CNN
—
Right here’s a have a look at Saudi Arabia, a big, oil-rich Center Japanese nation bordering Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, the Crimson Sea and the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia is house to Islam’s holiest cities, Mecca and Medina.
(from the CIA World Factbook)
Space: 2,149,690 sq km, about one-fifth the scale of the US
Inhabitants: 34,783,757 (July 2021 est.) be aware: immigrants/international staff make up 38.3% of the total population, according to UN data (2019)
Capital: Riyadh
Ethnic Teams: Arab 90%, Afro-Asian 10%
Faith: Muslim (85-90% Sunni and 10-15% Shiite, residents solely) and different (consists of Japanese Orthodox, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh) (2012 est.)
Unemployment: 6% (2017 est., information for whole inhabitants)
Economic system –
Saudi Arabia possesses roughly 22% of the world’s oil reserves. It’s the world’s largest exporter of petroleum liquids and depends on the oil business for nearly half of its GDP.
International Relations –
For the reason that finish of World War II, Saudi Arabia and the US have maintained a relationship based mostly on an alternate of oil for safety. Their mutual pursuits have included the free circulation of oil and combating the unfold of communism and extremist teams akin to al Qaeda and ISIS. Saudi Arabia and the US haven’t agreed on assist for Israel or engagement with Saudi Arabia’s regional rival, Iran.
Saudi Arabia was a founding member of the Arab League in 1945.
It at present maintains shut ties with its neighbor, Bahrain, and helped the Sunni monarchy there put down an Arab Spring uprising in 2011.
Saudi Arabia was a longtime supporter of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak earlier than his overthrow in 2011. It didn’t assist the successor authorities of Mohamed Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood. After Morsy’s overthrow in 2013, Saudi Arabia returned its assist to new president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
After a few years of strained relations, Saudi Arabia started constructing a fortified fence along its 1,060-mile border with Yemen in 2003. This was in response to the ongoing unrest in Yemen because of Shiite Houthi rebels and Sunni terrorist group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
In 2014, it started development on a 600-mile barrier alongside the border with Iraq, to forestall border incursions by the terrorist group ISIS.
Faith –
The Wahhabi, or Salafi, department of Sunni Islam has been intently tied to the Saud household because the 18th century. When the Saud household established the fashionable nation of Saudi Arabia within the 1930s, the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam grew to become the nation’s official state-sponsored faith.
Saudi Arabia bans public worship by non-Muslims and severely restricts public shows of faith by non-Wahhabi sect Muslims, together with Shiites.
Girls’s Rights –
Saudi Arabia has a guardianship system based mostly on strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam. The system is just not a proper legislation. Below the guardianship system, ladies can not marry, divorce, get a job or have elective surgery without permission from their male guardians. Additionally, ladies can’t combine freely with members of the other intercourse and should put on a full-length black abaya in public. In 2011, King Abdullah announced that women will be allowed to nominate candidates for the next set of municipal elections. In December 2015, ladies voted for the primary time, 979 ladies ran for workplace, and 17 have been elected. In September 2017, a royal decree was issued to allow women in the country to drive, and the ban formally ended June 2018. In 2019, a new amendment is approved by the Saudi Cabinet, that will allow all Saudi women to apply for passports and for women aged 21 and above to travel independently without a male guardian.
September 23, 1932 – Abd-al-Aziz Bin-Abd-al-Rahman Bin-Faysal Bin-Turki Bin-Abdallah Bin-Muhammad Al Saud, often known as Ibn Saud, establishes the dominion of Saudi Arabia, 30 years after Saud’s household returned to the Arabian Peninsula from exile.
1939 – Saudi Arabia declares its neutrality on the outbreak of World Struggle II and maintains it for a lot of the struggle.
1944 – California-Arabian Commonplace Oil modifications its title to Arabian American Oil (Aramco).
February 14, 1945 – Ibn Saud meets with US President Franklin Roosevelt aboard the united statesQuincy within the Suez Canal. This meeting establishes “the marriage of convenience” between the two countries, which continues to this day.
February-March 1945 – Saudi Arabia declares struggle on Germany and Japan.
October 24, 1945 – Joins the United Nations as a founding member.
1948 – Sends a number of hundred troops to struggle within the first Arab-Israeli War after Israel declares its independence.
1950 – Aramco begins sharing 50% of its earnings with the federal government of Saudi Arabia.
1953 – Ibn Saud dies and is succeeded by his son Saud Ibn Abd al-Aziz.
September 14, 1960 – OPEC is fashioned in Baghdad, Iraq, by founding members Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
1962 – Yemen’s civil struggle pits Saudi Arabia and Egypt towards one another for 5 years.
November 1964 – King Saud is deposed and changed by his half-brother Faisal.
October 1973 – The USA helps Israel through the Yom Kippur Struggle with Egypt, Syria and different Mideast international locations. In response, Saudi Arabia and the opposite OPEC member countries impose an oil embargo against the United States.
