Year-Ender 2024: Major International Events

The Earth while rotating on its route completing another year around the Sun punctuating with scores of events having impact over human lives in one or another way. Several incidents and events in the Year 2024 have profound impact over the world.

Year of Elections

The Year 2024 is marked by historic elections as voters in more than 60 countries—representing almost 50 percent of the world’s population, went to the polls. Voters in Mexico and the United Kingdom picked new leaders, former US president Trump was elected to a second term in the White House.

The year witnessed elections in several countries including eight of the world’s 10 most populated nations including Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, and the United States.

In addition, the European Union held elections for the European Parliament in June. Around 4 billion voters – approximately half of the world’s population – were eligible to vote in elections this year. Thus 2024 can also be called the year of elections.

 

January 2024

Jan 1: A 7.5 Magnitude earthquake strikes the western coast of Japan (Noto Peninsula), killing at least 462 people and injuring 1,344 others.

The earthquake struck central Japan, collapsing buildings, causing fires and triggering tsunami alerts as far away as eastern Russia, prompting orders for residents to evacuate affected coastal areas of Japan.

The earthquake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) in the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa prefecture, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The Japan Meteorological Agency immediately issued a tsunami warning along coastal regions of western Japan, and the first waves were reported hitting the coast just over 10 minutes later.

Some of the first reports came from the city of Wajima in Ishikawa prefecture, which saw tsunami waves of around 1.2 meters.

The defense ministry dispatched 1,000 military personnel to help the rescue and recovery efforts.

Suzu city officials in Ishikawa told CNN that buildings have been damaged and there were reports of injuries. Police in the city said some people were trapped in damaged houses.

The powerful quake was followed by a series of strong aftershocks, according to the USGS.

Bangladesh general election(January-7)

The Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina, won a fourth consecutive term amid protests by opposition parties and a large drop in voter turnout.

Independent candidates secured a total of 63 seats, the second highest instead of a political party, after Hasina’s Awami League, which won 222 seats, creating a problem of finding a parliamentary opposition.

Almost all the winning independent contenders were people who had been rejected by the AL for party ticket but were asked by the party leadership to stand as candidates to give the election a competitive veneer in front of the world.

“This is a bizarre outcome of a bizarre election,” a Bangladesh rights activist said. “Dummy candidates in a dummy election will now lead to a dummy parliament.”

Shunned by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) – the AL’s main political opponent – which wanted the balloting held under a neutral entity instead of Hasina’s administration.

Japan Moon landing (January 19)

Japan became the fifth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, with its SLIM mission.

Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) landed on the moon on January 19, 2024. Japan became the fifth country to achieve a moon landing after the United States, the former USSR (Russia), China and India.

February 2024

US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria (Feb 02)

The US launches airstrikes on 85 targets in Iraq and Syria in response to a deadly drone attack on a US military base on February 02.

The United States stated that it launched airstrikes against more than 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and militias it backs, in retaliation for a deadly attack on US troops.

Alexei Navalny dies in prison (Feb 16)

Russian anti-corruption activist and politician Alexei Navalny, who achieved international recognition as one of the most prominent domestic critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died on 16 February at the age of 47 while in prison.

Russian Federal Penitentiary Service announced that Russian opposition activist and political prisoner Alexei Navalny died while serving a 19-year prison sentence in corrective colony FKU IK-3, in the village of Kharp in the Russian Arctic. Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, confirmed it.

March 2024

Vladimir Putin re-elected (March 15 to 17 polls)

March 15 to 17: Vladimir Putin was re-elected for a fifth term in the 2024 Russian presidential election, held from March 15 to 17, 2024.

President Vladimir Putin extended his reign over Russia in a landslide election whose outcome was never in doubt, declaring his determination to advance deeper into Ukraine.

After the crackdown on dissent, it was clear from the earliest returns that Putin’s nearly quarter-century rule would continue with a fifth term that grants him six more years.

Deadly Moscow gun attack (March-22)

Four gunmen carried out the March 22 attack on Crocus City Hall near Moscow, which left 145 people dead and more than 500 others wounded. Islamic State affiliate ISIS-K claimed responsibility, while Moscow also blamed Ukraine and the West for the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades.

