title: 2014 in Saudi Arabia
text: # 2014 in Saudi Arabia
  
  The following lists events in 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 Organization 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.
  