March 25, 1975 – King Faisal is murdered by a nephew. His half-brother Khalid succeeds him.
March 26, 1979 – Saudi Arabia severs diplomatic relations with Egypt after President Anwar Sadat indicators the Camp David peace treaty with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Start.
December 1979 – The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, starting a 10-year occupation. Saudi Arabia and the US assist the Afghan resistance often called the Mujahideen. Many young Saudis, including Osama bin Laden, spend time in Afghanistan and be part of the jihadist motion.
1980 – The Saudi authorities positive factors full management of Aramco.
September 1980 – The eight-year-long struggle between Iran and Iraq begins. Saudi Arabia helps Iraq and the federal government of Saddam Hussein towards the predominantly Shiite nation of Iran, with billions in loans. The struggle ends in a stalemate in 1988.
Might 1981 – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates set up the Gulf Cooperation Council.
June 13, 1982 – King Khalid dies and is succeeded by his half-brother Crown Prince Fahd.
November 1987 – Saudi Arabia and Egypt restore diplomatic ties.
August 2, 1990 – Iraq invades neighboring Kuwait. King Fahd, fearing an Iraqi invasion, permits a multi-national power of greater than 500,000 troops to arrange army bases within the nation. This angers many Saudis, who take into account the international troops infidels.
February 27-March 1991 – US and coalition forces defeat Iraq and liberate Kuwait.
June 25, 1996 – A gaggle of terrorists assault the US Air Pressure housing advanced often called Khobar Towers in Dhahran. Nineteen service members are killed. On June 22, 2001, US authorities indict thirteen Saudis and one Lebanese man for the bombing.
August 7, 1998 – Nearly concurrently, bombs explode at US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 individuals. Greater than 5,000 are wounded. Twelve of these killed in Kenya are US residents. The bombings, orchestrated by al Qaeda, happen eight years to the day after US troops have been ordered to Saudi Arabia within the aftermath of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
September 11, 2001 – The deadliest terrorist attack in US history takes place when 19 males hijack 4 business airways sure for west coast locations. The plot is orchestrated by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. A complete of two,977 persons are killed in New York, Washington and outdoors of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers are from Saudi Arabia.
2003 – Saudi Arabia opposes the US invasion of Iraq.
April 29, 2003 – US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld broadcasts the withdrawal of US forces from Saudi Arabia.
Might 12, 2003 – Assailants set off automobile bombs at three housing compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Roughly 23 persons are killed, together with 9 People.
August 1, 2005 – King Fahd dies and is succeeded by his half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah.
2011 – The Arab Spring results in the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Shiite protests in Eastern Saudi Arabia are suppressed.
January 23, 2015 – King Abdullah dies and is succeeded by his half-brother, Crown Prince Salman.
April 29, 2015 – King Salman, in a shock power-shifting transfer, appoints Inside Minister Mohammed bin Nayef as crown prince, changing his half-brother Prince Muqrin as his successor, and Protection Minister Mohammed bin Salman, his son, as deputy crown prince.
December 14, 2015 – Not less than 17 women are elected to public office within the first elections by which ladies within the nation are permitted to vote and to run for workplace.
January 2, 2016 – Saudi Arabia broadcasts it has executed 47 prisoners who had been convicted of terrorism during the last decade – most prominently, a Shiite cleric named Nimr al-Nimr, who had spoken out against the ruling Al Saud family. This mass execution, which came about at 12 totally different Saudi websites, marks the nation’s highest one-year whole in virtually twenty years. The executions spark demonstrations all through the area.
January 3, 2016 – Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir says his country is severing ties with Iran after an assault on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
August 24-25, 2016 – US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Saudi International Minister Adel al-Jubier, crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, deputy crown prince bin Salman and different representatives from the area, to debate plans to finish the escalating violence in Yemen.
August 25, 2016 – The United Nations issues a report calling for an investigation into attainable human rights violations in Yemen. The UNHCHR says the battle between pro-Saudi authorities forces, Houthi and different rebels, has resulted within the loss of life of three,799 civilians, 6,711 wounded civilians, and thousands and thousands of others displaced from their house.
March 20, 2017 – Families of 850 victims who died on 9/11 and 1,500 people injured that day file a lawsuit against the Saudi government, alleging that the federal government offered monetary, sensible and materials assist to al Qaeda via its ministries and officers and an enormous community of charities. Saudi Arabia has denied any function within the September 11 assaults and has by no means been formally implicated.
Might 20, 2017 – Throughout US President Donald Trump’s go to to Saudi Arabia, the two countries sign an arms deal by which the US is promoting Saudi Arabia tanks, fighter jets, fight ships and the THAAD missile protection system for almost $110 billion, based on the White Home. The deal is a part of a extra intensive ten-year $350 billion protection settlement which the White Home says reveals the US’ dedication to Saudi Arabia and expands alternatives for American corporations within the area.