Twenty people, including the four gunmen, were eventually arrested in connection with the attack, Russia’s FSB chief said in May.

The four additional arrests were made in southern Russia’s republic of Ingushetia, according to the Mash Telegram channel, which is thought to have links to Russia’s security services.

The men were accused of helping a fifth suspect, Batyr Kulayev, flee. Kulayev allegedly provided weapons to the gunmen.

Russian media reported in November that Kulayev was one of four new defendants in the Crocus terrorist case. Kulayev and a second man remain at large, while the two others were transferred from Ingushetia to pre-trial detention in Moscow.

UNSC passes Gaza ceasefire resolution (March 25)

The UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.

The UNSC adopted a resolution aimed at reaching a comprehensive ceasefire deal in three phases to end the war in Gaza. The UN Secretary-General also called for a swift end to the Israeli war in Gaza and the release of all hostages.

The United Nations emphasized that a two-State solution remains the “only path to lasting peace” in the Middle East.

A surprise attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Israel, combining gunmen breaching security barriers and a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza, was launched at dawn of October 07, 2022 during a Jewish holiday.

The attack came 50 years and a day after Egyptian and Syrian forces launched an assault during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in an effort to retrieve territory Israel had occupied during a brief conflict in 1967.

April 2024

Israeli attack on Iranian embassy in Damascus (April-1)

Sixteen people were killed in an Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus on April 1, seven of Iran’s military advisers among them, including three senior commanders.

Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s embassy in Syria in a strike that Iran said killed seven of its military advisers, including three senior commanders, marking a major escalation in Israel’s war with its regional adversaries.

Reuters reporters at the site in the Mezzeh district of Damascus saw emergency workers clambering atop rubble of a destroyed building inside the diplomatic compound, adjacent to the main Iranian embassy building. Emergency vehicles were parked outside.

Iran’s ambassador to Syria said the strike hit a consular building in the embassy compound and that his residence was on the top two floors.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that seven Iranian military advisers died in the strike including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in its Quds Force, which is an elite foreign espionage and paramilitary arm.

May 2024

Palestine granted seat in UNGA

The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution to grant the State of Palestine the right to be seated among member states in alphabetical order. This came into effect from the UN General Assembly session on 10 September 2024.

Solar Storm

A series of solar storms and intense solar flares impact the Earth, rated G5 by NOAA, creating aurorae at more southerly and northerly latitudes than usual. This was the first G5 storm since 2003.

The May 2024 storms were a series of powerful solar storms with extreme solar flares and geomagnetic storm components that occurred from 10–13 May 2024 during solar cycle 25. The geomagnetic storm was the most powerful to affect Earth since March 1989, and produced aurorae at far more equatorial latitudes than usual in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

On 8 May 2024, a solar active region produced powerful solar flares and launched several coronal mass ejections towards Earth. On 14 May, as the most active region rotated beyond the sun’s western limb, the strongest flare occurred, causing strong radio blackouts

ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants of Netanyahu

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court seeks arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar over alleged war crimes.

Donald Trump found guilty

A Manhattan jury found Donald Trump guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush money criminal trial, an unprecedented and historic verdict that makes him the first former president in US history to be convicted of a felony.

Judge Juan Merchan set a sentencing hearing for July 11. Prosecutors accused Trump of taking part in an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 presidential election and an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, which included concealing a hush money payment to an adult film star.

A felony conviction of a former president or party frontrunner is unprecedented, but Trump, who is the 2024 presumptive GOP nominee, can still run for office.
Trump called the jury’s decision a “disgrace” and said the “real verdict” will come during the presidential election on November 5.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi dies in air crash (May 19)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and seven other people were killed on 19 May when the helicopter they were travelling in came down near the border with Azerbaijan.

There were seven people accompanying the president who also died in the crash, according to the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), Major General Hossein Salami.

They included Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, as well as the governor of East Azerbaijan province, Malek Rahmati, and Tabriz’s Friday prayer leader, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, a senior Shia cleric who was also Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s official representative in East Azerbaijan.

