Syrian government troops regained control of the northern city Idlib, which was previously in rebel hands. The UN raised its estimate of those killed in the unrests to 8,000.

Egypt’s three-stage general election drew to a close with a final run-off to occur on January 11th. The relatively moderate Muslim Brotherhood is expected to gain most votes, though have indicated to prefer a coalition with secular parties rather than the extreme Salafists.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met in Jordan and had their first talks for more than a year.

Dozens of people were killed in Yemen during protests against President Saleh. Though he has promised to step down, he showed no sign of actually doing so.

More than 20 people were killed as protests broke out in the Syrian city of Homs. According to the UN, over 3,000 people have been killed since the Syrian unrests began in March.

Israeli solider Gilad Shalit, who had been held captive for more than five years by Hamas, was freed in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian soliders.

Israel went ahead with plans to build another 1,100 homes in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians see as their future capital.

Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh unexpectedly returned home, promising to arrange an orderly handover of power.

Forces fighting for Libya’s new government tightened their grip around Bani Walid and Sirte, the last two strongholds under Colonel Qaddafi’s control. The port of Sirte was said to be in the hands of rebel forces.

American, Britain and other European countries called for the departure of Syrian president Bashar Assad, after his continuing violent suppression of protests.

Egypt and Israel came close to a falling out over a shooting at the Sinai border involving Palestinian extremists, but appeared to have stepped back from a diplomatic imbroglio.

NATO ramped up its air attacks on Tripoli, capital of Libya, and deployed Apache attack helicopters.

Prosecutors in Egypt announced that former president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons would be tried on a series of chargers including murder.

Scores of Yemenis were killed in clashes with security forces as President Ali Abdullah Saleh continued to reject a deal which would require him to leave office within 30 days.

Shokri Ghanem, oil minister of Libya, was reported to have defected. He is the highest-ranking official to abandon Colonel Qaddafi since the foreign minister fled in March.

Yemen’s government and an opposition coalition came close to striking a deal that would end the three-month long crisis. Under the plan, brokered by the GCC, President Saleh would step down within 30 days and a unity government would be formed.

Nabil el-Araby, Egypt’s foreign minister, was elected secretary-general of the Arab League, thereby replacing his fellow countryman Amr Moussa.

A bomb left at a bus stop in Jerusalem killed one British tourist and injured 30 people. It was the first such attack the city for more than six years. The bomb came after Israeli jets launched air raids in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for rockets being fired into Israel by Palestinian militants.

The death toll from the crackdown by Bahrain’s security forces rose to 18. Protesters continue to demand reform.

Three-quarters of Egyptian voters endorsed a batch of constituional amendments in a national referendum. The move paves the way for a general and presidential election in June and September respectively.

Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh promised to step down by the end of the year after snipers killed at least 50 protesters in Sana’a. Several of his closest military and tribal allies have turned against the president in recent days.

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.

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.