US-Saudi relations under strain

US-Saudi relations since 1991 have been under constant pressure. Here is a brief chronology.

A series of attacks has targeted US interests in Saudi Arabia

January 1991: US-led forces use Saudi Arabia as a launch pad for the Gulf war to oust Iraqi troops from Kuwait.

13 November 1995: Five Americans among seven people killed in explosion in car park near a US-run military centre in Riyadh.

25 June 1996: Fuel truck bomb kills 19 US soldiers and wounds nearly 400 people at US military housing complex in eastern city of Khobar.

11 September 2001: Fifteen of the 19 men who hijack four US aircraft, three of which crashed into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, hail from Saudi Arabia.

18 January 2002: White House says President George Bush wants to keep the US military presence in Saudi Arabia despite reported grumblings from the Saudis that the US has overstayed its welcome.

26 April 2002: Bush, warned by Saudi Arabia that US ties with the Arab world are at risk over Middle East violence, urges Israel to complete withdrawal from Palestinian areas.

18 March 2003: Saudi Arabia vows it will take no part in a US-led war on “brotherly Iraq”.

19 April 2003: Iraq’s neighbours, led by Saudi Arabia, tell the US to get out of Iraq and keep its hands off Iraqi oil.

12 May 2003: Three bombers attack a compound in the Saudi capital Riyadh, killing at least 35. US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in Saudi the day after to explain US policy after the war on Iraq.

27 August 2003: The US ends more than a decade of military operations in Saudi Arabia by shutting down the last remaining air force unit at Prince Sultan Air Base amid resentment in the kingdom over the American military presence.

10 May 2004: Saudi Arabia criticises Bush for casting doubt on a 2005 Palestinian statehood target, saying his comments served Israeli efforts to “shatter the peace process”.

June 2004: US national Kenneth Scroggs, is shot dead in Riyadh. Al-Qaida claims responsibility. Later in the same month, kidnappers behead Paul Johnson, an employee of US defence contractor Lockheed Martin.

6 December 2004: Attackers strike the US consulate in Jedda.

Source: Reuters