Gen Salami identified the others as IRGC Brig-Gen Mohammad Mehdi Mousavi, the head of the president’s security team, pilots Col Mohsen Daryanush and Col Seyyed Taher Mostafavi, and technician Maj Behrouz Qadimi.

Reformist presidential candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, was elected to replace Ebrahim Raisi.

South Africa’s election (May 29)

South Africa’s 2024 national election on May 29, marks the first time the African National Congress, the ruling party since 1994 (when the first election by universal suffrage was held after the fall of apartheid), was unable to win a majority in the National Assembly and has to form a government with other political parties.

June

Julian Assange freed

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was freed from prison in the United Kingdom and traveled home to Australia after he agreed to plead guilty to a single charge of breaching the espionage law in the United States.

Assange, 52, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents, according to a filing in the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.

He was freed from the UK’s high-security Belmarsh prison and taken to the airport, from where he flew out of the country. Assange appeared at a court in Saipan, a US Pacific territory, where he was sentenced to 62 months of the time he had already served.

“Julian Assange is free,” WikiLeaks said in a statement on X. “He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK.”

Indian General Election (19 April to 1 June)

General elections were held in India from 19 April to 1 June 2024 in seven phases, to elect 543 members of the Lok Sabha (Lower House). Votes were counted and the result was declared on 4 June to form the 18th Lok Sabha.

In the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP loses its outright majority, but its electoral alliance, the National Democratic Alliance, retains its majority in the parliament.

On 7 June 2024, Narendra Modi confirmed the support of 293 MPs to the president of India. This marked Modi’s third term as prime minister and his first time heading a coalition government, with the Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh and Janata Dal (United) of Bihar emerging as two main allies.

2024 Hajj Disaster:

More than 1,300 people died due to extreme heat during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, where temperatures soared beyond 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).

Unmitigated exposure to extreme heat can cause a range of health harms including organ failure and even death. Heat stress is believed to have caused many of the deaths, a completely preventable event.

There is the need for stronger heat protection measures, especially for groups vulnerable to heat stress like older people and people with disabilities.

July 2024

UK General Election (July 4)

Keir Starmer led the Labour Party to a landslide victory, returning the party to government for the first time in 14 years, and Starmer became the prime minister of the United Kingdom.

The Labour Party won 412 seats, meaning the Conservative Party lost power for the first time in 14 years and suffered one of the biggest defeats in its history.

Masoud Pezeshkian elected president of Iran (July 5)

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran’s presidential election runoff, beating rival Saeed Jalili by promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country’s mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests.

Pezeshkian promised no radical changes to Iran’s Shiite theocracy in his campaign and has long held Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state in the country.

A vote count by authorities put Pezeshkian as the winner with 16.3 million votes to Jalili’s 13.5 million in the election. Overall, Iran’s Interior Ministry said 30 million people voted in an election held without internationally recognized monitors, representing a turnout of 49.6% — higher than the historic low of the June 28 first round vote but lower than other presidential races.

Supporters of Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and longtime lawmaker, entered the streets of Tehran and other cities before dawn to celebrate as his lead grew over Jalili, a hard-line former nuclear negotiator.

Pezeshkian later traveled to the mausoleum of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 revolution, and addressed journalists.

“In this election, I didn’t give you false promises. I did not lie,” Pezeshkian said. “It’s been many years after the revolution that we come to the podium, we make promises and we fail to fulfill them. This is the biggest problem we have.”

Attempt to assassinate Donald Trump (July 13)

Donald Trump’s ear was injured in a failed assassination attempt on July 13. Former US president was injured when a gunman opened fire at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania, killing one spectator and bloodying Trump’s ear.

The shooter, who appeared to take an elevated position on a rooftop outside the venue, is dead. Another two spectators were critically injured. Trump’s campaign said he was safe.

The FBI identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. A motive was not immediately clear.

Trump was about six minutes into his remarks in western Pennsylvania when gunfire rang out. He grabbed his right ear and then got to the floor, where he was immediately swarmed by secret service agents who piled on top of him to protect him.

The agents then helped Trump to his feet, surrounded him and rushed him offstage to a waiting vehicle.

