Middle East - Anthony Ham [49]
1979 After brutal repression of opposition protests, the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, leaves Iran. The Islamic Revolution brings Āyatollāh Ruhollāh Khomeini to power as other groups that participated in the revolution are swept away.
1980–88 Counting on a weakened Iran in the wake of the Islamic Revolution, Saddam Hussein launches a surprise attack on Iran. Brutal fighting in one of history’s most pointless wars would last until 1988.
1981 Anwar Sadat is assassinated in Cairo during a military parade, when a member of his armed forces (and also a secret member of an Islamist group) breaks away as the parade passes the presidential box.
1982 Israel invades Lebanon, joining Syria and a host of local militias battling on Lebanese soil. In September, Israeli forces surround the Palestinian refugee camps, Sabra and Shatila, while Phalangists massacre thousands. Israel withdraws in 1983.
1983 Turkey returns to democratic rule after a succession of coups. The new constitution that forbids prior political participation suggests that the Turkish military remains the real power in the country.
1984 Abdullah Öcalan forms the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and launches a brutal insurgency that paralyses Turkey’s southeast and a forceful response from Turkey. The ‘war’ lasts until Öcalan is captured in 1999.
1987 A grassroots uprising known as the intifada breaks out in the Palestinian Territories. Although the PLO later tries to claim credit, the intifada, which runs until 1993, is a spontaneous national rebellion.
1990 Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invades Kuwait and remains there until the US-led coalition (operating from its bases in Saudi Arabia) drives him out in early 1991. Saddam turns on Iraqi Shiites and Kurds.
1991 Israel and its Arab neighbours sit down for the first time to discuss a comprehensive peace plan in Madrid. Talks dissolve in recrimination, but the fact that they do so face to face is seen as progress.
1993 After a year and a half of secret negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin sign the Oslo Accords setting out a framework for future peace.
1994 Building on the goodwill generated by the Oslo Accords, Jordan under King Hussein becomes the second Arab country (after Egypt in 1979) to sign a peace treaty and normalise relations with Israel.
1995 Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated by a Jewish extremist who hoped to end the process Rabin had begun with the Oslo Accords. A year later, the right-wing Binyamin Netanyahu is voted into power.
2000 The second Palestinian intifada breaks out in the Palestinian Territories. In Damascus, Hafez al-Assad dies after 30 years in power and his son, Bashar, becomes president.
2003 The US and the UK, with a much smaller coalition and less international support than in 1990-91, invade Iraq, winning the war, but Iraq descends into looting and open insurgency. Saddam Hussein is captured in December.
2004 Evidence of the torture of Iraqi prisoners emerges from the US-controlled Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. The United States’ reputation in the region sinks to an all-time low.
2005 Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the PLO and leader of the
Palestinian Authority, dies in Paris and is later buried in Ramallah, ending an eventful four decades at the frontline of Middle Eastern politics.
2006 After Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers, Israel launches a sustained air attack on Lebanon. The resulting war produces a stalemate and is widely portrayed throughout the region as a victory for Hezbollah.
2008 Civil war threatens again in Lebanon after Hezbollah besieges the government, although the crisis is later resolved. Syria admits to indirect talks with Israel through Turkish mediators, while relations improve between Syria and Lebanon.
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Religion
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ISLAM
JUDAISM
CHRISTIANITY
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The