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10.2.1 Palestine
- On Sunday December 15, 2002, President Arafat asked Osama bin Laden to stop pretending to work for the Palestinian cause. According to Arafat, bin Laden's actions are contrary to the Palestinian's interests.
- Palestinian journalists were in mourning Sunday September 12, 2004, over the killing of another one of their colleagues in Iraq. Mazen Tmaizi was reporting live for the Saudi news channel Al-Arabiya ; he was killed when a US helicopter opened fire to destroy a US vehicle disabled by a car bomb in the heart of Baghdad. Tmaizi is the fourth Palestinian journalist killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war.
- Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, 75, the leader who fought for a homeland for his people but was seen by many as a terrorist and a roadblock to peace, died in Paris on November 11, 2004. The speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Rawhi Fattuh, was sworn in as Palestinian Authority president on an interim basis.
- Arafat had been sick with an unknown illness that had been described as flu, stomach virus or gallstones. He flew to Paris October 29 seeking medical treatment and was hospitalised for a blood disorder. He had been on a respirator since slipping into a coma November 3. Arafat's body will be taken from France to Cairo, where the Egyptian government will host a state funeral for him. He will be buried outside the Palestinian Authority headquarters compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Arafat's family had wanted him buried in Jerusalem, but the Israeli government forbade that.
- On November 12, 2004, there were funeral of state for Arafat in Cairo. He was then buried in Ramalla, West Bank, Palestine, amid a kind of riot or carnival.

- An uneasy calm has returned to the Gaza Strip on June 15, 2007, where Hamas is in full control following a series of attacks on key strongholds of its rival, Fatah. Hamas militants seized the presidential compound in Gaza City overnight after a week of factional fighting, which has left more than 100 people dead. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sacked the Hamas-led government and declared an emergency. Mr Abbas is expected to name a caretaker administration within hours. However, Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, of Hamas, says his government will press on and he will impose decisive law and order.

- Fatah gunmen have stormed the Hamas-controlled Palestinian parliament building in Ramallah in the West Bank on June 16, 2007. The gunmen tried to seize the Palestinian Legislative Council's second deputy speaker, Hassan Khuraishah, but staff intervened. Mr Khuraishah told the BBC he had been beaten up as he tried to prevent Fatah gunmen from raising their flag.

- On June 17, 2007, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sworn in a new emergency government that excludes his Islamist rivals, Hamas, who have seized control of Gaza. Mr Abbas also issued decrees enabling new Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to rule without parliamentary approval and outlawing all of Hamas's armed forces. Mr Fayyad's predecessor, Ismail Haniya, has said the new government is illegal. Israel's government said a non-Hamas administration would create a fresh opportunity for a partnership in peace.

- The kidnappers of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston released on June 25, 2007, a new video of him in which he is wearing what he says is an explosives vest. In the tape, Mr Johnston says his captors have said they will detonate the vest if force is used to try to free him. It is the second video released since Mr Johnston was abducted from a Gaza street on 12 March.

- About 200,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the release of BBC reporter Alan Johnston. Mr Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza on his way home on 12 March. On Monday July 2, 2007, Hamas security forces in Gaza detained members of the Palestinian militant group which claims to have abducted the journalist.

- BBC correspondent Alan Johnston has been released on July 4, 2007, by kidnappers in the Gaza Strip after 114 days in captivity. Mr Johnston was handed over to armed men in Gaza City. He said his ordeal was like "being buried alive" but it was "fantastic" to be free. Speaking live from Jerusalem later, he thanked those who had supported him, and vowed to return to "obscurity".

- BBC correspondent Alan Johnston met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on July 5, 2007, to thank him for helping to free him from 114 days in captivity in Gaza. He met Mr Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, a day after he was freed in a deal between his kidnappers, the Army of Islam, and the Hamas movement.

- Israel plans to release 250 Palestinian prisoners in a gesture Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says will boost moderate elements among the Palestinians. Israel's cabinet approved the move on July 8, 2007, and a final list of prisoners -all linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party- will now be drawn up.

- Former US President Jimmy Carter held talks with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Syria on April 18, 2008, despite US and Israeli opposition. Hamas spokesmen said Mr Carter had asked for it to stop rocket attacks on Israel and to enter talks for the release of an Israeli captive. They said any truce must be two-way and there would be a "price" for freeing Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Mr Carter earlier met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

- Former US President Jimmy Carter said on April 21, 2008, that Hamas is prepared to accept the right of Israel to "live as a neighbour next door in peace". After meeting Hamas leaders last week in Syria, he criticised the US and Israel for refusing to meet the group. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has challenged Hamas to prove its goodwill by renouncing violence. After Mr Carter's remarks, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal stressed that Hamas would not formally recognise Israel. But he told a news conference in the Syrian capital, Damascus, that Hamas would accept a Palestinian state on the land occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.

- On July 15, 2008, the international Middle East envoy, Tony Blair, has cancelled a planned visit to the Gaza Strip. The visit had to be postponed because of a specific security threat. He would have been the most highly ranked international diplomat to visit the strip since the militant movement Hamas took control there in 2007. He was due to meet UN officials to discuss humanitarian work in the strip and visit a water treatment plant. He had not been expected to meet any representatives from Hamas.

France will recognise a Palestinian state if a final push that Paris plans to lead for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians fails we were told on Friday January 29, 2016. U.S.-led efforts to broker peace for a two-state solution collapsed in April 2014 and since then there have been no serious efforts to resume talks. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has repeatedly warned that letting the status quo continue risks killing off a two-state solution and playing into the hands of Islamic State militants.

10.2.2 Saudi Arabia
The King of Saudi Arabia, King Fahd, is believed to be very ill, if not dying in a hospital in Geneva, Switzerland, and the battle for the succession has started. In principle his brother, the Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz as-Saud, should succeed him but nothing is certain. Prince Sultan ibn Abdul Aziz as-Saud is Abdullah's main rival while his hardliner brother, Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz as-Saud, is also hopeful. Many orthodox Muslims believe that King Fahd has gone too far towards pleasing the Americans, giving them some military bases and helping them in their fight against terrorism. The American support of Israel against the Palestinians is also criticised.

- Saudi Arabia has nominated his new ambassador to London. He is the former intelligence chief, Oxford educated, Prince Turki al-Faisal who, in the past, had many meetings with Osama bin Laden. He is one of the prominent Saudis facing a compensation claim of more than $600bn brought up in the US by families of the September 11 victims. It is alleged that the 57 year old prince is one of the people who funded bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
- Saudi Arabia said that they would not allow the US to use its airbases on their territories and their airspace to invade Iraq even if the UN authorise military action.
- At the end of November 2002, the FBI is inquiring whether Saudi Arabia financed some of the participants in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the USA. It seems that the wife of the Saudi ambassador in Washington DC, Princess Haifa al-Faisal, daughter of the late King Faisal, gave some money to a Saudi man in San Diego, Osama Basnan, whose wife was sick. This is, we are told, a normal habit for the rich Saudi. Basman and his neighbourg, Omar al-Bayoumi, were in friendly relations with al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi, two of the hijackers of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Apparently the FBI agreed that the princess did not know where her money was really going, but the Republican politicians use this opportunity to attack Saudi Arabia which, up to now, refuses that the US launches the invasion of Iraq using its soil and air space.
- One Saudi minister says that Israel was behind the September 11, 2001, attack on the US, and that no Saudi citizen took part. To justify it he asked the following question: who did benefits from this attack? The only answer is Israel that was, in this way, allowed to go on fighting with the Palestinians and occupy their land as they wish and with the agreement of the US.
- On February 9, 2003, Saudi Arabia reversed a previous decision to the contrary and agreed to let the USA to run the air campaign against Iraq from its soil. However they put some conditions limiting the types of aircrafts. They will not be allowed to use their bases in Saudi Arabia for offensive missions intending to bomb Iraq.
- Saudi Arabia revealed on February 18, 2003, that about 250 suspects of terrorism were arrested and that 150 others have been released. Of these 250, at least 90 will be prosecuted for presumed links with al-Qaida.
- On April 29, 2003, the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that all but a few American soldiers training the Saudis will leave Saudi Arabia before the end of the summer. The Prince Sultan airbase that costed a huge amount of money to the US taxpayer will be abandoned, and all the 200 planes moved somewhere else. Rumsfeld insisted that the decision had been made in agreement between the two countries. It must also be remembered that Riyadh refused to let the US take off from their country to bomb Iraq; moreover the presence of American troops created internal pressure fuelling militant opposition to the regime. All but four of the alleged September 11 hijackers were Saudi and the presence of US troops there was a key propaganda point made by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida.
- Many Saudi are afraid that they could be on the invasion list of the USA. Syria and Iran should come before Saudi Arabia, but it is not certain. Even Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, is planning to discuss with the Saudis how their country could change from a semi-feudal country to a democracy. He believes that Saudi Arabia needs to be reformed or faces the threat from a theocratic Muslim society. The neo-conservative Americans believe that after the fall of Saddam Hussein and the first steps towards democracy in Palestine, there are strong pressures on some of the pro-western countries in the Middle East to reform. This is true for Egypt too.
- On May 12, 2003, three separate bombs rocked residential housing complex used by foreigners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Three lories, each with 3 terrorists, shot their way through the security gates and blew up their explosives. One day later we were told that 39 people died, among them eight Americans, one British and the nine unidentified terrorists. In addition about 200 people were wounded. US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, in visit to Riyadh, visited the site and said that it looked like the work of al-Qaida. Three of the suicide bombers have been identified on May 18, 2003.
- The Intelligence Services that were right for a change, expected this attack. The US, Britain and many other countries are urging their citizens to avoid travelling to Saudi Arabia, and advise who are already there to leave as soon as possible. The message of the terrorists to the foreigners living in Saudi Arabia is clear: "You are not safe here". Only a few days before the Saudi police tried to arrest some terrorists but the shot their way to freedom and escaped. Now the foreign residents must think again if a higher income is worth taking the risk to stay and work in Saudi Arabia.
- Following the attacks the Saudi reinforced security. The housing complex al-Hamra, five days after the bombing, was getting the security it should have had before.
- On May 15, 2003, the British newspapers said that Khaled al-Jehani was the probable responsible for the Riyadh bombing attacks. Jehani is believed to be the new al-Qaida chief of operations in the Gulf after the capture of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the USS Cole bombing suspect, last November. What is now certain is that Saudi Arabia is a soft target for Islamic terrorism.
- On June 15, 2003, the Saudi police increased the security in the holiest Islamic city of Mecca after a fierce gun battle with a suspected terrorist group. Five terrorists and two policemen died. Several other suspected terrorists were arrested later on, accused of plotting other attacks. Of course, each time something like this happens we are told, without proof, that the terrorists involved, are from al-Qaida.
- On June 26, 2003, the Saudi authorities said that they had arrested the militant suspected of master mining May 12's Riyadh suicide bombing that killed 35 people. Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Ghamdi, a Saudi national believed to have close links with al-Qaida gave himself up. He is supposed to take his orders directly from Osama bin Laden.
- On July 21, 2003, the Saudi government said that it had arrested 16 members of a terrorist cell and had also found weapons and explosives.
- On July 30, 2003, the Saudis allowed the CIA and the FBI to interview a September 11, 2001, Saudi suspect. The Americans are saying that Omar al-Bayoumi was on friendly terms with two of the Saudi highjackers in America. Mr Bayoumi, who is employed by the Saudi civil aviation authority, is believed to be an intelligence officer in his country.
- On August 12, 2003, there was a gunfight in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, between the police and suspected terrorists. Four policemen and one militant were killed and many others wounded. The day before, 10 men accused of being members of a terrorist cell planning to attack a British target were also arrested. On August 14, Saudi Arabia authorities said that they would interview 12,000 of their citizens during their anti-terrorist campaign.
- On September 4, 2003, the Saudi authorities told us that last month they stopped a lorry full of surface-to-air SAM missiles, which had been smuggled in the country from Yemen. This could explain why British Airways suspended all its flights to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi authorities also found a warehouse full of weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades, in eastern Riyadh.
- On September 17, 2003, it became clear that Saudi Arabia was weighting the need to become a nuclear power. Until a few months ago Saudi Arabia was under the protection of the USA. Lately, due to the Iraq war and the September 11 2001 attacks on the USA in which 15 Saudis were involved, the relations between the two countries worsened. Saudi Arabia is afraid that Iran will become a military nuclear power in addition to Israel who is thought to have 200 nuclear warheads. If they decide to have atomic bombs, Saudi Arabia will not build them, but they will try to buy some, for instance from Pakistan. The Saudis are looking at three options:
.To become a military nuclear power.
.To maintain, or to enter, in an alliance with an existing nuclear power that would protect them.
.To try to reach a regional agreement on having a nuclear-free Middle East.