Bangladesh Students Protest, fall of Sheikh Hasina

Protests began in Bangladesh in July over a controversial government job-quota system and transformed into nationwide unrest following a harsh crackdown by authorities. Nearly 300 people were killed within weeks in one of the most violent phases of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule.

On July 21, the Supreme Court scaled back the quota, which reserved one-third of government jobs for descendants of 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War veterans.

But anti-protest rhetoric by Sheikh Hasina aided by police crackdown and attacks on protesters by groups affiliated with the ruling Awami League galvanised a mass movement against the Hasina government.

On August 4, nearly 100 people were killed in a police crackdown, causing outrage. A day later, Hasina was forced to resign and flee the country, ending her 15-year rule.

Joe Biden quits Presidential race (July 21)

Incumbent United States President Joe Biden ended his candidacy in the 2024 United States presidential election.

He announced his withdrawal from the presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. Harris subsequently received the Democratic nomination, but ultimately lost the election to former President Donald Trump.

Biden had announced that he would run for re-election in the 2024 presidential election on April 25, 2023, with Harris again as his running mate. Biden had the support of almost all major donors in Democratic Party politics and went on to win an overwhelming majority of delegates in the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries. He was already considered the presumptive nominee before the primaries were over.

However, public concerns as well as concerns in his Democratic Party about Biden’s age and health had emerged during his presidency, particularly about his fitness for the office and ability to carry out a second term.

These concerns increased after the first 2024 presidential debate, between Biden and Republican Party candidate Donald Trump on June 27, 2024. Biden’s performance was widely criticized, with commentators noting he frequently lost his trail of thought and gave meandering answers, had a faltering appearance, spoke with a hoarse voice, and failed to recall statistics or coherently express his opinion on several occasions. Biden subsequently faced calls to withdraw from the race from fellow Democrats.

Biden repeatedly insisted for weeks after the debate that he would remain a candidate, despite numerous calls for him to withdraw. However, on July 21, 2024, he withdrew his candidacy via a signed letter posted on his personal Twitter account.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran (July 31)

Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran’s capital, Tehran, according to a statement from the group that runs the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip, which held Israel responsible for his killing.

Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed in the early hours of Wednesday after the building where they were staying was struck.

The news of the assassination sparked anger across Palestine and stoked fears about a wider regional conflict in the wake of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Israel kept silence over the Hamas leader’s killing in Tehran.

Israel began attacking Gaza, promising to eliminate Hamas and kill its leaders after the group launched an attack on October 7 in southern Israel that led to the killing of some 1,139 people and more than 200 being taken captive.

August 2024

American–Russian prisoners swap (August 1)

Twenty-six individuals released from Ankara Esenboğa Airport in the largest prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia since the Cold War, involving the release of twenty-six people.

Following at least six months of secret multilateral negotiations, Russia and Belarus released 16 detainees while the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, and Norway collectively released eight detainees and two minors. Among those released were three American citizens: Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Paul Whelan, a former US Marine; Gershkovich and Whelan had each received 16 year sentences for espionage.

The prisoner exchange, which has been described as one of the most complex in history, took place at Ankara Esenboğa Airport in Turkey, whose government served as a mediator between the parties.

Under the terms of the agreement, the eight Russian nationals and two minors were transferred to Russia, while thirteen of the prisoners held by Russia and Belarus were released to Germany and three to the United States. Both the US and Russia hailed the prisoner swap as a significant diplomatic victory.

WHO declared mpox a public health emergency (August 14)

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared mpox (monkeypox) a public health emergency of international concern for the second time in two years, following the spread of the virus in African countries.

Mpox is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus. It can cause a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes, and fever. The virus spreads through contact with infected persons or animals

The WHO has declared mpox a public health emergency in Africa and the more dangerous variant has spread to countries outside the African continent.

Thailand PM Dismissed

The Constitutional Court of Thailand dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for illegally appointing a minister to his cabinet who had a prison sentence.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra succeeded him as Prime Minister of Thailand.

