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636 City of Basra Iraq founded on a canal by caliph
Omar.
762 Abbasid caliph al-Mansur
founds new capital at Baghdad
, Iraq
773 The concept of the number zero was introduced to the city of Baghdad
(modern day Iraq)
836 Abbasid caliph al-Mutasim establishes new capital at Samarra, Iraq.
940 Saadia Gaon compiles his siddur (Jewish prayer book) in Iraq.
977 The original Imam Ali Mosque is built at Najaf, Iraq by Iran
ian ruler the Daylamite Fannakhosraw Azod ad Dowleh.
''
1132 Tughril II starts his rule of Iraq.
1939 Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
1941 Britain invades Iraq, the pro-Axis government there is overthrown.
1948 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Egypt
, Transjordan
, Lebanon
, Syria
, Iraq and Saudi Arabia
attack Israel
.
1958 The Hashemite Kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan
unites in the Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan with the Iraqi King Faisal II as head of state.
1958 Iraqi Revolution: The Iraqi
monarchy is overthrown by Arab nationalists, King Faisal II is murdered and Abdul Karim Qassim assumes power.
1960 September 14 — Iran
, Iraq, Kuwait
, Saudi Arabia
and Venezuela
form OPEC
.
1961 Iraqi president Abdul Karim Kassem announces he is going to annex Kuwait
.
1965 In Iraq, Prime Minister Arif Abd ar-Razzaq's attempted coup fails.
1968 Saddam Hussein
becomes the Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Council in Iraq after a coup d'état
.
1972 Iraq nationalizes
the Iraq Petroleum Company.
1975 Algiers Accord: Iran
and Iraq announce a settlement over their border dispute.
1979 Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and Vice President Saddam Hussein
replaces him.
1980 The command council of Iraq orders its army to "deliver its fatal blow on Iran
ian military targets," initiating the Iran-Iraq War
.
1981 Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor.
1981 A car bomb
destroys the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut
, Lebanon
, killing 61 people. This is the first modern suicide bombing.
Syria
n intelligence is blamed.
1983 Iran
opens an invasion in the southeast of Iraq.
1984 Iran
accuses Iraq of the use of chemical weapons; the U.N. condemns their use on March 30.
1987 Iran-Iraq War
: The USS Stark (FFG-31), while patrolling the Persian Gulf, is struck by two Exocet missiles from an Iraqi F-1 Mirage fighter, killing 37 sailors and injuring 21 other crew members.
1990 Iraq hangs British
journalist Farzad Bazoft for spying. Daphne Parish, a British nurse, is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment as an accompli
1990 Gulf War
: Iraq invades Kuwait
, eventually leading to the Gulf War
.
1990 Gulf War
: The United Nations Security Council
orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's
invasion of Kuwait
.
1990 Gulf War
: The United Nations Security Council
orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's
invasion of Kuwait
.
1990 Gulf War
: President George H. W. Bush
delivers a nationally televised speech in which he threatens the use of force to remove Iraqi
soldiers from Kuwait
.
1990 Gulf War
: The United Nations Security Council
passes UN Security Council Resolution 678, authorizing military intervention in Iraq if that nation does not withdraw its forces from Kuwait
and free all foreign hostages by Tuesday, January 15, 1991.
1991 Iraqi forces suppress rebellions in the southern and northern parts of the country, creating a humanitarian disaster on the borders of Turkey
and Iran
.
1991 Gulf War
: Operation Desert Storm begins with air strikes against Iraq.
1991 Gulf War
: Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel
.
1991 Gulf War
: Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy an underground bunker in Baghdad
, killing hundreds of Iraqis. Iraqi officials claim that the bunker was a bomb shelter, but United States
military intelligence identified it as a military facility.
1991 Gulf War: Part of an Iraqi Scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
killing 29 and injuring 99 U.S. soldiers. It is the single, most devastating attack on U.S. forces during that war.
1991 Gulf War: On Baghdad
radio, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait
. Iraqi soldiers set fire to Kuwaiti oil fields as they retreat.
1991 In Iraq, Saddam Hussein
releases 6 U.S.