- An al-Qaida suspect, Sultan al-Qahtani, and three other people, have been killed in a shootout with the police in Abu Arish, Saudi Arabia on September 24, 2003. Sultan al-Qahtani was one of four men named in a FBI worldwide alert on September 7 this year suggesting he was planning attacks on US targets. The Saudis also wanted him for his possible participation in the suicide attack in Riyadh that killed 35 people last May.
- On October 24, 2003, the British foreign office advised against travelling to Saudi Arabia. It believes that terrorists may be in the final stages of preparing attacks in this country.
- A few suspected al-Qaida militants were killed in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on November 5, 2003. They were planning to kill pilgrims during the sacred Muslim month of Ramadan. Since the country has suffered from terrorist attacks the government has arrested as many as 600 suspects.
- On November 8, 2003, the US closed indefinitely its embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia after the intelligence services were informed that a bomb attack against it is being prepared. It will reopen in a few days when a security assessment is completed.
- On November 9, 2003, in the month of Ramadan, there was a very powerful explosion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A compound occupied by foreigners was again the target but in this case they are mainly Muslim Arabs with only three western families (French, British,). Ten buildings were damaged and there were many victims but their number is not known. It was thought that a member of the Royal family was targeted, but this was not true. Two days later we were told that 17 people died in the attacks all of them Arab Muslins. In addition the compound was badly destroyed.
- On November 25, 2003, the police in Riyadh killed two would-be Saudi Arabian bombers. The police is trying to identify them.
- On December 6, 2003, the Saudi authorities released the names and photos of its most wanted terrorists and increased the protection around western housing compounds in Riyadh. The Saudi government has put aside $267,00 for anybody giving useful information for the capture of the 26 suspects (23 Iraqis, one Yemenite and two Moroccans). The reward would amount to $1.3m if more that one suspects is arrested and to $1.9m for actions that prevent a terrorist attack.
- On December 6, 2003, the US upgraded its security warning. The US embassy and consulate personnel cannot leave their housing except for essential duties. Britain and the USA warned that Islamic militants could attack western residences in the next few days.
- On December 17, 2003, the USA decided that non-essential American diplomats and families should leave Saudi Arabia. The US State Department also advised private US citizens to leave if possible, and to refrain from travelling there as terrorist attacks are foreseen.
- On December 31, 2003, 3 men were arrested in Saudi Arabia suspected of trying to kill a Saudi senior security officer on December 29.
- On January 15, 2004, Saudi Arabia said that al-Qaida training camps have been found in the Saudi desert. Militants were trained there to carry terrorist attacks.
- On January 29, 2004, five Saudi security agents were shot dead in Riyadh as about 2 million Muslims from all around the world began the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. A civilian was killed and several suspects were arrested.
- On February 17, 2004, we were told there is a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen following the erection of a barrier at the border between the two countries. Saudi Arabia, says that the barrier is necessary to decrease the flux of militants and arms from Yemen. Yemen has three times as many guns as people and Yemeni like to sell them for a high price in Saudi Arabia together with the drug known as "qat". The Yemeni compared it to the fence built by Israel to keep the Palestinians out of their country. It will impede the trade between the two countries including the grazing rights given to Yemen by the Saudis.
- On April 21, 2004, a suicide car bomber attacked the headquarters of the Saudi Arabia security forces in Riyadh. Four people -including two security officials and a little girl- were killed and 48 injured. In the last 8 days the Saudi police have found at least five vehicles packed with explosives and fought many times with militants. In one of these four officers were killed.
- On May 1, 2004, four armed men entered a western-run oil company headquarters in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, and killed seven people by gunfire. Among the victims are two Americans, two Australians, two Britons and one Saudi. Three men died on the spot and one was stripped naked, tied to a car and drag around for perhaps as long as one hour. It seems that three attackers were later on killed by the police and one arrested. One members of the Saudi National Guard was killed and 28 Saudi and foreigners were wounded by gunshots during the assailant escape. The killers are said to be Mujahideen, a group linked to al-Qaida.
- Western workers working for a petrol-chemical plant in Yanbu are leaving Saudi Arabia on May 2, 2004, after six people were killed and 25 wounded by gunmen who entered the firm's headquarters. More than 100 western workers and their families are leaving.
- A few terrorists attacked the offices of some foreign oil companies as well as residences for foreigners in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, on May 29, 2004. At least twenty-two people were killed (mainly foreigners) and fifty others were taken hostages. Most of the hostages were free on Sunday May 30. However some of the hostages were also killed including one Italian. Al-Qaida said that they were responsible for the attacks. On May 30, 2004, the Saudi police entered into the residences taken over by some terrorists the day before. Some of the 50 hostages were murdered (9 trying to escape had their throat cut by the terrorists according to some witnesses). On June 2, the Saudi police killed two people described as terrorists involved in the attacks in al-Khobar.
- The American, British and Australians asked their citizens to leave the country as soon as possible.
- On June 2, 2004, some US soldiers were shot at near their base in Riyadh. They were not injured but an Iraqi driver was slightly wounded.
- On June 1, 2004, it looks more and more that the Saudi regime is under threat not only from terrorists such as al-Qaida, but also from their ordinary citizen who want some kind of freedom, reforms, and democracy. A constitutional monarchy would be a solution but the reigning family is all against it.
- On June 1, 2004, the price of oil in New York reached $42 a barrel, the record for a long time. Saudi Arabia will increase its production from about 8m barrels a day to near 10. This will probably calm the price for a while but the main problem is the long term as the oil production has more or less reached its maximum all over the world. Once this maximum is reached something will have to be done to limit the consumption and this will create big problems in many countries, especially in the USA that is fully dependent on oil import.
- On June 1, 2004, it seems that Saudi Arabia has become the main target for the terrorists of al-Qaida. This is not too surprising as it is estimated that about 12,000 Saudi were trained by al-Qaida in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. Many of these people fought against the Russian invaders and with the Taliban, and now they are free and ready to join al-Qaida, as most of them have no job.
- On June 1, 2004, it looks like the head of the al-Qaida network in Saudi Arabia is Abdel Aziz al-Mouqrin also known as Abu Hajer. He succeeded to the Yemeni- Khaled Ali Haj killed in March 2004.
- On June 5, 2004, the highest clergyman in Saudi Arabia, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Asheikh, promulgated an order (Fatwa) telling the citizen and resident of the country to denounce anybody that they believe are doing or preparing terrorist acts.
- On June 7, 2004, a cameraman of the BBC, Simon Cumbers, has been killed in Saudi Arabia and his colleague Frank Garner has been badly wounded.
- On June 8, 2004, al-Qaida threatened Saudi Arabia of more attacks on the same scale of what happened in the USA on September 11, 2001. On the same day an American citizen was shot dead in his house in Riyadh. He was working for an American firm that is training the Saudi National Guard.
- On June 12, 2004, another American civilian was shot dead in Riyadh while parking his car in front of his house. He is the third westerner killed in one week. The same day the police found a car carrying a lot of explosives.
- On June 13, 2004, the British foreign ministry authorised all non-essential staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia that is considered unsafe. British Airways decided not to let their flight crews spend nights there. The BA flights will land in Kuwait and make short trips to Saudi Arabia.
- On June 13, 2004, an American civilian working for Lockheed Martin, Paul Johnson, was taken hostage in Saudi Arabia. His captors threatened to kill him as a revenge for torture and abuses on Muslims by the US military in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay.
- On June 14, 2004, six Saudi Islamic clerics said that attacks on westerners was a "grave sin" under Islam. They added that those who killed innocent non-Muslim residents would not go to heaven.
- On June 17, 2004, the Saudi militants that are holding the American Paul Johnson hostage, have been told that he is a friend of the country, and that if they kill him it would be a violation of Islam. Its captors beheaded him on June 18 as Saudi Arabia refused to free al-Qaida members in prison in the country. Pictures of the corpse were shown on an Islamic website.
- This assassination could lead many foreigners working in Saudi Arabia to leave the country. This would create a big problem to the oil industry in the country and it effect would be fell in the industrialised world with price increase and possibly some rationing.
- On June 20, 2004, the Saudi police stepped up the hunt for militants following their recent successes. The al-Qaida leader in the country, Abd al-Aziz al-Muqrin, his deputy, Faisal al-Dakheel, and two other militants were killed in a gun battle on June 18. The police also claim to have arrested 12 other suspects.
- On June 21, 2004, a former sergeant named Oufi in the Saudi security forces has been appointed head of al-Qaida in the country after the death of Abd al-Aziz al-Muqrin. Oufi is believed to be the cousin of Majed Moqed, one of the five hijackers aboard the American Airline plane that crashed in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
- On June 23, 2004, most western firms offered "danger money" to their employees willing to go on working in Saudi Arabia in order to try to stop their exodus. The amount offered by British firms such as BAE Systems goes up to £1,000. This is a political embarrassment for the Saudi authorities and a victory for al-Qaida.
- A Saudi militant, Othman al-Amri, hunted for more than one year by the police, gave himself up on June 28, 2004, under an amnesty offered by the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. He is the 26th most wanted man in Saudi Arabia.
- On July 13, 2004, a third al-Qaida supporter, Khaled al-Harbi, surrendered to the police in Saudi Arabia to benefit from the amnesty. However the amnesty programme is a complete failure as only three men until now asked to be covered by it.
- On July 20, 2004, gunfire and explosions broke out in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabia capital, as the security forces were fighting suspected terrorists loyal to bin Laden. Several security officers were injured but the insurgents escaped.
- A senior militant suspected to be linked to al-Qaida, Faris al-Zahrani, was arrested in southern Saudi Arabia on August 5, 2004. He was on the list of the 26 most wanted men in the country.
- On August 6, 2004, the Saudi security forces arrested in Abha one of the most wanted al-Qaida operative in Saudi Arabia, the cleric Faris al-Zahrani who created the website "Voice of Jihad" linked to al-Qaida. He was 12th on the list of the 26 most wanted men in the country.
- On August 12, 2004, Saudi Arabia was ready to pump as many as 1.3 million extra barrels a day of oil to cool runaway prices. The country had pumped 9.3 million barrels a day over the past three months, but output would be raised to meet the extra demand. US light crude closed up 28 cents at $44.80 a barrel in New York trade, while in London Brent crude rose 29 cents to settle at $41.57 a barrel.
- The UK's ambassador to Saudi Arabia says on September 7, 2004, that the Saudi security services may have helped in the escape of a gang who killed 22 people. Ambassador Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles told Radio 4's Today there appeared to have been some sort of "arrangement".
- A British man, Edmund Muirhead-Smith, was shot dead in the Saudi capital Riyadh on September 16, 2004. He leaves behind a wife and six children. Witnesses said two gunmen in a Toyota car shot the victim four times as he walked towards his car on Wednesday. Mr Muirhead-Smith was an employee of communications firm Marconi.
- On September 16, 2004, the US has accused Saudi Arabia of severely violating religious freedom. The US State Department put its Arab ally on a list of states causing particular concern over freedom to worship because "freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia does not exist either in practice or in law."
- A Frenchman has been shot dead in the Saudi city of Jeddah on September 26, 2004.
- Saudi security forces shot dead three suspected militants in a gun battle in the capital Riyadh, On Tuesday October 12, 2004. Seven security officers were wounded in the clash, but none of their injuries were life-threatening. More than 160 people have been killed in the past 18 months.
- On December 5, 2004, five insurgents attacked the US Consulate in Jiddah. They succeeded to enter into the building where they killed five local employees. No American was hurt. They battled for three hours with the police that killed four of the attackers and took one prisoner.
- On December 16, 2004, an audiotape said to be from Osama bin Laden and posted on an Islamic website, praises the men who attacked the US Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is not yet confirmed if the voice is that of bin Laden.
- On December 29, 2004, Islamic extremists blew up bombs and fought with the police in Riyadh. A car bomb was detonated by remote control near the Interior Ministry killing a civilian. The insurgents fought with the police that killed seven and wounded many policemen. Two suicide insurgents tried to bomb a troop recruitment office. As a result the oil price increased by $2 a barrel in New York. The police in Riyadh also killed two other suspected militants.
- The US consulate in the Red Sea port city of Jiddah, reopened on January 30, 2005, seven weeks after a militant attack that killed nine people, five foreign consulate employees and four among the attackers.
- On April 5, 2005, Saudi security forces have stormed a house to end a three-day battle, killing and capturing militant gunmen. The fighting in al-Ras, northwest of Riyadh, started after police officers surrounded a house on Sunday morning. The Saudi also confirmed the death of two top fugitives wanted by the government: Abdulkarim al-Mejjati and Saud Homoud al-Oteibi. Mejjati is alleged by the Saudis to have masterminded the bombings in Casablanca, Morocco, in May 2003. Mejjati, who along with Oteibi was on a list of 26 men at large wanted by Saudi authorities, was also being investigated in connection with the Madrid train bombings on 11 March 2004, reports say. According to medical sources, more than 50 security officers were injured. The confrontation ended on Tuesday, when security troops stormed a house where up to 10 militants had holed up against Saudi troops. Unconfirmed reports put the final death toll as high as 18, including 10 killed during fighting on Sunday and Monday.
- On April 6, 2005, Saudi security forces have killed one of the kingdom's most wanted Islamic militants in a raid on a Riyadh apartment. Abdul-Rahman Yazji, whose name is on a list of 26 top Saudi militants, is said to have been hiding in the city's southern district of Sinaiya.
- A gunfight on the edge of the Saudi city of Mecca has left two militants and two members of the security forces dead on April 21, 2005. The group of four militants, some disguised as women, failed to stop at a checkpoint. The security forces pursued them, and the gun battle ensued. One militant was shot and arrested.
- Saudi security forces killed the country's most wanted man, al-Qaida's leader in the kingdom, Moroccan-born Younis Mohammad Ibrahim al-Hayyari. He was killed in a shootout during a police raid on a suspected hideout in western Riyadh. Hayyari, who entered Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage visa in 2001, topped a newly issued list of 36 suspected militants wanted by Saudi authorities.
- A man believed to be the leader of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia has been killed during a police raid in Medina on August 18, 2005. Saleh Awfi, one of the most wanted men in the country, was found in a hideout near the city's mosque.
- On September 5, 2005, Saudi security forces have stormed a building where suspected Islamic militants have been holed up in the eastern Saudi Arabian city of Dammam. Gunfire and blasts could be heard for hours as forces moved in on the villa.
- Hundreds of Saudi fighters who joined the insurgency in Iraq showed few signs of militancy before the U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein, according to a study by the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) based on Saudi intelligence reports and released on September 18, 2005. The study also said Saudis made up just 350 of the 3,000-strong foreign insurgents in Iraq. Non-Iraqi militants made up less than 10 percent of the insurgents' ranks -perhaps even half that. Most were motivated by "revulsion at the idea of an Arab land being occupied by a non-Arab country".
- The United States on Friday September 23, 2005, strongly rejected Saudi fears that Iraq is heading toward disintegration and that other countries in the region would be drawn into the conflict. Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Muslim country, is concerned that the Iraqi constitution due to be put to a referendum next month could split the country apart and disenfranchise a Sunni minority that lost power after the U.S.-led invasion.
- Iraq's interior minister, Bayan Jabr, denied a suggestion by a Saudi minister that US policy in Iraq has handed the country over to Iranian influence.
- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has vowed on October 14, 2005, to crush the "scourge" of al-Qaida, in his first televised interview since becoming king. The king said that Islam is a "religion of peace" that rejects the 11 September 2001 attacks. He also said he is working towards cutting oil prices after recent rises. King Abdullah was crowned monarch of Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, in August.
- Al-Qaeda was behind the foiled suicide bomb attack on a major Saudi oil facility on Friday February 24, 2006, says a website used by Islamic militants in Saudi Arabia. The attack at the oil-processing plant at Abqaiq was part of al-Qaida's campaign to force "infidels" out of the peninsula. The Saudi government has said it foiled the attack and output was not affected.
- On February 27, 2006, security forces in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh have killed five suspected militants believed to be linked to an attack on an oil plant. Security sources say a siege took place at a villa in a Riyadh suburb in which shots were fired and grenades thrown. An Islamic website has claimed al-Qaeda was behind the foiled attack on Friday on an oil processing plant in Abqaiq.
- The authorities in Saudi Arabia say on March 30, 2006, they have arrested 40 suspected members of al-Qaida, or "the deviant group" as the government refers to it. The arrests were made in several parts of the country, including the capital, Riyadh. Explosives and firearms were also seized during the raids. Eight of those held are said to be linked to a cell that tried to bomb the world's biggest oil processing plant in Abqaiq last month.