Thailand’s parliament voted for Paetongtarn Shinawatra to become the country’s youngest prime minister, thrusting another member of the kingdom’s most famed and divisive political dynasty into the top job.

The vote to install the 37-year-old daughter of ousted former leader Thaksin Shinawatra came two days after Thailand’s Constitutional Court removed another prime minister from office, in a surprise decision that plunged the kingdom into further political uncertainty and raised fresh concern over the erosion of democratic rights.

Paetongtarn won 319 votes in the House of Representatives, after being nominated as the sole candidate by her Pheu Thai party’s ruling coalition to replace outgoing prime minister Srettha Thavisin.

September 2024

Brazil Court blocked social media platform X (September 02)

The Brazilian Supreme Court upheld a decision to block the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, over what the Brazilian government determined to be rampant disinformation and Elon Musk’s failure to name a legal representative to the country.

The judges voted unanimously in favour of the measure, meaning the ban will stay in place.

X has been suspended in Brazil after it failed to appoint a new legal representative in the country before a court deadline.

It was the development in a feud between Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and X’s owner Elon Musk which began in April, when the judge ordered the suspension of dozens of accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation.

The Supreme Court later in October said it is lifting ban on the X. In his decision, Justice Alexandre de Moraes said that he authorised the “immediate return” of X’s activities in the country after it paid hefty fines and blocked accounts accused of spreading misinformation.

According to a statement, the site has paid fines totalling 28 million reais ($5.1m; £3.8m) and agreed to appoint a local representative, as required by Brazilian law.

Sri Lanka Presidential Election (September 23)

Left leaning candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake won Sri Lanka’s presidential election held on September 23, the Election Commission announced, after voters rejected the old political guard that has been widely accused of pushing the South Asian nation into economic ruin.

Dissanayake, whose pro-working class and anti-political elite campaigning made him popular among youth, secured victory over opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took over the country two years ago after its economy hit bottom.

Dissanayake received 5,740,179 votes, followed by Premadasa with 4,530,902.

Two years ago, tens of thousands of Sri Lankans rose up against the government and forced president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country, who resigned on 14 July 2022. This triggered an indirect presidential election via Parliament a week later, to elect a successor according to the Article 40 of the Constitution.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had been appointed as Prime Minister by Rajapaksa just two months earlier, received the most votes and sworn in as the 9th President of Sri Lanka on 21 July 2022.

The election was crucial as the country seeks to recover from the worst economic crisis in its history and the resulting political upheaval.

“This achievement is not the result of any single person’s work, but the collective effort of hundreds of thousands of you. Your commitment has brought us this far, and for that, I am deeply grateful. This victory belongs to all of us,” Dissanayake said in a post on X.

Hurricane Helene landfall in US

Hurricane Helene was a devastating tropical cyclone that caused widespread catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities across the Southeastern United States in late September 2024. It was the strongest hurricane on record to strike Florida, the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Maria in 2017, and the deadliest to strike the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005.

The second major hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, Helene began forming on September 22 as a broad low-pressure system in the western Caribbean Sea. September 24, the disturbance had consolidated enough to become a tropical storm as it approached the Yucatán Peninsula, receiving the name Helene from the National Hurricane Center.

Weather conditions led to the cyclone’s intensification, and it became a hurricane early on September 25. More pronounced and rapid intensification ensued as Helene traversed the Gulf of Mexico the following day, reaching Category 4 intensity on the evening of September 26. Late on September 26, Helene made landfall at peak intensity in the Big Bend region of Florida, near the city of Perry, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 km/h).

In advance of Helene’s landfall, states of emergency were declared in Florida and Georgia due to the significant impacts expected, including very high storm surge along the coast and hurricane-force gusts as far inland as Atlanta.

The storm caused catastrophic rainfall-triggered flooding, particularly in western North Carolina, East Tennessee, and southwestern Virginia, and spawned numerous tornadoes. Helene also inundated Tampa Bay, breaking storm surge records throughout the area. As of November 28, at least 234 deaths and $113.5 billion in damage have been attributed to the storm.

Hurricane Helene caused widespread destruction across the region, especially western North Carolina. Some estimates put the cost at $200 billion, which would make it the costliest hurricane in US history.

