Princess: Stepping Out of the Shadows, стр. 77
April
. The Egyptian government causes unrest in their country when they announce they are giving two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi government approves a plan for reforms to diversify the economy away from oil.
June
. The United Nations releases a report that accuses the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen of killing and injuring hundreds of children.
2017
February
. For the first time, women are named as chief executives on the Saudi Stock Exchange and also at a major bank in the kingdom.
June
. Tensions grow in the Middle East when Saudi Arabia leads an air, land and sea blockade by Arab countries against Qatar. This action is in an attempt to force Qatar to distance itself from Iran.
Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz has replaced his nephew Mohammed bin Naif as Crown Prince and installed his own son, Prince Muhammad bin Salman, in the position, setting him up to be the next in line to the throne.
September
. The ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia is formally lifted. Saudi women are set to start driving in June 2018.
August–October
. Saudi Arabia increases the bombing of Houthi rebel-held territory in Yemen. In response, Houthi rebels carry out rocket attacks into Saudi Arabia.
November
. The heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, conducts a surprising purge of the kingdom’s political and business leadership, saying that the move is to end corruption in the kingdom.
2018
March
. With the war in Yemen ongoing, a missile is launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels over Riyadh. The missile is intercepted, although fragments from the missile kill one man.
April
. The ban on public cinema in Saudi Arabia is lifted.
Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman visits the United States for three weeks, courting business tycoons and Hollywood moguls, striking multi-million-dollar business deals in defence and entertainment. After his trip to the United States, the Crown Prince makes similar visits to France, the United Kingdom and Egypt.
June
. Women in Saudi Arabia are set to drive automobiles for the first time in Saudi history, however, there are age restrictions and time limits on when women can drive.
Appendix Three
Syria Timeline (2011–18)
2011
March.
Protesters in Deraa, Syria, demand the release of political prisoners. Syrian President Bashir Assad’s security forces shoot and kill the protesters. The protest prompts violent demonstrations that spread across the entire country.
President Assad broadcasts peacemaking measures, freeing dozens of political prisoners, discharging government and finally lifting a forty-eight-year-old state of emergency.
May.
Ongoing anti-regime protests continue in Homs, Deraa, Banyas and some suburbs of Damascus. Syrian tanks try to crush protesters. The United States and the European Union tighten sanctions.
President Assad announces amnesty for political prisoners.
July.
After mass demonstrations in the province of Hama, President Assad fires the governor. When protests continue, Syrian troops go in to restore order and many Syrian civilians are killed.
October.
The Syrian National Council announces that it has formed a communal group of internal and exiled opposition activists to seek peace.
November.
The Arab League suspends Syria and imposes sanctions.
The uprising against the Assad government is now recognized as a full-scale civil war.
December
. Bombs outside security buildings in Damascus kill forty-four. These blasts are the first of many to come in the capital of Syria.
2012
February
. The Syrian government increases the bombardment of Homs.
March
. The United Nations Security Council endorses a non-binding peace agreement drafted by the UN envoy Kofi Annan.
May.
Australia, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Canada and Spain all expel senior Syrian diplomats in protest after more than a hundred civilians are killed in Houla, near Homs.
July.
The Free Syria Army kills three security chiefs in Damascus. They also seize the city of Aleppo.
August
. Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab defects.
President Obama warns Syria that if they use chemical weapons the United States will consider intervention in the ongoing war.
October.
There is a huge fire in Aleppo that destroys that city’s historical market.
December.
The United Kingdom, the United States, France, Turkey and the Gulf States formally recognize the opposition National Coalition as legitimate representatives of the Syrian people.
2013
January.
Syria claims that Israeli jets have attacked a military research centre near Damascus.
February.
International donors pledge $1.5 billion (£950 million) to help Syrian civilians affected by the conflict.
March.
After Syrian rebels seize control of Raqqa, the city is bombed by Syrian government military planes.
The Syrian government denies all allegations of chemical weapons use.
June
. The Syrian government, joined by the Lebanese Hezbollah forces, recaptures the strategically important city of Qusair, located between Homs and the Lebanese border.
October.
Syrian President Assad surprises the world when he agrees for international inspectors to start destroying Syria’s chemical weapons as earlier agreed between the United States and Russia.
December.
Great Britain and the United States break off ‘non-lethal’ support for Syrian rebels in northern Syria after it is learned that Islamist rebels have seized bases of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army.
2014
January/February.
When Syrian authorities refuse to discuss the option of a transitional government, the United Nations peace talks in Geneva collapse.
March.
The Syrian Government Army and Hezbollah forces recapture Yabroud, which is the last rebel stronghold near the Lebanese border.
May.
Hundreds of rebels fighting the Syrian government/military are removed from their last stronghold in the city of Homs. This disappointing withdrawal ends three years of resistance in the city.
June.
The United Nations announces that all of Syria’s chemical weapons have been destroyed or removed.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants announce that they have formed a ‘caliphate’ that
stretches from the Syrian city of Aleppo to the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala.
August.
After the Islamic State captures the Tabqa airbase, which is near the northern city of Raqqa, ISIS now controls all of Raqqa province.
September
. Five Arab countries join the United States