-Police in Riyadh has killed six militants linked to al-Qaida on June 23, 2006. One policeman was killed and a seventh man arrested. The group, cornered in the al-Nakhil district of the capital, was on the verge of launching attacks.

-Saudi Arabia has announced on June 24, 2006, the arrest of 42 suspected militants. Authorities said raids nationwide led to the arrest of 27 people last month, while the rest were detained on Friday and Saturday. Four are foreign and all are involved in "terrorism".

-Seven terror suspects have escaped from prison in Saudi Arabia we were told July 8, 2006. The fugitives - six Saudis and one Yemeni - were linked to al-Qaeda. The suspects fled Malaz prison in the capital Riyadh, where they had been held over "security related issues". The term is used by Saudi authorities to describe terrorism charges.

-Saudi Arabian security forces surrounded a building holding suspected militants in the west coast city of Jeddah on Monday August 21, 2006. There have been gunfight and two of militants have been killed.

-Security in Iraq has collapsed so dramatically that Saudi Arabia decided on September 30, 2006, the construction of a 550-mile high-tech fence to seal off its troubled northern neighbour. The huge project to build the barrier, which will be equipped with ultraviolet night-vision cameras, buried sensor cables and thousands of miles of barbed wire, will snake across the vast and remote desert frontier between the countries.

- Saudi Arabia declared on January 16, 2007, that it held Iraq's Shia-led government responsible for its sectarian strife and warned that America's new war strategy would fail without a radical change of heart by the Baghdad leadership.

- The Saudi monarch made a forceful appeal for Arab unity on March 28, 2007, denouncing US policy in Iraq and the embargo imposed by western nations on the Palestinians. At the Arab League summit in Riyadh, King Abdullah described the US presence in Iraq as an illegitimate occupation. On March 29 the United States rejected Saudi Arabia's stand that Iraq was under an 'illegitimate foreign occupation' and said US troops were there at Iraq's invitation, under a UN mandate. The Saudi government stood by the king's remarks. Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal told a news conference at the end of the summit: "Did (Iraq) choose to have these forces? Had this been the case, it would have been a different matter. Any military intervention that is not at the request of the country concerned is the definition of occupation." King Abdullah was merely stating a fact, Prince Saud added.

- Saudi security forces killed a suspect in the murder of four French citizens on 26 February we were told on April 6, 2007. Security forces went to arrest the suspect at a residential building in Medina when they were fired upon. One policeman was killed and two were wounded in the exchange of gunfire. The four French citizens were visiting northwest Saudi Arabia when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle.

- Saudi Arabia said on April 28, 2007, it has foiled a plot by militants to carry out suicide air attacks on oil installations and military bases. Foreign nationals were among 172 terror suspects held in a series of raids. Large amounts of weapons and $32.4m in cash were also seized.

- US Vice-President Dick Cheney met with Saudi Arabian leaders on May 12, 2007, to seek their help in Iraq, two months after close ally King Abdullah slammed the "illegitimate foreign occupation" there. Mr Cheney held talks with the Saudi monarch during a nearly six-hour visit. He was greeted on arrival by Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, sharing tea at the base before travelling by motorcade to the Fahd bin Sultan palace to meet the King, the route lined by hundreds of waving soldiers and civilians. Despite the traditional US-Saudi alliance, King Abdullah in March opened an annual Arab summit in Riyadh with a speech denouncing the "illegitimate foreign occupation" of Iraq and warning that "ugly sectarianism threatens civil war".

