As countries across the Middle East grappled with the coronavirus pandemic, many also had to contend with long-running conflicts, economic crises and mass protests in another chaotic year for the volatile region.

The most devastating single event in the region was neither war-related, nor a claimed terrorist attack, but an explosion in Beirut's port caused by the detonation of a stockpile of explosive chemicals that had been improperly stored there for years.

In Palestinian refugee camps in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, some residents are preparing weapons for a potential power struggle when President Mahmud Abbas finally leaves the stage.

Outgoing British Ambassador to Lebanon Chris Rampling has criticized Lebanon’s leaders for their lack of “responsibility” in the face of the country’s multiple crises, in an op-ed marking the end of his tenure in Lebanon.

Below is the full text of the op-ed:

Almost no place has been spared — and no one.

Not since World War II has a single phenomenon dominated the news worldwide as the COVID-19 pandemic has in 2020. In the United States, a tumultuous presidential election and a wave of protests over racial injustice also drew relentless coverage.

From the devastating Beirut port blast in August to the charging of outgoing premier Hassan Diab with negligence on Thursday, here is a timeline of the crisis rocking Lebanon:

- Devastation -

Saudi Arabia is pushing for a compromise to end a damaging three-year Gulf dispute, but a full resolution remains out of reach despite its offer of concessions, sources close to the negotiations say.

Covid-19 has been a shot in the arm for vaccine research with several viable jabs in production less then a year after the disease emerged. 

Kuwait, which has been ruled by the Al-Sabah family for two and a half centuries, will hold parliamentary elections on Saturday. 

Having weathered punishing sanctions and thinly veiled US invasion threats, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro hopes to take congress back from the opposition in Sunday's elections.