A look at the most important events of 2024; from Iran’s true promise to the sudden fall of Assad.
As we enter 2025, the world has gone through a difficult and painful year, a year in which it has witnessed the expansion and continuation of the circle of conflicts in various regions, the victims of humanitarian disasters have increased in an unprecedented way, and deep humanitarian crises have arisen in various war zones around the world. Al Jazeera has examined important global developments in its report last year:
Continuation of the genocide in Gaza
When 2024 began, only 87 days had passed since the genocide in the Gaza Strip began. By that day, about 21,978 people had been martyred in the Gaza Strip, and the number of casualties of the Israeli army had exceeded 507 soldiers.
However, the Israeli regime continued its unprecedented crimes in Gaza throughout the year and tried to make a large part of this area uninhabitable. As a result of the ongoing crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza, the number of Palestinian victims and martyrs has reached more than 50,000, most of whom are women and children, according to statistics provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health.
2024 is also considered a catastrophic year for the Zionist regime due to the widespread human, economic, and political losses.
As a result of the crimes of the Zionist regime, last year most regions of the world witnessed widespread demonstrations in support of the Palestinian cause and condemnation of the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza. In addition to Ramallah, where the demonstrations were met with repression by the Palestinian Authority, the people of Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Yemen, and various cities in Turkey, the United States, Canada, England, and France held numerous and widespread demonstrations condemning the Zionist regime.
Continuation of the War between Russia and Ukraine
In 2024, the war between Russian and Ukrainian forces continued. The second half of this year witnessed a change in the military tactics of this war, and Ukrainian forces were able to enter some regions of Russia last August. Russian forces also inflicted heavy human and financial losses on Ukraine during this period. Last year, the support of the United States and European countries for Ukraine remained strong.
Humanitarian crisis in Sudan
Media and official reports from the United Nations indicate that Sudan experienced the worst famine and the largest displacement crisis in the world last year. The humanitarian crisis in this country continued throughout all seasons of last year.
In military terms, the Sudanese army also managed to make advances in some areas in the fight against the rapid reaction forces and caused these forces to split and disagree. This is while the rapid reaction forces committed many crimes against civilians and committed mass rapes of women and other sexual violence.
The number of victims of the ongoing conflicts in Sudan, which have been taking place since April 2023, exceeds 20,000, according to official statistics from the country and the United Nations.
Expansion of the Palestinian Support Front in Yemen
Yemeni forces continued their operations in support of the Gaza Strip over the past year. Over the past year, Yemeni armed forces targeted more than 200 ships affiliated with the Zionist regime, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and hit numerous Zionist positions with a large number of drones and missiles.
In contrast, the United States and the Zionist regime have also targeted various Yemeni cities with their missile attacks several times, causing great financial and human damage to Yemeni infrastructure.
Assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri
On January 2, 2024, the Zionist regime began its policy of assassination against resistance leaders, and the regime killed Saleh Al-Arouri, the deputy head of the political office of the Hamas movement and the head of this movement in the West Bank, with a missile attack by a Zionist drone.
Trial of criminals in the Hague Court
At the end of 2023, the South African government filed a legal complaint against the Zionist regime in court, accusing the regime of committing genocide against the Palestinians. The Hague court hearings began on January 11, 2024. South Africa stated in its 84-page petition that the Israeli regime had failed to provide food aid, water, medicine, fuel, shelter and other humanitarian assistance to the civilian residents of the Gaza Strip during the military aggression against them.
On the 16th of the same month, the Hague court issued its initial ruling and called on the Israeli regime to take the necessary measures within its powers to prevent actions that could be considered as examples of the provisions of the agreement defining genocide.
Putin’s fifth term as president
While the war in Ukraine continued, the Russian presidential elections were held on March 17, 2024, and as a result of these elections, Russian President Vladimir Putin won the presidency of the country for the fifth time with 88% of the vote and will remain president of Russia for a six-year term until 2030. Putin thus has the longest term as president of Russia in the past 200 years.