- Members of the feared religious police in Saudi Arabia are for the first time on June 23, 2007, due to stand trial over the deaths in their custody of two men. One of the dead men had been accused of socialising with an unrelated woman, the other of alleged alcohol peddling. Both died shortly after being detained by the religious police. Members of the force, known as The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, roam the streets to make sure that shops are closed during prayer time, and that women observe the strict dress code and that they do not mix with unrelated males.

- On July 25, 2007, the US administration is deeply frustrated with Saudi Arabia over its role in Iraq, accusing the Saudis of trying to undermine the Baghdad government and failing to stem the flow of volunteers joining the insurgency there. The Saudis view Iraq's Shiite prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, as an agent of Iran and appear to have stepped up efforts to weaken his government, providing funding for Sunni groups. There are evidence Saudi Arabia is supplying money to Maliki's opponents.

- On July 30, 2007, the US ambassador at the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, accused Saudi Arabia of undermining efforts to stabilise Iraq. Mr Khalilzad said he was referring to Saudi Arabia in an article last week in which he said US friends were pursuing destabilising policies. His comments came just hours before a Middle East tour by the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and the Defence Secretary, Robert Gates.

- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates will ask Saudi Arabia on Wednesday August 1, 2007, to help more with US efforts in Iraq and discuss a big arms deal for Washington's Gulf ally. The two cabinet secretaries want to reassure allies that the United States remains committed to the region despite its problems in Iraq and the growing strength of Iran.

- Saudi Arabia said on August 1, 2007, it supports US plans for a regional peace conference this year and would be keen to attend. The conference is intended to revive the peace process and would include Israel, the Palestinians and Arab states viewed as moderate by the US.

- A senior Saudi prince said on September 6, 2007, he plans to form a political party and has criticised other senior royals for monopolising power and blocking reform. Talal Bin Abdul-Aziz, a half-brother of King Abdullah, also criticised the jailing of well-known reformists.

- On September 18, 2007, a group of women in Saudi Arabia is lobbying for the first time the kingdom's government for the right to drive cars. The demand is likely to be rejected, as conservatives argue if women are allowed to drive, they will be able to mix freely with men.

- Saudi Arabia announced on October 5, 2007, an overhaul of its judicial system, including the allocation of $2bn for training judges and building new courts. The reforms, by royal decree, will lead to the creation of a supreme court, an appeals court and new general courts to replace the Supreme Judicial Council. Reformers have welcomed the measures, which they say will improve human rights and help modernise the country.

- On October 6, 2007, Saudi Arabia has launched an official website to publish Islamic legal rulings, or fatwas. The move is apparently an attempt to ensure that fatwas issued by authorised scholars are given prominence.

- On October 28, 2007, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah accused Britain of not doing enough to fight international terrorism, which he says could take 20 or 30 years to beat. He also said Britain failed to act on information passed by the Saudis which might have averted terrorist attacks.

- On October 30, 2007, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has been welcomed ceremonially to Britain by the Queen, amid burgeoning controversy over the Middle Eastern ruler's stay. The Queen greeted him on Horseguard's Parade at the start of his first visit to the UK in 20 years. The Lib Dems and some charities said the visit should not take place because of the kingdom's human rights record. King Abdullah's remarks about the 7 July terror attacks have heightened the controversy surrounding the trip.

- On November 23, 2007, we were told than more than 40% of the foreign fighters who entered Iraq to join the insurgency in the past year were citizens of Saudi Arabia, America's key partner in the Middle East. Documents and computers found by the US army at Sinjar, on the Iraqi-Syrian border, revealed that the other single largest group came from Libya, which is now being rehabilitated as a reliable western ally.

- On December 22, 2007, Saudi Arabia said it has arrested a group of men suspected of planning attacks on holy sites during the just concluded Hajj pilgrimage.

- Prosecutors in Saudi Arabia have begun investigating 57 young men who were arrested on Thursday February 22, 2008, for flirting with girls at shopping centres in Mecca. The men are accused of wearing indecent clothes, playing loud music and dancing in order to attract the attention of girls. They were arrested following a request of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The mutaween enforce Saudi Arabia's conservative brand of Islam, Wahhabism.

- Saudi Arabia's crown prince begins a three-day visit to neighbouring Qatar on Monday March 10, 2008, to mend their bilateral relations. The Saudis recalled their ambassador from Qatar in 2002, in protest at coverage by the Qatari-owned satellite television channel, al-Jazeera. In 2007 Saudi King Abdullah attended a summit in Qatar and Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad, has visited Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia finally re-established full diplomatic ties on Sunday. Al-Jazeera has toned down criticism of Saudi Arabia over the past year as a prelude to the rapprochement.

- On March 12, 2008, Saudi women's rights activists posted on the web a video of a woman at the wheel of her car, in protest at the ban on female drivers in the kingdom. Wajeha Huwaider talks of the injustice of the ban and calls for its abolition as she drives calmly along a highway. She says the film was posted to mark International Women's Day. Thousands have viewed it on the YouTube website.

- Saudi Arabia is to retrain its 40,000 imams in an effort to counter militant Islam. Details of the plan - part of a wider programme launched by the Saudi monarch a few years ago to encourage moderation and tolerance in Saudi society- were revealed March 21, 2008, in the influential Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat. The ministry of religious affairs and new centre for national dialogue will carry out the training.

- The Saudi authorities have arrested and detained 520 people so far this year; they are suspected of having links to Al Qaeda, we were told on Wednesday June 25, 2008. Some of those arrested had been plotting bomb attacks against an oil installation and what it called a security target. Police officers had found money, weapons and ammunition owned by the suspects. The men, who are from Africa, Asia and other regions, were organized into cells whose leaders were based outside Saudi Arabia. One of the men had a message from Al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, urging him to raise money and saying the group would provide militants from Iraq, Afghanistan and North Africa "to target oil installations and fight security forces." 181 others had been arrested since January but were released for lack of evidence linking them to Al Qaeda.

- On September 11, 2008, Saudi Arabian police say they have arrested five men on charges of using the internet to recruit for al-Qaida. The five men are accused of encouraging people to take up arms in Afghanistan and Iraq.

- Saudi Arabia laid charges against 991 suspected al-Qaeda militants on October 21, 2008. The authorities have started to "bring the suspects before the judiciary". No details of trial dates, specific charges or the identities of suspects have been given. 164 people had died in militant attacks since 2003.

- On February 3, 2009, Saudi Arabia issued a list of 83 wanted militants living overseas, calling on them to return to their home country and resume normal life. All the suspects are Saudis, except for two men from neighbouring Yemen.

- Two suspected al-Qaeda militants and a police officer have been killed in a clash at a checkpoint in Saudi Arabia, near the Yemeni border on October 14, 2009. Shots were fired after a female police officer approached a car to check the identities of the three people inside -two of whom were disguised as women. The two dead men were wearing explosive vests. A third man was arrested.

- Saudi Arabia has insisted its forces only attacked Yemeni rebel positions on Saudi territory. This contradicts a number of separate reports on Thursday November 5, 2009, that air strikes had taken place on rebel strongholds in northern Yemen. The government said it would continue fighting to drive out all the rebels who had infiltrated across the border. The rebels say that Saudi airplanes are bombing northern Yemeni villages and that a Saudi air strike hit a market in Saada in north Yemen, killing a group of civilians.

- On Sunday November 8, 2009, Saudi Arabia has regained control of territory seized by Yemeni rebels in a cross-border incursion. Saudi forces struck after Shia rebels attacked a patrol in the Asir region, killing one soldier. Three more soldiers died in the fighting but they deny rebel claims that others were captured.

- Shia rebels in northern Yemen said on November 14, 2009, that Saudi Arabia has carried out more bombing raids, targeting several villages along the border. The rebels said Saudi planes also struck a mountainous area more than 10km inside Yemeni territory. There's been no word on any casualties from the recent raids. Earlier this week, the Saudi authorities said they would keep bombing northern Yemen until the rebels had pulled back from the border.

- More than 100 suspected militants linked to al-Qaeda have been arrested in Saudi Arabia on March 25, 2010. 58 Saudis and 55 foreigners -from Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea and Bangladesh- in three independent groups were planning to target oil facilities and security forces. The groups had links to an al-Qaeda affiliate based in neighbouring Yemen. Two other groups totalling 12 suspects, described as terrorist cells, were also arrested.

- Saudi Arabia will put 41 suspects on trial on accusations that they formed a cell linked to Al Qaeda that planned to attack United States forces in Kuwait and Qatar we were told on Monday September 19, 2011. The suspects are also accused of financing militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, recruiting for Al Qaeda, and plotting to smuggle militants and weapons between Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

- Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry says a group of 11 al-Qaida fighters has killed two border guards while trying to cross into Yemen before they themselves were captured. The gunmen ambushed the border guard patrol early Monday November 5, 2012, and exchanged fire with them. Four militants were wounded and the remaining seven were arrested. The statement listed the names of 10 Saudis among the militants, saying they had been imprisoned for crimes connected to al-Qaida activities but were released after going through the kingdom’s rehabilitation program for militants. It says the other militant was Yemeni. ---

Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry says that three of the four attackers who launched a deadly assault on a security patrol near the Iraqi border this week were Saudi nationals. They had in their possession grenades, pistols, rifles, tracking devices and significant sums of money (U.S., Syrian, Iraqi and Saudi currencies). Authorities have yet to confirm the fourth gunman's identity. All four gunmen died in Monday January 5,2015's attack, which killed three border guards.

A Saudi Arabian diplomat returned to Riyadh on Monday March 2, 2015, after being released by kidnappers in Yemen where he spent three years as a hostage. Abdullah al-Khalidi, Saudi consul in Aden, was seized in March 2012 and later appeared as a hostage in videos released by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) calling on Riyadh to do more to free him.

Saudi Arabia is moving heavy military equipment including artillery to areas near its border with Yemenwe were told on Tuesday March 24, 2015, raising the risk that the Middle East’s top oil power will be drawn into the worsening Yemeni conflict. The buildup follows a southward advance by Iranian-backed Houthi Shi'ite militants who took control of the capital Sanaa in September and seized the central city of Taiz at the weekend as they move closer to the new southern base of U.S.-supported President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The slide toward war in Yemen has made the country a crucial front in Saudi Arabia's region-wide rivalry with Iran, which Riyadh accuses of sowing sectarian strife through its support for the Houthis. The conflict risks spiraling into a proxy war with Shi'ite Iran backing the Houthis, whose leaders adhere to the Zaydi sect of Shi'ite Islam, and Saudi Arabia and the other regional Sunni Muslim monarchies backing Hadi. ---

Three Saudi officers have been killed and two others wounded after Houthi fighters in Yemen fired a mortar round at a Saudi border post. The incident took place on Saturday April 11, 2015, in the Saudi border province of Najran. The Saudi forces responded with gunfire. Since its campaign against the Houthis began last month, 500 Houthi fighters had been killed in clashes along the border. Earlier this month, three Saudi border guards were killed in separate fighting with the Houthis.

