What happened before 9/11 in the middle east?

The attacks of September 11th, 2001 came as a huge surprise, shocking the world and immediately dominating the news around the world. Ten years later, the reverberations from that shock and the varying reactions to it continue to affect nearly everyone in ways large and small. While most people remember where they were on that day, it can be difficult to recall what else was happening in the days just before. I thought it would be interesting to go through the newswires and find photos of events taking place around the world during the week of September 3 to September 10, 2001. Some of the photos are directly related to the upcoming attacks, or the fallout that resulted, many have nothing at all to do with the attacks, but simply show glimpses of what was happening at that time. Gathered here is a time capsule of images taken during this week of September, one decade ago, before everything changed.