6 hours Ago By Firstpost
2024 was a year of war. The wider conflict in West Asia and Russia’s war with Ukraine made headlines throughout the year. Data by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) shows that an estimated 233,000 people were killed in conflicts this year.
Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza completed a year in October. The Jewish state reached a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon to end 13 months of fighting. Israeli strikes are pounding against Houthi targets in Yemen.
Tensions mounted between Iran and Israel, with both sides launching tit-for-tat attacks. The shadow war between the two countries has burst into the open since Hamas’ attack on Israel last October. After 13 years of civil war, Syria saw the fall of its dictator, Bashar al-Assad.
Since his ouster, Israel has launched a bombing campaign on the West Asian country. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its 1,000th day on November 24 this year. Even after over two years, there is no end in sight to the conflict.
In our yearly wrap, here is a look at the conflicts around the world. 1. Israel was engaged in four wars in West Asia this year.
On October 7, 2024, Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza completed one year. It was on this day last year that the Palestinian militant group’s surprise attack on the Jewish nation changed West Asia and the world. We explain how Hamas’ attack was a turning point in the region.
Thousands have died in Israel and Gaza since the war began last year. Many hostages taken by Hamas fighters last October remain captive in Gaza. Israel’s relentless strikes on the narrow enclave have taken a mental toll on innocent civilians, especially children.
We take a look at how the conflict has affected children . Israel achieved its biggest victory in the war by killing its enemy no 1, Yahya Sinwar. Israel had accused Sinwar, 61, of being the mastermind of the Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack.
Here’s what we know about the man dubbed “butcher of Khan Younis”. 2 . West Asia inched closer to a wider war in the region as Israel and Iran carried out tit-for-tat missile strikes.
In October, Israel launched three waves of overnight strikes on Iran in retaliation to Tehran launching at least 180 missiles into Israel earlier that month. Iran had said its attack against Israel was in response to the assassination of the Lebanese group Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Abbas Nilforoushan in Beirut, and the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil in July. While there is a lull in tensions now, we explore who has the bigger and better military .
3 . Israel intensified attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon, with the group blaming the West Asian country for exploding pager and walkie-talkie attacks that killed or wounded thousands of its members. In November, the two sides reached a ceasefire agreement , ending monthslong conflict that has taken the lives of over 3,700 people.
The deal brokered by the United States calls for a 60-day halt in fighting. However, within a week of the fragile truce, there were mutual accusations of violations. Will the ceasefire hold? We explain in this report .
4 . Yemen’s Houthis, a part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance, have been targeting commercial and military ships linked to Israel and its allies in the Red Sea since Israel launched its war against Hamas last October. This year, Israel escalated attacks against the rebel group, with the Houthis claiming to target the Jewish country with drones and ballistic missiles.
Find out about this rebel group in Yemen in this report . 5. After 13 years of civil war, Syrian rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in just a matter of a few days.
With Assad fleeing to Russia, the horrors of his regime are coming to light. Since his ouster, families have been desperately searching for their loved ones who went missing after being detained by the secret police. His regime is believed to have killed and buried more than 100,000 people in mass graves.
The horrors have just begun to unravel. While insurgents have taken control of Damascus, Israel has carried out a volley of airstrikes in the country. Targets have included air defence systems, fighter jets, missile depots, weapons production sites and so on.
It is also planning to expand its settlements in the occupied Golan Heights, citing threats from Syria. We take a look at why Israel is eyeing the strategic plateau and why it is targeting the West Asian country . 6 .
It has been over two years since Russia invaded Ukraine. Death and devastation followed after Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed his nation, announcing a “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. World powers, including incoming US President Donald Trump, have called for a ceasefire.
However, peace has so far remained elusive. Tensions could further escalate after Ukraine claimed responsibility for killing a top Russian general in a bomb blast in Moscow. Here’s who he was .
This is all we have for you in our yearly roundup. If you like the way we explain hot topics from around the globe, you can bookmark this page ..