November 4, 2017 – The official Saudi information company reviews that the nation’s army intercepted a Yemen-borne ballistic missile north of the capital metropolis of Riyadh, that was concentrating on King Khalid Worldwide Airport.
November 7, 2017 – The Saudi Arabian Financial Authority confirms that it has frozen the non-public financial institution accounts of the royal members of the family and senior officers after the arrests associated to the federal government’s anti-corruption sweep.
June 24, 2018 – Saudi women drivers take to the roads legally for the first time within the kingdom’s historical past, as its decades-old ban on ladies driving is lifted.
October 2, 2018 – The fiancée of journalist Jamal Khashoggi reviews that he’s missing after having entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi, a critic of present Saudi management, is a columnist on the Washington Submit.
October 6, 2018 – Unnamed Turkish officers chatting with the Washington Submit and Reuters say that Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Turkish authorities is investigating.
October 11, 2018 – A joint investigation team between the Kingdom and Turkey is created. Though Turkish authorities consider Saudi officers usually are not being fully cooperative, permission is granted for Turkish authorities to enter the premises of the consulate and the residence of the consul common to analyze. The search takes place six days later.
October 19, 2018 – After first reporting that Khashoggi had left the consulate the day of his disappearance, the Saudi authorities says that the journalist was killed throughout an altercation whereas on the consulate however takes no direct duty for his loss of life. According to the announcement on State TV, a Saudi commission will release a report on its investigation in one month. 5 high-ranking officers are dismissed, and eighteen others are detained.
READ MORE: Saudi Arabia’s full statement on the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
October 22, 2018 – A senior Turkish official tells CNN that Mustafa al-Madani, a member of the 15-man group suspected within the loss of life of Khashoggi, was captured on surveillance cameras round Istanbul wearing Khashoggi’s garments the day the journalist was killed maybe to provide the looks that it was Khashoggi who had left the consulate.
October 23, 2018 – Crown Prince bin Salman addresses the killing of Khashoggi for the first time whereas talking on the Future Funding Initiative convention. He describes the killing as “heinous” and says he’ll “convey to justice” those that are accountable.
October 25, 2018 – In response to an announcement issued by the Saudi state information company, Saudi Attorney General Shaikh Suood bin Abdullah Al Mo’jab says that Khashoggi’s death was premediated, repeating what Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said two days earlier. Mo’jab reviews that the brand new data relies on findings by the Turkish and Saudi joint investigation.
October 25, 2018 – Members of the European Parliament vote overwhelmingly to undertake a decision that urges EU international locations to impose an EU-wide arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.
November 16, 2018 – The CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman personally ordered the killing of Khashoggi, regardless of the Saudi authorities’s denials that the de facto ruler was concerned, based on a senior US official and a supply conversant in the matter.
December 9, 2018 – According to a source briefed on the investigation, Khashoggi’s last words were “I can’t breathe.” The supply, who has learn a translated transcript of an audio recording of Khashoggi’s painful final moments, mentioned it was clear that the killing on October 2 was no botched rendition try, however the execution of a premeditated plan to homicide the journalist.
February 23, 2019 – Saudi Arabia appoints its first feminine ambassador, naming Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud as ambassador to the US.
June 19, 2019 – Agnes Callamard, the United Nations particular rapporteur, mentioned there’s “sufficient credible evidence” that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince bears responsibility for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and he ought to be investigated for it.
August 1, 2019 – According to the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Information, a new amendment was approved by the Saudi Cabinet, and will allow all Saudi women to apply for passports “like all citizens” and for women aged 21 and above to travel independently without a male guardian. The modification takes impact on the finish of the month.
September 14, 2019 – Coordinated cruise missile and drone strikes on key Saudi Arabian oil facilities disrupt about half of the dominion’s oil capability. That’s greater than 5 million barrels a day and 5% of the day by day international oil provide.
September 27, 2019 – The Kingdom announces it is going to be granting entry visas to vacationers for the primary time. Vacationers from 49 different countries will be capable to enter via an e-visa and visa-on-arrival program. The brand new drive for tourism is a part of the Vision 2030 venture, which goals to scale back the nation’s dependence on oil, diversify the economic system and promote the nation’s nationwide identification.
February 27, 2020 – Saudi Arabia announces it is temporarily suspending pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina for individuals outdoors the nation over coronavirus fears.
March 6, 2020 – Several senior Saudi royals are arrested in Riyadh. They embody Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al Saud, a brother of King Salman, and Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the king’s nephew.
January 27, 2021 – The Biden administration pauses arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates because it conducts a wider evaluation of agreements price billions of {dollars} made by the Trump administration, sources conversant in the matter inform CNN.
March 12, 2022 – Within the largest mass execution in a long time, Saudi Arabia executes 81 men, together with seven Yemenis and one Syrian, for terrorism and different offenses, based on authorities.