Defeat of the Justice and Development Party
The ruling Justice and Development Party in Turkey lost for the first time in 20 years in the municipal elections held on March 31, 2024, and the Republican People’s Party came in first place with about 38 percent of the vote, and the Justice and Development Party came in second place with 35 percent of the vote.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged his party’s defeat in the election and said that the results of these elections would be a turning point in the history of the Justice and Development Party, which has ruled Turkey for two decades.
Operation True Promise 1
On April 3, 2024, we witnessed the firing of Iranian drones and missiles towards Israeli positions. This was the first direct attack by Iran on the occupied territories in many years of tension between the two sides. American and Israeli sources estimated the number of Iranian drones and missiles at between 400 and 500.
Iran’s attack on the occupied territories took place two weeks after the Israeli regime attacked the Tehran consulate in Damascus, which resulted in the martyrdom of 16 people, including General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, and seven other IRGC officers.
The helicopter of the Iranian president crashed
On Sunday, May 19, 2024, a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ayatollah Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and several other Iranian officials crashed on its way back from the inauguration of the joint Aras River Dam between Iran and Azerbaijan. Half an hour after the crash, communication with the people on board was lost, and the next day, Iran announced the martyrdom of Ayatollah Raisi and his companions in the incident.
Numerous crimes of the occupation
At least 35 Palestinians were killed in an attack on a Palestinian refugee camp and tents and in the burning of a number of these tents in the Tel Sultan area west of Rafah.
The Zionist regime also attacked the Nuseirat camp in an operation that it claimed was an attempt to free four Israeli prisoners, killing more than 210 Palestinians and wounding 400 others.
On August 10, more than 100 Palestinians were targeted by three Israeli missiles while performing morning prayers at the Tabein school and were martyred.
The rise in popularity of the far-right
During the European Parliament elections held on June 9 last year, the far-right won many seats, taking first place in France, Italy, and Austria, and second place in Germany and the Netherlands. Analysts consider the spread of extremist approaches a real threat to the future of the European Union. Many of these approaches believe that their countries should leave the union or reduce their powers.
Presidential Elections in Iran
Following the martyrdom of Ayatollah Raisi, early presidential elections were held in Iran, and Dr. Masoud Pezhikian was elected President of Iran in two rounds of elections on July 6.
Assassination of Martyr Haniyeh
On July 31, Dr. Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Hamas movement and former Palestinian Prime Minister, was martyred in a terrorist attack at his residence in Tehran. He had traveled to Tehran to attend the inauguration of the new Iranian president.
Islamists rise to power in Jordan
The Islamic Action Front, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, managed to secure 17 parliamentary seats from party lists and 14 seats from local lists in the Jordanian parliamentary elections, leading the way in these elections. This event occurred as a result of widespread protests in Jordan condemning the crimes of the Zionist regime and supporting Palestine.
US withdrawal from Niger
After a coup in Niger, the country rejected a military cooperation agreement with the United States that had been signed in 2012, which led to the US withdrawing its forces from Niger. The complete withdrawal of American troops from Niger took place on September 15.
Assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
On September 27, the Israeli army announced a massive missile attack on the Lebanese Hezbollah headquarters in the southern Beirut area with more than 85 bombs weighing approximately one ton each. It announced that the target of the attack was Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Lebanese Hezbollah. The following day, Lebanese Hezbollah confirmed the news of the martyrdom of its late Secretary-General in this attack.
Expansion of the war on the Lebanese front and Operation True Promise 2
In early October, the Israeli army began its limited military operation in southern Lebanon. On the same day, Iran also launched an unprecedented attack on the occupied territories with more than 250 ballistic missiles. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that the attack was carried out in response to the assassination of the commanders Martyr Ismail Haniyeh and Martyr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that the attack targeted security and military centers in the heart of the occupied territories.
Martyrdom of Yahya Sinwar
A year after the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, Yahya Sinwar, the head of the political bureau of the Hamas movement, was martyred during a clash with the Zionist military in the Rafah area, located in the southern Gaza Strip. On Friday, October 18, Hamas announced the martyrdom of its commander on the war front. The latest pictures and videos of martyr Sinwar, which the Zionists released, caused a great stir in the world and became a defeat for the Zionist regime’s propaganda machine.