demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt.
08 Feb 11
Thousands of Egyptians took to the streets to demand the end of the three-decade reign of President Mubarak. Demonstrations took place in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and other Egyptian cities. Opposition was loosely united, with Mohamed Al-Baradei, former head of the IAEA, tentatively at its head. Violent clashes broke out as government forces tried to clear the protesters from the streets of Cairo.
King Abdullah of Jordan sacked his government and appointed a new prime minister, following a month of protests. Opposition leaders, who want the king’s powers curbed, said this was not enough.
With continuing demonstrations in Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced he would not run for re-election after his terms expires in 2013, nor would he hand over power to his son.
Iraq’s health ministry said 159 civilians were killed in violent attacks in January, the highest death toll since September. On January 27th a car-bomb attack on a funeral in a Shia district of Baghdad left at least 45 people dead.
27 Jan 11
Protests in Egypt, inspired by Tunisia and mobilised via social media, erupted in several cities including Cairo. The demonstrations call for the ousting of Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for 30 years.
Large demonstrations were also seen in Sana’a, Yemen, demanding that Ali Abdullah Saleh step down as president. He too has been in power for three decades.
A fragile transitional unity government in Tunisia struggled to restore order, as riots continued throughout the country.
Najib Mikati, a self-made telecom billionaire, becames Lebanon’s prime minister with the backing of Hizbullah. The United States, France, Israel and Saudi Arabia were all worried.
Leaked discussions between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were made public on Al-Jazeera. The leaks put both sides in a bad light. The Palestianian leadership under Mahmoud Abbas is portrayed to truckling to the Israelis by offering more generous concessions than was publicly admitted.
27 Jan 11
Protests continued throughout Tunisia leading to its president of the past 23 years, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, fleeing the country to Saudi Arabia. The prime minister was left to collect a unity government including several opposition members. According to official statistics, 78 people have been killed in street violence over the past weeks, though informal statistics cite a much higher number.
Ehud Barak, the current defence minister and former prime minister of Israel, left the Labour party to form a new party called Independence.
A suicide bomber killed at least 60 people outside a police-recruitment-center in Tikrit, Iraq.
15 Jan 11
Protests against unemployment and high-level corruption erupted across at least a dozen towns in Tunisia. At least 20 Tunisians, mainly young civilian men, were killed. President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, whom the protesters wish to have ousted, sacked his interior minister, closed schools and universities and enforced a curfew in Tunis.
Lebanon’s coalition government collapsed after Hizbullah withdrew its support, allegedly because the Prime Minister Saad Hariri refused to convene an emergency session to take a stance on the UN tribunal investigating the assissination of his father Rafik Hariri in 2005. Hizbullah is likely to be blamed for the killing.
Tensions rose in East Jerusalem as bulldozers began demolishing parts of a hotel in a district inhabited mainly by Arabs, to make way for buildings for Jews. The Palestinians regard East Jerusalem as their future capital.