Hassan Nasrallah killed in Israeli air strike (September 27)

The Israeli Air Force bombed the central headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut, killing several people, including Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of Hezbollah. It was a massive Israeli air attack on Beirut on September 27 evening.

Nasrallah, who reached the peak of his popularity after the war with Israel in 2006, was seen as a hero by many, not just in Lebanon but beyond. Standing up to Israel is what defined him and his group, Hezbollah, for years.

Nasrallah continued to enjoy support from his loyal base – mainly Lebanon’s Shia Muslims – who revered him as a leader and religious figurehead.

October 2024

Iran attacked Israel (October 1)

Iran launched about 200 ballistic missiles at targets in Israel, in at least two waves, the largest attack during the ongoing Iran–Israel conflict. It was the second direct attack by Iran against Israel, the first being the April 2024 strikes.

Iran said that the attack was an act of “self-defense” in retaliation for Israel’s assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and IRGC general Abbas Nilforoushan. The attacks, while more successful at saturating Israeli air defenses than in April, did not appear to cause extensive damage.

The area of the Nevatim Airbase in the Negev was hit by 20 to 32 missiles, which damaged a hangar and taxiway. Several other missiles hit the Tel Nof Airbase, a school in the nearby town of Gedera, and an area north of Tel Aviv around the headquarters of the Israeli intelligence services Mossad. Israeli media were barred from publishing the exact locations of impacts.

Yahya Sinwar killed in Israeli attack (October 16)

The Israeli military announced the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by its forces in southern Gaza the previous day.

The Israeli military said that its troops from the Southern Command eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas organisation on October 16, in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip.

“The dozens of operations carried out by the IDF and the ISA (Shin Bet internal security agency) over the last year, and in recent weeks in the area where he was killed, restricted Yahya Sinwar’s operational movement as he was pursued by the forces and led to his elimination,” the military added.

Israel accuses Sinwar, 61, of being the mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war, along with Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif.

The Israeli military has said Deif was targeted in a strike earlier this year though the Palestinian group has not confirmed it.

Sinwar in August replaced Hamas’s former chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was martyred in Iran on July 31.

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed 42,438 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN acknowledges the figures to be reliable.

November 2024

United States presidential election (November 05)

Republican Donald Trump, with his running mate JD Vance, elected in the November 5 election for a second non-consecutive term, the first candidate to be elected so since Grover Cleveland in 1892.

Trump defeated incumbent Vice President of the United States and Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris with a convincing majority.

Donald Trump had won his first presidential term in 2016 to defeat former first lady Hillary Clinton. Democrat Joe Biden had defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Assassination attempts, criminal convictions and a change in political opponent couldn’t stop Donald Trump winning the 2024 US election.

Trump swept to a decisive victory after winning several crucial battleground states.

The former 45th president of the United States will become the 47th at inauguration at the US Capitol next month on January 20.

ICC arrest warrant against Israeli PM (November 21)

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif on November 21, 2024 over accusations of war crimes committed during Israel’s Gaza War.

Following an investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, and Yoav Gallant, over charges of the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts during the Israel–Hamas war. The warrant against Netanyahu is the first against the head of government of a major Western ally.

ICC’s 124 member states are now required to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they enter their territory, including France and the United Kingdom.

The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, who was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike on 13 July 2024. An additional possible effect these arrest warrants have is that additional warrants may be issued against Israeli senior Israeli military officers fighting in Gaza.

December 2024

South Korea Martial Law bid, President Impeachment (Dec 3- Dec 14)

South Korean lawmakers on December 14 impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid.

The vote capped more than a week of intense political drama in the democratic South following Yoon’s failed attempt to impose martial law on December 3.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Seoul in rival rallies for and against Yoon on Saturday.

In a televised address following the parliamentary vote, Yoon said he would “step aside” but did not apologise for his actions.

Out of 300 lawmakers, 204 voted to impeach the president on allegations of insurrection while 85 voted against. Three abstained, with eight votes nullified.

Yoon is suspended from office while South Korea’s Constitutional Court deliberates on the vote, with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo taking over as interim president.

