paragraph_text: Most of Egypt's rain falls in the winter months. South of Cairo, rainfall averages only around 2 to 5 mm (0.1 to 0.2 in) per year and at intervals of many years. On a very thin strip of the northern coast the rainfall can be as high as 410 mm (16.1 in), mostly between October and March. Snow falls on Sinai's mountains and some of the north coastal cities such as Damietta, Baltim, Sidi Barrany, etc. and rarely in Alexandria. A very small amount of snow fell on Cairo on 13 December 2013, the first time Cairo received snowfall in many decades. Frost is also known in mid-Sinai and mid-Egypt. Egypt is the driest and the sunniest country in the world, and most of its land surface is desert.

paragraph_text: Iran–Sudan relations refers to diplomatic, economic and military relations between Sudan and Iran. For nearly three decades, Iran and Sudan enjoyed a close relationship. However, Sudan decided to expel all Iranian groups just hours before joining a Saudi military operation in Yemen in March 2015 as the Sudanese President is said to be calculating in favour of his fragile economy in addition to the trauma and horror which struck the Sudanese society when seeing its best and brightest joining the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) this March, generating a huge public alarm about regional security. The emotional component of protecting Saudi Arabia and walking back to the (Arab house) unfolded dramatically in Arab media. On January 4, 2016 Sudan cut off all diplomatic relations with Iran due to tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. As a result, the bond between both countries has severely soured.

paragraph_text: In January 1957, the US adopted the Eisenhower Doctrine and pledged to prevent the spread of communism and its perceived agents in the Middle East. Although Nasser was an opponent of communism in the region, his promotion of pan-Arabism was viewed as a threat by pro-Western states in the region. Eisenhower tried to isolate Nasser and reduce his regional influence by attempting to transform King Saud into a counterweight. Also in January, the elected Jordanian prime minister and Nasser supporter Sulayman al-Nabulsi brought Jordan into a military pact with Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

paragraph_text: Originating as the Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999, it pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2004, participated in the Iraqi insurgency that followed the March 2003 invasion of Iraq by Western forces, joined the fight in the Syrian Civil War beginning in March 2011, and was expelled from al-Qaeda in early 2014, (which complained of its failure to consult and "notorious intransigence"). The group gained prominence after it drove Iraqi government forces out of key cities in western Iraq in a 2014 offensive. The group is adept at social media, posting Internet videos of beheadings of soldiers, civilians, journalists and aid workers, and is known for its destruction of cultural heritage sites. The United Nations has held ISIL responsible for human rights abuses and war crimes, and Amnesty International has reported ethnic cleansing by the group on a "historic scale". The group has been designated a terrorist organisation by the United Nations, the European Union and member states, the United States, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria and other countries.

paragraph_text: The war is also known under other names, such as the Persian Gulf War, First Gulf War, Gulf War I, Kuwait War, First Iraq War or Iraq War, before the term ``Iraq War ''became identified instead with the 2003 Iraq War (also referred to in the US as`` Operation Iraqi Freedom''). The Iraqi Army's occupation of Kuwait that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. US President George H.W. Bush deployed US forces into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the coalition, the largest military alliance since World War II. The great majority of the coalition's military forces were from the US, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia paid around US $32 billion of the US $60 billion cost.

paragraph_text: The Al Faisaliyah Centre (or Al Faisaliah Centre, ) is a commercial skyscraper located in the business district of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is the fourth tallest building in Saudi Arabia after the Kingdom Centre, Burj Rafal and Abraj Al Bait. It is also called Star Dome.The round portion at the top of Faisaliah Center is a restaurant called “The Globe”. The Globe is one of the premier restaurants in Saudi Arabia and has 360 degree views that make it unique.

paragraph_text: The House of Saud has gone through three phases: the Emirate of Diriyah, the First Saudi State (1744 -- 1818), marked by the expansion of Wahhabism; the Emirate of Nejd, the Second Saudi State (1824 -- 1891), marked with continuous infighting; and the Third Saudi State (1902 -- present), which evolved into Saudi Arabia in 1932 and now wields considerable influence in the Middle East. The family has had conflicts with the Ottoman Empire, the Sharif of Mecca, the Al Rashid family of Ha'il and their vassal houses in Najd, numerous Islamist groups both inside and outside Saudi Arabia and Shia minority in Saudi Arabia.

paragraph_text: Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is a sovereign state in Western Asia constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula. With a land area of approximately , Saudi Arabia is geographically the largest sovereign state in the Middle East, the second-largest in the Arab world (after Algeria), the fifth-largest in Asia, and the 12th-largest in the world. Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast and Yemen to the south; it is separated from Israel and Egypt by the Gulf of Aqaba. It is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast, and most of its terrain consists of arid desert, lowland and mountains. As of October 2018, the Saudi economy was the largest in the Middle East and the 18th largest in the world. Saudi Arabia also has one of the world's youngest populations; 50 percent of its 33.4 million people are under 25 years old.