Saudi Arabia Wednesday April 29, 2015:

• Saudi Arabia’s King Salman sacked the man he’d named as his successor, apparently for opposing the kingdom’s military campaign in Yemen, and ordered a generational transfer of power to two relatively younger princes who’ve emerged as key leadership figures during the conflict.
• The 69-year-old Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz had been replaced as crown prince and deputy prime minister in response to “his desire to be relieved” from the positions he was appointed to in January, when King Salman assumed power.
• The 79-year-old monarch appointed his nephew and interior minister, Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, as the new heir apparent; the king’s 30-year-old son, Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, was named deputy crown prince.
• Another casualty of Riyadh’s reshuffle was the country’s foreign minister, Saud al Faisal, who lost the job he’d held since 1975; he was replaced by the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Adel al Jubeir, who became the first non-royal to hold the post since 1962.
• Another commoner, Ahmed al Sweilam, was appointed to the influential position of head of the royal court, making him a man to watch.
• The shakeup comes just weeks before Saudi Arabia and other members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council are to meet with President Barack Obama in Washington and at Camp David on May 13-14.

 

King Salman of Saudi Arabia has withdrawn from a carefully orchestrated summit with the US that President Barack Obama hoped would assuage Gulf anxieties about the conclusion of a nuclear agreement with Iran. The monarch had been expected to join other heads of state from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries at an unprecedented meeting at the White House and a day of talks at the presidential retreat at Camp David. Now the only leaders attending will be the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait. The deal with Iran, Saudi-led attacks on Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen, and the crises in Syria and Iraq made for a difficult and crowded agenda. The summit, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, follows months of tension and intensive US diplomacy designed to persuade Riyadh and its neighbours that Washington is not abandoning its Gulf allies in order to normalise relations with Iran. Salman will be represented instead by the newly appointed Saudi crown prince, Muhammad bin Nayef. The king’s son, and Saudi defence minister, Muhammad bin Salman –who is running the campaign of air strikes in Yemen– will also be there. Salman’s refusal to attend the summit is doubly embarrassing for the White House because, just hours before the news broke, US officials were boasting of how significant his presence was. But officials insisted the last-minute cancellation was “completely unrelated” to the agenda of the meeting and were confident the Gulf delegation remained senior enough for a meaningful summit. ---

Saudi Arabia has reached out to its ally Pakistan to acquire “off-the-shelf” atomic weapons as a nuclear arms race begins to shape up with Shiite rival Iran we were told on Monday May 18, 2015. For the Saudis the moment has come. There has been a longstanding agreement in place with the Pakistanis and the House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward. The US does not believe that “any actual weaponry has been transferred yet,” but that “the Saudis mean what they say and they will do what they say. Tensions between Tehran and the kingdom have grown in the past few months as Saudi Arabia stepped up its air campaign against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. King Salman of Saudi Arabia refused an invitation to attend a landmark summit hosted by US President Barack Obama last week, amid ongoing angst over US-led nuclear talks with Iran. Saudi Arabia warned that the Iranian nuclear deal “opens the door to nuclear proliferation, not closes it, as was the initial intention.”

Cross border rocket attacks launched from inside Yemen have killed two people and wounded five others in southern Saudi Arabia we were told on Friday May 22, 2015. A child was killed and three other children were wounded on Friday in the al-Tawal region. A rocket attack on Thursday killed one citizen and wounded three others in al Hosn village.

Shelling from Yemen has killed a Saudi border guard and wounded seven others we were told on Sunday May 31, 2015. The attack happened Saturday when shells from across the border with Yemen hit their patrol. The strike occurred in Jazan region's Harth municipality.

Saudi Arabia shot down a Scud missile fired by Yemen's Shiite rebels and their allies early Saturday June 6, 2015, at a Saudi city that is home to a major air base. Two missiles launched from a Patriot missile battery shot down the Scud around the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait. Khamis Mushait is home to the King Khalid Air Base, the largest such facility in that part of the country.

Four Saudi citizens have died from poisoning in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad.  The incident happened on Sunday June 7, 2015, when a group of 33 Saudi pilgrims were hospitalized with poisoning symptoms. Four Saudi children lost their lives despite extensive treatment by Iranian medical staff. The Saudi pilgrims were staying at a hotel in the holy city of Mashhad in Khorassan Razavi province which houses the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Imam of Shia Muslims. The preliminary investigation rules out foul play in the deaths of the Saudi nationals. ---

A landmine blast on the Saudi-Yemen border has claimed the life of a senior Saudi officer, the coalition carrying out air strikes on rebels in Yemen said on Thursday June 18, 2015. Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah al-Balwi died Wednesday as a result of the explosion of a landmine in Twalig mountain" in the Saudi border district of Jazan. At least 39 people, civilians and troops, have now lost their lives in shelling and border skirmishes since March 26 when the coalition began bombing Iranian-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen, attempting to halt their expansion. More than 2,600 people have died in Yemen itself, where rebels and pro-government forces have been fighting for months.

Saudi Arabia announced Saturday July 18, 2015, it has broken up planned Islamic State attacks in the kingdom and arrested more than 400 suspects in an anti-terrorism sweep. Those arrested included suspects behind a number of militant websites used in recruiting. The Saudi crackdown underscores the OPEC powerhouse's growing concern about the threat posed by the Islamic State group, which in addition to its operations in Iraq and Syria has claimed responsibility for recent suicide bombings aimed at Shiites in the kingdom's oil-rich east and in next-door Kuwait. The Saudi Interior Ministry accused those arrested over the "past few weeks" of involvement in several attacks, including a suicide bombing in May that killed 22 people in the eastern village of al-Qudeeh. It was the deadliest militant assault in the kingdom in more than a decade. It also blamed them for the November shooting and killing of eight worshippers in the eastern Saudi village of al-Ahsa, and for behind another attack in late May, when a suicide bomber disguised as a woman blew himself up in the parking lot of a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, killing four. The Interior Ministry said that in June they thwarted a suicide bomb attack on a large mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia that can hold 3,000 worshippers, along with multiple planned attacks on other mosques and diplomatic and security bodies.

Three Saudi soldiers were killed and seven border guards were wounded by shelling from Yemen on Friday July 31, 2015. The shelling took place in Dhahran Aljanoub, a governorate in the Saudi border region of Aseer. The Houthis said earlier on Friday that they had launched rockets on several Saudi border areas, including Aseer.

A suicide bomber struck Thursday August 6, 2015, at a Saudi mosque used by security forces near the border with Yemen killing more than a dozen people. The Islamic State asserted responsibility for the attack. The attack follows a spate of suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia claimed by the Islamic State. At least 10 security personnel and three workers were killed in the mosque blast, which occurred in the southern Asir region.---

Two Saudi border guards have been killed in an attack from Yemen by Iran-backed militia. Sergeants Ali Al Ghazwani and Sarwi Al Saeed were “martyred while carrying out their duty in protecting the country’s borders from rebel aggressors” on Sunday August 16, 2015. They were killed in the Jazan district bordering Yemen.

A Saudi soldier has been killed along the border in an exchange of fire with Yemen's Shiite rebels. Saturday August 22, 2015, we were told that the soldier was killed in the Saudi border region of Jizan by rebel fire from inside Yemen.

Dozens of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in fighting and air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen's rebel-held third city Taez, seen as the gateway to recapturing the capital. Backed by the coalition, loyalists of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi have recently made sweeping advances against the Iran-backed Shiite rebels known as Huthis. They retook the southern port and second city Aden last month, and have seized four additional southern provinces in their advance towards Taez. But as combat raged in Taez, the loyalists were hit by a different foe in Aden. Al-Qaeda fighters suspected of having entered the city several weeks ago were blamed for blowing up a building used by the secret police. They were also said to have taken up positions in several strategic parts of the Tawahi district, where the bombing took place.

Attacks by Yemeni rebels have killed three Saudi soldiers and wounded another three along the border we were told Tuesday August 25, 2015. Two soldiers were killed in action. Another was killed Monday when the Houthis, attacked a border post in the Jizan province with rocket and artillery fire. Saudi troops fired back, without providing further details. Saudi Maj. Gen. Abdulrahman al-Shahrani was killed Sunday in the same region. He is the highest-ranking Saudi officer to be killed in the conflict since March, when a Saudi-led coalition began launching airstrikes against the Iran-supported rebels. Several dozen Saudi soldiers have been killed in border attacks since the airstrikes began. ---

Saudi Arabia's military said Saturday September 5, 2015, that 10 of its troops were killed in a rebel missile strike a day earlier in Yemen, raising the death toll in the attack to at least 55 coalition troops slain. It was the first public acknowledgement by the Saudis that they have ground troops in Yemen, where they lead a coalition targeting the Houthis and their allies.

Incoming fire from Yemen hit a residence for construction workers in the kingdom's south, killing at least three people and wounding 28. On Friday September 18, 2015, we were told that the incoming fire landed in Jizan province. The three killed were foreign workers, though it did not identify their nationalities. Of the 28 wounded, four were Saudi citizens.

At least 769 pilgrims died at the Hajj near Mecca on Thursday September 24, 2015, in the crush; more than 200 of whom are believed to be from Africa. The crush appears to have been caused when pilgrims converged at a junction. The pilgrims were taking part in the Hajj's last major rite -throwing stone at pillars called Jamarat, where Satan is believed to have tempted the Prophet Abraham.

Iran says number of its citizens who died in the Hajj stampeded in Saudi Arabia last week has reached 464, nearly double the previous toll.

Iranian authorities said there was no longer hope of finding any of the country's missing pilgrims alive. According to Saudi officials, 769 people died in the crush in Mina, near Mecca, and 934 were injured. Iranian officials allege that the overall number of deaths is now more than 1,000. Pakistan, India, and Indonesia have also suggested death toll may be higher than the 769 reported by Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities have not released a breakdown of victims by nationality, but a tally of the numbers of dead released by individual countries adds up to more than the official figure. The crush occurred as two large groups of pilgrims converged at right angles on the way to taking part in one of the Hajj's major rites at the Jamarat pillars. ---

A Saudi woman and a child have been killed in the border region of Najran by a shell fired from Yemen. The shell struck a house on Friday November 6, 2015, killing the woman and the three-month-old child.

The army and popular committees destroyed three Saudi military vehicles in Rabuah city in Assir we were told Saturday November 28, 2015. The army and popular committees units engaged in confrontations with the Saudi enemy army yesterday and managed to destroy the three military vehicles in al-Dhubat area in Rabuah city and caused large losses to the enemy.