, 3 British
and 1 Italian prisoner of war
.
1991 Sheik Saad Al-Abdallah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, the Prime Minister of Kuwait, returned to his country for the first time since Iraq's invasion.
1991 Iraq disarmament crisis
: Iraq declares some of its chemical weapons and materials to the UN, as required by Resolution 687, and claims that it does not have a biological weapons program.
1992 Iraq disarmament crisis
: The Executive Chairman of UNSCOM details Iraq's refusal to abide by UN Security Council disarmament resolutions.
1993 The Kuwait
i government claims to uncover an Iraqi assassination plot against former U.S. President George H. W. Bush
shortly after his visit to Kuwait. Two Iraqi nationals, caught with smuggled hashish and alcohol inside Kuwait, confess to driving a car-bomb into Kuwait on behalf of the Iraq Secret Service.
1993 Iraq disarmament crisis
: Iraq refuses to allow UNSCOM inspectors to use its own aircraft to fly into Iraq, and begins military operations in the demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait
, and the northern No-Fly Zone. U.S. forces fire approximately 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Baghdad
factories linked to Iraq's illegal nuclear weapons program. Iraq then informs UNSCOM that it will be able to resume its flights.
1993 U.S. President Bill Clinton
orders a cruise missile attack on Iraqi
intelligence headquarters in the Al-Mansur
District of Baghdad
, in response to the attempted assassination of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush
during his visit to Kuwait
in mid-April.
1994 Iraq disarmament crisis
: Iraq threatens to stop cooperating with UNSCOM inspectors and begins to once again deploy troops near its border with Kuwait
. In response, the U.S. begins to deploy troops to Kuwait
.
1994 Iraq disarmament crisis
: UN weapons inspectors Ritter and Smidovitch learn, through Israel
i intelligence reports, that Qusay Hussein, Saddam Hussein
's son, is the key player in efforts by the Iraqi government to hide the country's alleged illegal weapons.
1994 Iraq disarmament crisis
: President of the UN Security Council says that Iraq must withdraw its troops from the Kuwait border and immediately cooperate with weapons inspectors.
1995 Summer - Iraq disarmament crisis
: According to UNSCOM, the unity of the UN Security Council begins to fray, as a few countries, particularly France
and Russia
, are starting to become increasingly more interested in making financial deals with Iraq than disarming the country.
1995 Iraq disarmament crisis
: Iraq threatens to end all cooperation with UNSCOM and IAEA, if sanctions against the country are not lifted by Thursday, August 31, 1995.
1995 Iraq disarmament crisis
: Following the defection of his son-in-law, Hussein Kamel al Majid, minister of industry and military industrialisation, Saddam Hussein
makes new revelations about the full extent of Iraq's biological and nuclear weapons programs. Iraq also withdraws its last UN
declaration of prohibited biological weapons and turns over a large amount of new documents on its WMD programs.
1995 Iraq disarmament crisis
: Following the defection of his son-in-law, Hussein Kamel al Majid, minister of industry and military industrialisation, Saddam Hussein
makes new revelations about the full extent of Iraq's biological and nuclear weapons programs. Iraq also withdraws its last UN
declaration of prohibited biological weapons and turns over a large amount of new documents on its WMD programs.
1996 Iraq disarmament crisis
: U.N. Inspector Ritter attempts to conduct surprise inspections on the Republican Guard facility at the airport, but is blocked by Iraqi officials.
1997 Iraq disarmament crisis
: Iraqi military escorts on board an UNSCOM helicopter try to physically prevent the UNSCOM pilot from flying the helicopter in the direction of its planned destination, threatening the safety of the aircraft and their crews.
1997 Iraq disarmament crisis
: An Iraqi military officer attacks an UNSCOM weapons inspector on board an UNSCOM helicopter while the inspector was attempting to take photographs of unauthorized movement of Iraqi vehicles inside a site designated for inspection
1997 Iraq disarmament crisis
: While waiting for access to a site, UNSCOM inspectors witness and videotape Iraqi guards moving | 
Timeline