The court has 180 days to rule on Yoon’s future and Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae vowed to hold “a swift and fair trial”.

If the court backs his removal, Yoon will become the second president in South Korean history to be successfully impeached.

Two hundred votes were needed for the impeachment to pass, and opposition lawmakers needed to convince at least eight parliamentarians from Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) to switch sides.

A Seoul police official told AFP at least 200,000 people had massed outside parliament in support of removing the president.

On the other side of Seoul near Gwanghwamun square, police estimated 30,000 had rallied in support of Yoon, blasting patriotic songs and waving South Korean and American flags.

Yoon Suk Yeol shocked the nation on December 03 when he gave the military sweeping emergency powers to root out what he called “anti-state forces” and overcome obstructionist political opponents.

He rescinded the order six hours later after parliament defied military and police cordons to vote unanimously against his decree. But the move plunged Asia’s fourth-largest economy into its greatest political crisis in decades, threatening to shatter South Korea’s reputae as a democracy success story.

End of Assad’s rule in Syria (December 08)

Anti-government rebels declared that they had taken Damascus in a lightning offensive on Sunday 08 December, sending President Bashar al-Assad fleeing and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria.

Residents in the Syrian capital were seen cheering in the streets, as the rebel factions heralded the departure of Assad, saying: “We declare the city of Damascus free”.

Assad’s departure comes less than two weeks after the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group launched its campaign challenging more than five decades of rule by the Assad family.

“After 50 years of oppression under Baath rule, and 13 years of crimes and tyranny and (forced) displacement… We announce today the end of this dark period and the start of a new era for Syria,” the rebel factions said on Telegram.

Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalali said he was ready to cooperate with “any leadership chosen by the Syrian people”.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP: “Assad left Syria via Damascus international airport before the army security forces left” the facility.

HTS said their fighters broke into a jail on the outskirts of the capital, announcing an “end of the era of tyranny in the prison of Sednaya”, which has become a by-word for the darkest abuses of Assad’s era.

The rapid developments in Damascus come only hours after HTS said they had captured the strategic city of Homs, on the way to the capital.

Homs lies about 140 kilometres (85 miles) from the capital and was the third major city seized by the rebels, who began their advance on November 27, reigniting a years-long war that had become largely dormant.

Monitoring events in Damascus, the Britain-based Observatory confirmed “the doors of the infamous ‘Sednaya’ prison… have been opened for thousands of detainees who were imprisoned by the security apparatus throughout the regime’s rule”.

Assad has for years been backed by Lebanese Hezbollah, whose forces “vacated their positions around Damascus”.

Leading up to the rebels’ entry into Damascus, the Islamist-led alliance had wrested away control of Aleppo and Hama and also reached Homs, known during the early years of the civil war as the “capital of the revolution”.

The Observatory said Daraa, the cradle of the 2011 uprising, also fell from government control, while the army said it was “redeploying and repositioning” in the province and nearby Sweida.

An Iraqi security source told AFP that Baghdad had allowed in hundreds of Syrian soldiers, who “fled the front lines”, through the Al-Qaim border crossing. A second source put the figure at 2,000 troops, including officers.

HTS is rooted in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda. Proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Western governments, it has sought to soften its image in recent years, and told minority groups living in areas they now control, not to worry.
Since the offensive began, at least 826 people, mostly combatants but also including 111 civilians, have been killed, the Observatory said.

Assad after fleeing from Damascus reached Russia. He was for years propped up by Russia and Iran, while Turkey historically backed the opposition.

Israel acknowledges killing Haniyeh in Tehran

DEC 23: Defence Minister Israel Katz on Monday acknowledged that Israel had killed former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this year, as he warned the military would “decapitate” the leadership of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

“We will strike hard at the Houthis… and decapitate their leadership — just as we did with Haniyeh, (Yahya) Sinwar, and (Hassan) Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza, and Lebanon, we will do so in Hodeida and Sanaa,” Katz said.

His remarks at an event at the defence ministry mark the first public acknowledgement that Israel was behind the late July killing of Haniyeh in the Iranian capital.