Three Saudi border soldiers were killed after exchanging fire with "enemy elements" trying to cross the border from Yemen to attack two watch towers we were told on Monday November 30, 2015. The attack occurred on Sunday evening in the Harath district of Jizan.

Shelling from Yemen has killed another Saudi border guard, the eighth death from Yemeni firing into the kingdom in just three days. The latest bombardment hit security posts in Saudi Arabia's Jazan district on Monday November 30, 2015. Cross-border shelling from Yemen has claimed the lives of five members of the security forces and three civilians in the kingdom since Saturday. The border attacks could be in retaliation for a coalition air strike on Sunday that targeted "a meeting of leaders" from the Shiite Huthi rebels in their stronghold of Saada.

The Saudi air defines units have intercepted a rocket fired from inside Yemen in the southwest border city of Jazan. The rocket, which was fired early Monday December 21, 2015, did not cause injuries or material damage. The Saudi Air Force reacted immediately and destroyed the launching pad inside Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition's airstrikes in residential areas in the capital Sanaa killed 60 civilians in September and October.

Saudi Arabia intercepted a Scud ballistic missile fired from Yemen on Saturday December 26, 2015. The target was a Saudi National Guard base.

Overnight fighting between Yemen's Shiite rebels and pro-government forces in the southwestern Taiz province killed 31 people, including eight civilians we were told Saturday December 26, 2015. The rebels blocked the flow of humanitarian aid to the provincial capital of Taiz. The Houthis have been besieging Taiz for months and have prevented the delivery of essential aid to the war-ravaged city for months. Also Saturday, Houthi officials in the central Marib province said they fired a rocket at the presidential palace there which is being used as a military encampment by anti-rebel forces. They claimed the projectile killed several senior coalition officials there. ---

Three civilians including two children have been killed in cross-border missile attacks from Yemen on a residential area in southwestern Saudi Arabia. Eleven others were wounded, among them nine children, when several missiles hit residential districts in the Jazan region on Thursday December 31, 2015.

A Coca-Cola plant in Yemen was destroyed by apparent Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on Thursday December 31, 2015. The bottling facility was closed for maintenance and there were no reports of casualties.

Iran has accused Saudi Arabia of pursuing confrontation and stoking regional tension, after the Saudis broke off diplomatic relations.

Saudi Arabia gave Iranian diplomats two days to leave amid a row over the Saudi execution of a top Shia Muslim cleric. Saudi Arabia and Iran are the key Sunni and Shia powers in the region and back opposing sides in Syria and Yemen. There are fears sectarian strife may spread. On Monday January 4, 2016, two Sunni mosques in Iraq were bombed and an imam killed.

Iraq’s foreign minister on Wednesday January 6, 2016, offered to mediate the fight raging between Saudi Arabia and Iran over the Saudi government’s execution of a dissident Shiite cleric. The foreign minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, made his comments at a news conference in Tehran. They appeared to reflect fears in Iraq that the conflict between the Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia and the Shiite government of Iran could aggravate sectarian tensions at home, at a time when the Iraqi government is counting on the cooperation of Sunni and Shiite forces to defeat the Islamic State.

Saudi Arabia has shot down a missile fired into the kingdom from nearby Yemen. The Saudi military intercepted the missile Thursday morning January 7, 2015, in Jizan province and later attacked and destroyed the platform that launched the missile in Yemen.

Troops loyal to Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi seized a Red Sea port town Wednesday January 6, 2016, in the country's northwest following fierce fighting with Iran-backed Shiite rebels. Intensive clashes had raged in the area since mid-December when government forces trained in nearby Saudi Arabia crossed the border and seized the town of Haradh. ---

An 11-year-old child was killed and nine members of his family were wounded Sunday January 31, 2016, when a rocket fired from Yemen hit their house in a border region of Saudi Arabia. The child died instantly while the rest of the family were taken to hospital. Around 90 civilians and soldiers have died from shelling and skirmishes in Saudi border regions since March when a Saudi-led military coalition began air and ground action in Yemen.

Mortars and rockets fired at Saudi Arabian towns and villages have killed 375 civilians, including 63 children, since the start of the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen in late March we were told on Monday February 1, 2016. The Houthi militia and army forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh had fired more than 40,000 projectiles across the border since the war began. Nearly 130 mortars and 15 missiles were fired by the Houthis and Saleh's forces at Saudi border positions on Monday alone.

A Saudi soldier and a civilian have been killed in cross-border shelling from Al Houthi-controlled northern Yemen we were told Saturday February 6, 2016. A Saudi patrol was hit on Saturday morning in the southwestern region of Assir, killing the soldier. Later in the day, the southwestern city of Najran was struck, leaving dead a foreign resident. About 90 civilians and soldiers have died amid shelling and skirmishes along the border since March, when a Saudi-led Arab coalition began air and ground action in Yemen.

On Tuesday February 9, 2016, Saudi Arabia said that it has shot down a ballistic missile fired from Yemen as a police officer was killed by cross-border fire. The missile targeted the kingdom's southern Jizan province.

Saudi Arabia said Sunday February 14, 2016, that it has shot down a Scud missile fired from Yemen. The Saudi air defences intercepted the missile as it headed toward the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait. The missile was completed destroyed without causing "any losses" on the ground. Khamis Mushait is home to a major Saudi air base and has been targeted by missiles fired from Yemen previously.

Saudi Arabia took its first step in preparing an invasion of Syria by moving ground forces and fighter aircraft to Turkey’s Incirlik base we were told on Saturday February 13, 2016. Saudi Arabia declared its determination against Daesh that they were ready to send both jets and troops. Turkey would likely coordinate with Saudi Arabia in any invasion of Syria.

Saudi authorities say a border guard has been killed by incoming fire from Yemen. The guard died on Monday morning February 15, 2016 when a cross-border shell landed near him in Jazan, a southern province bordering Yemen.

Shells continued to fall from the Yemeni side into a southwestern neighbouring Saudi areas on Friday March 18, 2016, causing no injuries but material damages to a mosque and homes, violating an agreed respite. Shelling hit Al-Rouha and Al-Rokouba neighbourhoods in Samtah, a town in the southwestern province of Jazan, including one of its mosques during Friday prayers but no casualties were reported. Houses close to the mosque incurred material losses. ---

Two people and a child were killed and a foreigner was wounded by shelling from neighbouring war-torn Yemen. The shelling happened Tuesday April 5, 2016, in the southern province of Jazan. The child died at a local hospital.

Colonel Hamoud Jarad, a senior commander of Saudi Arabia's Armed Forces, was killed during a mission in the Yemeni city of al-Matoun in al-Jawf province, we were told Friday May 20, 2016. Thirteen other Saudi officers were also killed along with Colonel Jarad. The Yemeni army and popular forces confronted and killed a number of militants affiliated with Saudi Arabia before they could penetrate into al-Jawf province. A large number of the militants' military and armoured vehicles were also destroyed by the Yemeni popular forces in the battle.

On Monday May 23, 2016, a land mine has killed a Saudi border guard along the kingdom's frontier with Yemen. The blast also wounded three other border guards in the kingdom's southern Jazan province.

Pro-Houthi television channel al-Masirah said Monday MAY 30, 2016, that the rebels had launched a long-range missile into Saudi territory. The Royal Saudi Air Defence Forces intercepted the ballistic missile and destroyed without any damage. The Air Forces immediately destroyed the missile launch platform, which was located inside Yemeni territories. Saudi Arabis said that several missiles had hit the Jizan border region, the first such strike in over a month, without wounding anyone.

The United Nations on Monday June 6, 2016, bowed to a demand by Saudi Arabia that its coalition fighting in Yemen be removed from a blacklist of nations and armed groups responsible for killing children. Although the decision was temporary, pending a review of the evidence, human rights campaigners expressed outrage that the global body had succumbed to pressure.

Shelling from Yemen has wounded two people in southern Saudi Arabia we were told Thursday June 16, 2016, in a rare breach of calm along the border. The shelling occurred in the Tawal area of Saudi's Jazan region. Dozens of civilians and Saudi soldiers were killed in fire from Yemen along the border after a Saudi-led military coalition launched operations in March 2015 against Iran-backed Houthi rebels who overran much of Yemen.

Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile that Yemeni rebels fired towards the southern city of Abha early Monday July 4, 2016. It was intercepted with no injuries and the missile launcher was destroyed by Saudi air defences. ---

A Saudi border guard has been killed by a land mine near the kingdom's frontier with Yemen. The guard died in the Saudi province of Jazan, along the mountainous border the kingdom shares with Yemen, on Tuesday July 12, 2016.

The Saudi air defines forces have shot down a ballistic missile fired at the kingdom from Yemen. The missile targeting the southern city of Najran was intercepted Saturday July 23, 2016. No damage or casualties were reported.

Saudi Arabia said that four family members have been killed by a cross-border missile from Yemen that struck their home in the southern region of Jizan.  A woman and child were among those killed in the attack and that three others were wounded and taken to a hospital for treatment. The missile struck the home around on Monday August 1, 2016.

Yemeni forces backed by Ansarullah fighters have launched a volley of Katyusha rockets at a Saudi National Guard base in the kingdom’s southern Jizan region. The Wednesday August 3, 2016, retaliatory attack followed a Yemeni missile strike on a separate base in the region.   A Saudi tank and several armed vehicles were destroyed in the attack.

A soldier in Saudi Arabia has been killed in an exchange of cross-border gunfire with Yemen. He died in the exchange of gunfire “with attackers from inside the Yemeni territories on the southern border”.

Saudi Arabia air force has intercepted two ballistic missiles fired from Yemen into the kingdom. The missiles were fired on Wednesday August 10, 2016, toward the cities of Abha and Khamis Mushait close to the kingdom's southern border with Yemen. The missiles caused no damage.

A Yemeni expatriate killed a policeman in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday August 10, 2016, by running him over with his car and then stabbing him. Police Corporal Muhthil al Salouli was deliberately run over and stabbed after emerging from dawn prayers at a mosque in Bisha town. Police arrested the assailant, identified as a Yemeni of around 20 years of age, and were questioning him. Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis live and work in oil-rich Saudi Arabia to support families in their impoverished homeland. ---

Rockets fired by Yemeni rebels into a Saudi border city on Saturday August 20, 2016, killed a Saudi civilian and wounded six others including a Pakistani man. This was the third attacks this week.

• On Friday, five foreign residents of Najran were wounded in a rocket strike just west of the city.
• Seven civilians were killed on Tuesday when the city centre was shelled, with three victims said to be expats.
• More than 100 civilians and soldiers have been killed in southern Saudi Arabia by retaliatory rocket strikes or skirmishes since the coalition began operations in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government.

A Saudi Arabian operative, who used to recruit children for ISIS in Iraq, has been killed in Mosul by unidentified gunmen while he was leaving a shop in the city centre.