paragraph_text: Since he took power in 1995, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani believed Qatar could find security only by transforming itself from a Saudi appendage to a rival of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia withdrew its ambassador to Doha from 2002 to 2008 to try to pressure Qatar to curb its individualistic tendencies. This approach broadly failed. The Arab Spring left a power vacuum which both Saudi Arabia and Qatar sought to fill, with Qatar being supportive of the revolutionary wave and Saudi Arabia opposing it; since both states are allies of the United States, they avoid direct conflict with one another. Qatar has had differences with other Arab governments on a number of issues: it broadcasts Al Jazeera; it is accused of maintaining good relations with Iran; and it has supported the Muslim Brotherhood in the past. Qatar has been accused of sponsoring terrorism. Some countries have faulted Qatar for funding rebel groups in Syria, including al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the al-Nusra Front, although the Saudis have done the same. Qatar has allowed the Afghan Taliban to set up a political office inside the country. Qatar is a close ally of the United States, hosting the largest American base in the Middle East, Al Udeid Air Base.

paragraph_text: Saleh Al-Dawod (24 September 1968, Dir'iya, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) is a former football player. He was part of the squad for the Saudi Arabia national team in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States.

paragraph_text: In many ways, the Dammam Area has evolved as the link between Saudi Arabia and the outside world, exporting the Kingdom's products and importing its needs and thriving on the interaction between Saudi Arabia and other countries.

paragraph_text: The Faran Valley (Wadi Faran) (Arabic: وادي فاران) is a valley in central Saudi Arabia. With a population of several thousand mostly Bedouin inhabitants, Wadi Faran is one of the most densely inhabited towns in the interior of Saudi Arabia.

paragraph_text: The Emirate of Nejd was the second Saudi state, existing between 1824 and 1891 in Nejd, the regions of Riyadh and Ha'il of what is now Saudi Arabia. Saudi rule was restored to central and eastern Arabia after the Emirate of Diriyah, the First Saudi State, having previously been brought down by the Ottoman Empire's Egypt Eyalet in the Ottoman–Wahhabi War (1811–1818).

paragraph_text: The war is also known under other names, such as the Persian Gulf War, First Gulf War, Gulf War I, Kuwait War, First Iraq War or Iraq War, before the term ``Iraq War ''became identified instead with the 2003 Iraq War (also referred to in the US as`` Operation Iraqi Freedom''). The Iraqi Army's occupation of Kuwait that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. Together with the UK's prime minister Margaret Thatcher (who had fiercely resisted the invasion by Argentina of the Falkland Islands a decade earlier), George Bush deployed US forces into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the coalition, forming the largest military alliance since World War II. The great majority of the coalition's military forces were from the US, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia paid around US $32 billion of the US $60 billion cost.

paragraph_text: As a developing constitutional monarchy, Jordan has survived the trials and tribulations of Middle Eastern politics. The Jordanian public has experienced limited democracy since gaining independence in 1946 however the population has not suffered as others have under dictatorships imposed by some Arab regimes. The 1952 Constitution provided for citizens of Jordan to form and join political parties. Such rights were suspended in 1967 when a state of emergency was declared and martial law and suspension of Parliament, continuing until it was repealed in 1989.

paragraph_text: The King Khalid Foundation is a charitable organization established in Saudi Arabia in 2001 by the family of the late King Khalid, who ruled the country from 1975 until his death in 1982.

paragraph_text: Mona Al Munajjed gained a MA in sociology from New York University and a PhD in sociology from George Washington University. as first social affairs officer at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. Her project "Activating the Role of Women's Welfare Associations in Saudi Arabia", funded by Abdul Latif Jameel Company Ltd, pioneered the funding of UN projects in Saudi Arabia by the private sector. In 2005 she received the UN 21 award for the project.

paragraph_text: The Embassy of Saudi Arabia in London (officially the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia) () is the diplomatic mission of Saudi Arabia in the United Kingdom. Saudi Arabia also maintains a Defence Attaché’s Office at 26 Queen's Gate, South Kensington, a Diplomatic Office of the Cultural Bureau at 630 Chiswick High Road, Gunnersbury, a Medical Section at 60 Queen Anne Street, Marylebone, a Commercial Section at 15/16 Queen Street, Mayfair, an Islamic Affairs Section at 2nd Floor, Park Lorne, 111 Park Road, Lisson Grove and an Information Section at 18 Seymour Street, Marylebone.

paragraph_text: At its greatest extent, the Achaemenid Empire included the modern territories of Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, much of the Black Sea coastal regions, northeastern Greece and southern Bulgaria (Thrace), northern Greece and Macedonia (Paeonia and Ancient Macedon), Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, all significant ancient population centers of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya, Kuwait, northern Saudi Arabia, parts of the UAE and Oman, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and much of Central Asia, making it the first world government and the largest empire the world had yet seen.

paragraph_text: Najran (Arabic: نجران‎ Najrān) is a region of Saudi Arabia, located in the south of the country along the border with Yemen. It has an area of 149,511 km². Its capital is Najran.

Question: When did the country that joined an alliance with the sunniest country in the world, Syria and Saudi Arabia gain independence?
Answer: 1946