Mass protests topple Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi; Ayatollah Khomeini returns and Iran becomes an Islamic Republic.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign US-brokered accords, leading to the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty.
Saddam Hussein's Iraq invades Iran, beginning an eight-year war of attrition that kills hundreds of thousands.
A multi-sided civil war devastates Lebanon for fifteen years, with intervention by Syria, Israel and other foreign forces.
Arab oil producers impose an embargo on countries supporting Israel, causing world oil prices to soar.
Egypt and Syria launch a surprise attack on Israel to regain Sinai and the Golan; the war ends in a ceasefire and paves the way for later negotiations.
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip rise up against Israeli occupation, in an uprising lasting until the Oslo Accords.