On Sunday August 28, 2016, a rocket fired from Yemen hit a family's home in Saudi Arabia's southern border region of Najran, killing two children and wounding five other people. Those killed and wounded were all members of the same family.

Two Saudis were injured Saturday September 3, 2016, by shelling from Yemen. A shell struck a house in the southern Najran province, injuring a mother and her child.

Cross-border shelling from Yemen killed a Saudi woman and wounded a man and his son on Sunday September 4, 2016, and wounded two other citizens in the southern Jazan region

The Saudi said Monday September 12, 2016, that they shot down a missile fired by the insurgents towards an airbase in southern Saudi Arabia.

Nearly 1.5 million Muslims have begun the annual Hajj in western Saudi Arabia, undeterred by a stampede which last year killed around 2,300. Tens of thousands of Iranians are absent because of long-running tensions between their Shiite nation and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia, friction made worse by last year’s stampede. After preliminary rituals this week in Mecca at the Grand Mosque —Islam’s holiest site— the pilgrims moved on Saturday September 10, 2016, in buses, by train or even on foot in debilitating temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius to Mina, about five kilometres east. They were following in the footsteps of their Prophet Mohammed who performed the same rituals about 1,400 years ago. The first day of Hajj was traditionally the chance for pilgrims to water their animals and stock up on water. Then they proceed to Mount Arafat, several kilometres away, for the peak of Hajj on Sunday.

The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen says Saudi air defines forces have shot down a ballistic missile fired at the kingdom from Yemen. The missile targeted the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait but was intercepted before dawn on Monday September 12, 2016. The coalition air force struck the missile's launching pad area. No damage or casualties were reported. The rebels, who control Yemen's capital, Sanaa, are known to have seized a stockpile of Soviet-era Scud missiles. ---

A Saudi citizen has been wounded by a projectile fired from Yemen into the southern border region of Najran. Emergency forces responded to the incident Wednesday morning September 21, 2016; the wounded Saudi man was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, launched a ballistic missile at the al-Jarba military base in Saudi Arabia’s southern border region of Dhahran Janoub, on Saturday September 24, 2016. There was no reports of causalities and damage. Yemeni soldiers and allied fighters also fired several Katyusha rockets at a military camp in al-Rabu’ah town of the southwestern Saudi border region of Asir, killing an unspecified number of soldiers and inflicting heavy losses on Saudi forces. The attacks were in retaliation for the Saudi war on Yemen.

The Yemeni army and popular committees have launched a retaliatory artillery attack against a Saudi military base in the kingdom’s southwestern province of Jizan, killing at least four soldiers. Yemeni forces fired artillery shells at the military base of Abadiyah in Jizan on Monday September 26, 2016, killing four Saudi forces. Also on Monday, the Yemeni artillery shells hit the Saudi military base of Bahtit in the same province. The artillery attacks are carried out in retaliation for Riyadh’s relentless airstrikes on the impoverished nation of Yemen. The kingdom’s warplanes on Monday pounded the district of Nihm, east of the capital, Sana’a, and Dhubab in the southwestern province of Ta’izz.

Saudi Arabia has shot down a ballistic missile fired into the kingdom by Shiite rebels and their allies in Yemen. The missile was fired early Wednesday October 12, 2016. It targeted the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait but was destroyed without causing any injuries. The rebels are known to have a stockpile of Soviet-era Scud missiles and locally designed variants.

Thursday November 10, 2016, Houthi fired projectiles into Saudi Arabia, injuring 14 civilians in the attack in Dhahran al-Janoub province in the Asir region, near the border with Yemen. Three houses were also damaged in the attack.

Sunday November 13, 2016:

• Shi’ite Houthi militia forces from Yemen claim to have taken control of several villages in the southwestern Saudi province of Jizan across the border in Saudi Arabia.
• Among the villages Houthis claim to have taken over are Al-Kars and Al-Bahtit. The Houthi also said that they had captured a strategic bridge that connects two areas near Al-Khubah adding that the Saudi military suffered losses in the process that had retaliated with a bombardment of Al-Khubah.
• No official or other independent sources have yet verified the Houthi claims; however, earlier reports citing Saudi authorities had put 14 people wounded as a result of missiles fired into Saudi Arabia from across the border. ---

A Saudi man and his wife were killed on Wednesday November 16, 2016, after a projectile launched from Yemen landed in Jazan, southwest of Saudi Arabia. The attack also left other family members injured.

Tuesday December 6, 2016, a Saudi court has sentenced 15 people to death for spying for Iran, in a ruling that could further stoke tension between the two rival powers. The specialised criminal court in Riyadh sentenced 15 other suspects to prison terms ranging from six months to 25 years, and acquitted two. The suspects – 0 Saudi Shia Muslims, one Iranian and an Afghan– were detained in 2013 on charges of spying for Iran and went on trial in February. The rulings are subject to appeal, and death sentences must go to the king for ratification.

A Saudi border guard was killed by a landmine explosion on the border with Yemen we were told Friday December 9, 2016. The mine exploded when it was struck by a vehicle transporting water along a border road in Saudi Arabia's Jizan region. Houthi forces in Yemen, battling its internationally recognized government, have fired hundreds of mortars into southern Saudi Arabia and tested Saudi defences with guerrilla-style incursions since Riyadh intervened in Yemen's civil war last year.

Cross-border Houthi fire from Yemen has killed a soldier in Saudi Arabia on Saturday December 31, 2016. The soldier was killed in the southern border area of Jazan as an army post came under a barrage of gunfire and shelling from the Houthi militia in northern Yemen.

Saudi Arabia Tuesday January 3, 2017:

• A large number of Saudi soldiers have been killed in a Yemeni missile attack against a military base in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern border region of Asir.
• Military forces and their allies launched a ballistic missile at the al-Montazah base in Asir on Tuesday January 3, 2016, leaving scores of Saudi troopers and their mercenaries dead and injured.
• Two Saudi armoured vehicles were also destroyed in the attack.
• Shortly afterward, Yemeni soldiers and fighters from the Popular Committees fired several artillery rounds at the Mosallas al-Rakbah base in the Saudi Jizan region, located 967 kilometres southwest of the capital, Riyadh. A blaze swept through the military site as the projectiles struck.
• Separately, Yemeni soldiers and allied fighters launched a domestically-manufactured Zelzal-2 (Earthquake-2) missile at a gathering of Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to the former government in the al-Maslub district of Yemen’s Northern Province of Jawf.
• Several pro-Saudi gunmen also lost their lives and sustained injuries when their military camp was targeted by Yemeni forces in the al-Hariqiyah area of the southwestern province of Ta’izz. ---

Saudi Arabia Sunday January 15, 2017, 2017:

• Shelling from Yemen has killed a Saudi soldier on the Kingdom’s southern border. This happened in the  Najran region as a result of shelling and intensive fire Saturday afternoon.
• A Border Guards post in Najran region came under shelling and intensive fire killing the corporal.
• The corporal is the latest of more than 110 soldiers and civilians killed in southern Saudi Arabia by rocket strikes or skirmishes since a Saudi-led coalition began operations in Yemen almost two years ago.

 

Saudi Arabia Sunday February 12, 2017:

• A Pakistani national was killed in Saudi Arabia when Yemeni rebels shelled the kingdom’s southern border region. A rocket hit Arda, which is part of the southwestern region of Jazan.
•  

Saudi Arabia Monday February 13, 2017:

• At least seven Saudi soldiers have been killed in the past week in clashes with Yemeni rebels. Mohammed al-Manjahi was the latest soldier to be killed "defending" the kingdom's southern borders in the fight against Houthi rebels. State media have previously reported on deaths of slain troops but since Thursday. ---

Saudi Arabia Friday April 7, 2017:

• An Indian national was killed and three others were injured in the Saudi Arabian border city of Najran when the city was hit by projectiles fired from Yemen.
• Deadly cross-border attacks have been common since 2015, when a Saudi-led war against Houthis in Yemen began.

Saudi Arabia Sunday April 16, 2017:

• A mine blast killed a Saudi border guard on the southern frontier with Yemen. Another three members of the force were wounded in the explosion in Jizan province.
• At least 130 Saudi members of the security forces and civilians have been killed, mainly by rockets fired from Yemen, since the coalition intervened in support of the internationally recognised president Abdradu Mansur Hadi in March 2015.

Saudi Arabia Wednesday April 26, 2017:

• The Saudi coast guard fired on an unmanned boat rigged with explosives, thwarting a Huthi attack on one of the kingdom's oil terminals.
• The boat, sent from a small island off the Yemeni coast, was targeting a petroleum products distribution terminal run by Saudi oil giant Aramco when it was intercepted on Tuesday. The boat was spotted when it departed from a small island in Yemeni waters.
• After determining that the boat was unmanned, a coast guard unit opened fire on its engine and stopped it 1.5 miles from the terminal in the southern region of Jazan. The boat was loaded with strong explosive material.

Saudi Arabia Thursday April 27, 2017:

• Two Saudi soldiers were killed in a rocket attack near the Yemeni border. They died in a simultaneous landmine explosion and rocket attack while on duty patrolling the border around Jazan. ---

Saudi Arabia Monday June 5, 2017:

• Saudi Arabia and three other Arab states cut diplomatic ties and transport links with Qatar after accusing the small emirate of supporting terrorism and aligning with Iran. 
• The coordinated move by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE plunged the Arab world into one of its most severe diplomatic crises in years and left Qatar both physically and politically isolated.
• Saudi Arabia ordered the closure of Qatar’s only land border, sending Qataris panic buying into supermarkets and raising serious questions over whether it will still be able to host the World Cup in 2022.
• Saudi Arabia accused Qatar of “adopting various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilising the region including the Muslim Brotherhood Group, Daesh [Islamic State] and Al-Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia Tuesday June 13, 2017:

• A Saudi border guard died in a landmine blast along the frontier with Yemen. The mine exploded during a patrol in the kingdom's southwestern Jazan district.
• More than 130 soldiers and civilians have been killed in Saudi Arabia's southern border regions since a Saudi-led coalition began air strikes over Yemen in March 2015.

Saudi Arabia Saturday July 1, 2017:

- A number of Al Houthi military leaders and at least two dozen others have been killed in Saudi-led coalition air strikes or in fierce clashes with government forces on several front lines in the last couple of days.
- Fighter jets from the Saudi-led coalition killed Mahmoud Al Adbai and Abdul Aziz, identified as Al Houthi field leaders in the northern province of Hajja, while at least two dozen others were killed and injured in heavy clashes with government forces in Medi district.

