A top White House advisor on the Middle East is to leave President Barack Obama's administration next month, it was announced Thursday. Dennis Ross, who has advised Obama on the Middle East peace process, the Iranian nuclear programme and the Arab Spring, is leaving the White House after nearly three years, White House spokesman Jay Carney said. In a statement published by ABC News, Ross said he would return to private life and was pleased to have served "during a period of unprecedented change in the broader Middle East."