2014 in Saudi Arabia

Incumbents

• Monarch: Abdullah
• Crown Prince: Salman

  Events

January

• January 20 - Two car bombs hit a rebel-held post on the Syrian border with Turkey, killing at least 16 people amidst continuing fighting between Turkey-supported rebels and Saudi-supported rebels.

  February

• February 8 - A hotel fire in Medina, kills fifteen Egyptian pilgrims with 130 also injured.

  March

• March 7 - The Saudi Arabian government designates the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda among others as terrorist groups and warns that people joining them could face 30 years in prison.
• March 27 - Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is confirmed as second-in-line to the Saudi Arabian throne.

  April

• April 21 - Five people are sentenced to death and 37 others given prison sentences for their roles in the 2003 bombings in Riyadh.
• April 22 - The Health Minister of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabiah, is dismissed as the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus rages in the nation, killing 81 people to date.
• April 27 - Saudi Arabia reports eight more deaths and 16 more cases in the latest outbreak of MERS.

  May

• May 3 - The first U.S. case of MERS is reported in Munster, Indiana, of someone who travelled to Saudi Arabia.
• May 19 - Saudi Arabia closes its embassy in Tripoli over security concerns in Libya.

  June

• June 3 - Saudi Arabia announces 113 previously unreported cases of MERS, revises the death toll to 282, and fires its minister of health.

  July

• July 3 - Saudi Arabia deploys 30,000 soldiers to its border with Iraq after Iraqi government forces withdrew from the area.

  August

• August 6 - Saudi Arabia grants Lebanon US$1 billion to help the country in its conflict with self-declared jihadist fighters on the border with Syria.
• August 6 - The World Health Organisation reports that 932 have died from the latest outbreak of the Ebola virus with a man reportedly dying of the disease in Jeddah after a business trip to Sierra Leone.

  September

• September 2 - Saudi Arabian authorities announce they have arrested 88 people on suspicions of being part of an al-Qaeda cell and plotting attacks inside and outside the kingdom.

  October

• October 15 - Popular Saudi Shia Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr sentenced to death by Saudi court that tries terrorists and human rights activists.

  December

• December 7 - The Saudi Interior Ministry arrests 135 on terrorism offences, including dozens suspected of links to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.