Saudi Arabia Sunday July 2, 2017:

• A soldier was killed in a clash with Houthi rebels. Muhammad Suud Farac al-Belevi was killed in the clash along Saudi Arabia’s southern border with Yemen. ---

Saudi Arabia Saturday September 2, 2017:

• Saudi Arabia confirmed five cholera cases in the border city of Jajan close to Yemen. The cases are non-Saudis, and the country is providing proper medical treatment to them.
• The ministry didn't disclose the nationalities of the cases, but they were suspected of arriving from Yemen which is witnessing the worst cholera epidemic in the world.

Saudi Arabia Saturday September 23, 2017:

• Saudi Arabia shot down a ballistic missile fired by Shiite rebels and their allies in Yemen during the kingdom's National Day.
• The missile targeted Khamis Mushait, a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia that's home to the King Khalid Air Base.

Saudi Arabia Tuesday December 19, 2017:

• Saudi military intercepted a ballistic missile fired at the capital city of Riyadh by Houthi rebels in Yemen. The rebels themselves admitted to firing the missile, a Burkan-2 missile, aiming at the Yamama Palace home of Saudi Arabia’s government.

Saudi Arabia Sunday January 7, 2018:

• Saudi Arabia’s Royal Air Force said two of its pilots whose fighter jet crashed during an operation in Yemen have been rescued.
• The crash was blamed on a “technical failure” but the Yemeni rebel said the British-made Tornado fighter jet was hit while flying in Yemeni airspace over the northern province of Saada, which borders Saudi Arabia. The jet crashed on Saudi soil.
• The pilots were not injured and were evacuated to Saudi Arabia by ground and air forces. The coalition did not say where the crash occurred.

Yemen Thursday March 29, 2018:

• Air strikes carried out by the Coalition killed at least nine civilians in the Saada governorate. The victims include five women and four men, who were killed by two different air strikes.

Saudi Arabia Saturday March 31, 2018:

• Saudi air defines forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Huthi rebels at the kingdom’s southern city of Najran.
• The missile had been fired at a Saudi National Guard base in Najran, just over the border. The attack had caused deaths among Saudi forces but provided no details.
• The coalition on Thursday intercepted another missile fired by the Huthis at the southern city of Jazan. ---

Saudi Arabia Tuesday April 10, 2018:

• Yemen's armed Houthi movement said it had launched a drone strike on a facility belonging to oil giant Saudi Aramco in southern Saudi Arabia. Howeve the company said its plants there were operating "normally and safely".
• Saudi Arabia’s air defines forces intercepted three ballistic missiles fired at Riyadh and other cities by Yemen’s Houthis who have stepped up attacks recently, threatening to escalate a rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
• Three rockets were shot down above the capital and the southern cities of Jizan and Najran.
• The Houthis claimed to have targeted the defines ministry in Riyadh and a Saudi Aramco distribution facility in Najran.

Saudi Arabia Wednesday May 9, 2018:

Yemen's Shiite rebels –the Houti- fired ballistic missiles at the Saudi capital and the Saudi military air defines forces intercepted the missiles in the skies over Riyadh and the southern city of Jizan.

Saudi Arabia, Monday May 28, 2018:

• More than a dozen soldiers have been killed in Yemen during operations along the border. This brings the total number of Saudi casualties since 2015 to over 1,000.
• Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is worsening as the war prevents much-needed aid from reaching many Yemenis. The UN estimates that 22 million Yemenis are in need of food aid and more than eight million are threatened by severe hunger.

Saudi Arabia Sunday July 15, 2018:

• Saudi Arabia says three civilians, including a 10-year old child, were wounded when a projectile fired by Yemen's Shiite rebels struck the southwest border region of Jizan. The attack by the Yemeni Houthis rebels targeted the city of al-Aridha.

Saudi Arabia Saturday August 11, 2018:

• Saudi air forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen towards the Kingdom’s Jizan region. This was the fourth rocket launched in three days, as a ballistic missile targeted populated areas in Saudi Arabia every day since Thursday, killing a civilian of Yemeni nationality and injuring 11 others.
• The missile fired from Yemen’s Amran region on Saturday and detected by the air defences was successfully intercepted and destroyed. No one was injured in the incident.

Saudi Arabia Wednesday September 5, 2018:

• Saudi Arabia shot down a missile fired across the border by Yemen's Houthi rebels but the shrapnel wounded 26 civilians.
• The Houthis, fired the missile into southern Najran province where it was intercepted. The missile targeted a Saudi military camp and hit it "accurately." ---

Saudi Arabia Saturday September 15, 2018

• Houthi forces fired a missile over the border targeting the Jizan Industrial City in southern Saudi Arabia but Saudi air defence forces intercepted and destroyed the projectile.
• The missile had been heading for residential areas and had been intercepted over Jizan.

 
Saudi Arabia Sunday November 25, 2018:

• Yemeni army forces, supported by allied fighters from Popular Committees, have hit a military base in Saudi Arabia’s Asir region with a domestically manufactured high-precision ballistic missile in retaliation for the regime's campaign of military aggression against the impoverished nation.
• The military base, located in al-Alab border crossing, had been hit with the short-range and solid-propellant Badr P-1 missile.
• Six suspected al Qaeda militants were killed in a drone strike in central Yemen. The strike hit a suspected al Qaeda site in al-Bayda province, killing two people believed to be local leaders of the group along with four other militants.

Saudi Arabia Tuesday May 20, 2019:

• Yemen's Houthi rebels said they launched a bomb-laden drone targeting an airport in Saudi Arabia that also has a military base inside of it, an attack acknowledged by the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia, Tuesday June 11, 2019:

• Yemen's Houthi rebels have launched at least two drones targeting a southwest Saudi city that's home to an air base. The rebels launched Qasef-2K drones to strike the city of Khamis Mushait.
• The soldiers "intercepted" two drones launched by the Houthis.
• The Iranian-allied Houthis increasingly have targeted the kingdom with bomb-carrying drones.

Saudi Arabia Wednesday June 12, 2019:

• Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement carried out an attack on Abha Airport in Saudi Arabia with a cruise missile.
• The Saudi-led military coalition vowed to respond firmly to a missile attack by Yemeni Houthi forces on a civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia that wounded 26 people.
• Saudi Arabia said that the early morning strike was proof of Iranian support for what it called cross-border terrorism.
• A projectile hit the arrivals hall at Abha airport, causing material damage. Three women and two children were among the wounded, who were of Saudi, Yemeni and Indian nationalities.
• The Houthis said that they fired a cruise missile at Abha airport, which is about 200 km north of the Yemen border and serves domestic and regional routes.
• Evidence indicates Iran’s Revolutionary Guards supplied the Houthis with the weapon that targeted Abha airport.

Saudi Arabia Saturday June 29, 2019:

• Saudi Arabia intercepted two drones launched by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels targeting the Kingdom. The rebels targeted Saudi airports in Abha and Jizan with Qasef-2K drones. The country intercepted two drones launched by the Houthis, which caused no damage or casualties.
• The Houthis have increasingly used drones to target southern Saudi Arabia, including two recent strikes on the Abha airport, which killed one person and wounded over 30.
• The drone attacks also come amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran. Meanwhile, three civilians were killed and one person was injured in an explosion that took place in Yemen's northern province of Jawf on Saturday. An explosive device went off near a motorbike in Al-Masloub district in Jawf killing three civilians, including a child.
• They added the explosion also injured another person. Drone attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil industry in May originated in Iraq, not Yemen, US officials have concluded, drawing questions from Iraqi officials who have asked Washington for more information supporting the claim.

Saudi Arabia Tuesday July 16, 2019:

• Saudi Arabia's air force intercepted and destroyed three Yemeni rebel drones before they could reach targets in the southern Saudi cities of Jizan and Abha. The drones were launched by the Iran-backed rebel Houthis from the northern Yemeni governorate of Amran.
• Bomb-laden drones launched by Houthis killed a civilian and wounded others at a Saudi airport in Abha in recent weeks. ---

Saudi Arabia Friday August 16, 2019:

• Yemen’s Houthis launched more drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Abha international airport, halting air traffic there.
• Saudi authorities did not immediately comment on the reported attacks and disruption to air traffic at the airport, which is in the southwest of Saudi Arabia about 150 kilometres from the border with Yemen.
• However, later on Friday Saudi state television cited the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen as saying that a Houthi drone targeting the kingdom had been intercepted and downed.

Saudi Arabia Saturday August 17, 2019:

• Drones launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels attacked a massive oil  and gas field deep inside Saudi Arabia's sprawling desert, causing what the kingdom described as a "limited fire" in the second such recent attack on its crucial energy industry.
• The attack on the Shaybah oil field, which produces some 1 million barrels of crude oil a day near the kingdom's border with the United Arab Emirates, again shows the reach of the Houthis' drone program. Shaybah sits some 1,200 kilometers from Houthi-controlled territory, underscoring the rebels' ability to now strike at both nations, which are mired in Yemen's years long war.

Saudi Arabia Sunday August 25, 2019:

• Saudi Arabia intercepted six missiles fired by Yemeni rebels at the southern city of Jizan as the insurgents escalate cross-border attacks. The missiles fired by the Iran-aligned Huthis targeted civilians in Jizan. No damage or casualties were reported.
• The rebels' Al-Masirah television said the Huthis had launched 10 "Badr 1" ballistic missiles targeting military aircraft and apache helicopters in Jizan airport and nearby military sites.
• Earlier the coalition said they shot down a Huthi drone fired towards the southern city of Khamis Mushait, site of a major military base.
• The Huthi rebels have stepped up cross-border missile and drone attacks in recent months, saying they are in retaliation for the Saudi-led air war in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia Monday August 26, 2019:

• Yemen’s Houthi movement said it had attacked a military target in the Saudi capital Riyadh with armed drones but the Saudi coalition fighting in Yemen dismissed the report.
• Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said the Houthi account was “fake and deceptive”. There was no immediate reaction from authorities in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia Sunday November 17, 2019:

• Two Saudi soldiers were killed near the Kingdom’s border with Yemen. al-Gamidi and Bedr Isa es-Silmi were killed when they were on duty at the southern border of Yemen.
• Yemen’s Houthis target Saudi Arabian troops by infiltrating the border occasionally, as well as missile attacks on the Saudi border cities of Najran and Jizan. Earlier in November, Saudi Arabia announced that five soldiers were killed in Jizan.

Saudi Arabia Saturday December 7, 2019:

Three Saudi soldiers were killed along border with Yemen. Two soldiers "were martyred in defense of religion and homeland" in the southern Jazan region. Another soldier was killed in the southern Najran province.

10.2.3 Sudan
On July 27, 2004, Sudan's Foreign Minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, said that he does not want American troops on Sudanese soil. In Ankara, where he was an official guest of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Ismail warned the US, and explained the situation in the Darfur region. The Minister began, "First, we do not need foreign troops in our land. Second, any military forces that come to Darfur will be seen as an invasion force, like the one in Iraq. Our people fight against those forces. This will cause terror in the region." The incidents in Darfur, said Ismail, were actually part of a war between nomadic and agrarian people.