Portal:Current events/2024 December 19

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • Deir ez-Zor offensive, Eastern Syria insurgency
      • Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein warns that ISIS cells in Syria have begun reorganizing and taking new land following the collapse of the Syrian Armed Forces and subsequent abandonment of weapons depots. (Asharq News)
    • The Baniyas Refinery, Syria’s largest oil refinery, stops operating after ceasing to receive the crude oil from Iran that previously made up the majority of the country’s input. (Financial Times)
  • Operation Dawn of Freedom, Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war
    • 2024 Kobani clashes
      • The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces vow to fight Turkey and pro-Turkish rebel groups in Kobani, Aleppo Governorate, Syria. (Reuters)
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • Ahmed al-Sharaa, the emir of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, makes an announcement claiming that the country is exhausted by perpetual warfare and is no longer a threat to its neighbors or the Western world. (BBC News)
    • The Military Operations Command forces take control of several towns in Raqqah Governorate, Syria. (SOHR)
    • Iraq announces the repatriation of members of the Syrian Armed Forces who fled after the fall of the Assad regime through the Al-Qa'im border crossing, back to Syria. (Al Arabiya)
  • Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • Satellite imagery reveals that Russian forces are mobilizing heavy planes at Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia Governorate and are also mobilizing ships at Tartus naval base, indicating a potential withdrawal. (BBC News)
    • Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the Prime Minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity of Libya, denounces the entry of Russian forces from Syria into the eastern part of Libya. (The Libya Observer)
    • Russian president Vladimir Putin says that Russia helped evacuate 4,000 Iranian fighters from Syria. (Anadolu Agency)
  • Prosecution of Syrian civil war criminals
    • The Syrian Interim Government announces that they have begun preparing lists of people from the former regime who were involved in war crimes, torture, and murder. (The Jerusalem Post)
• Red Sea crisis
  • December 2024 Israeli airstrikes in Yemen
    • Israel carries out a series of airstrikes against the Houthis in western Yemen, damaging the Ras Isa oil facility, the port of as-Salif and several power stations in Sanaa, and killing at least nine people. (Al Jazeera)
  • The United States Department of the Treasury announces sanctions on the governor of the Central Bank of Yemen in Sanaa, Yemen, and several Houthi officials and associated companies and vessels, accusing them of trafficking dual-use weapon components and Iranian petroleum to the Houthis. (Al Jazeera) (JNS)
• Israel–Hamas war
  • Gaza genocide, Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
    • Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of committing "acts of genocide" in Gaza by damaging water supply infrastructure and depriving civilians of clean water. (DW) (Reuters) (Human Rights Watch)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Military aids during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, United Kingdom and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • British defence secretary John Healey announces a proposal to send military advisors to train Ukrainian forces. (BBC News)
• 2024 Parliament of Abkhazia shooting
  • A lawmaker is killed and another is injured in a shooting inside the Parliament in Sukhumi, Abkhazia. The perpetrator, identified as MP and former Sukhumi mayor Adgur Kharazia, flees the scene. (Al Jazeera)
• Mexican drug war
  • Two soldiers are killed after an explosion caused by a improvised landmine at a drug laboratory in Michoacán, Mexico. Three days earlier, two other soldiers were killed and three more injured during a similiar incident in Michoacán. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • The death toll from Cyclone Chido in Mozambique increase to 73, including 66 in Cabo Delgado Province. (Al Jazeera)
• European migrant crisis
  • A vessel carrying approximately 80 migrants heading for Spain sinks in Moroccan waters, leaving 70 people missing and eleven survivors rescued. (Le Monde)
• Fire at the Central Warehouse [zh]
  • Nine people are killed during a fire at a PX Mart warehouse building under construction in Taichung, Taiwan. (AP)

International relations

• China–India relations
  • Sino-Indian border dispute
    • Indian national security advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi meet in Beijing, China, and reach a six-point consensus to maintain peace along the border, refine border management rules, resume cross-border exchanges, and work toward resolving border disputes. A follow-up meeting is planned to be held in India next year. (CNN)
• Georgia–United Kingdom relations, Georgia–United States relations, 2024 Georgian post-election protests
  • The United Kingdom and the United States impose sanctions on Georgian officials, including Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri, in response to alleged violent crackdowns on pro-European protests. (EFE)
• Hungary–Poland relations
  • Hungary grants political asylum to former Polish deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski, who faces allegations of corruption in Poland. (Reuters)
• France's Directorate-General for External Security reports that four French nationals detained in Burkina Faso on allegations of being foreign intelligence agents have been released following mediation by Morocco. (ABC News)

Law and crime

• 2024 Northeastern United States drone sightings
  • The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration bans the flying of drones over multiple cities in New Jersey citing "special security reasons". (WPVI-TV)
• Deportation and removal from the United States
  • The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency reports 271,484 deportations in the past fiscal year, the most since 2014 and almost double of the previous fiscal year. (AP) (FOX News)
• Mazan rapes
  • The Judicial Court in Avignon, France, finds Dominique Pelicot guilty of the aggravated rape of his ex-wife Gisèle Pelicot, and imposes the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The 50 other defendants in the case are also convicted of crimes ranging from attempted rape to aggravated rape, and receive prison sentences ranging from three to 15 years. (Reuters)
• Italian journalist Cecilia Sala is detained by Iranian authorities in Tehran and held at Evin Prison. (AP)
• A Malaysian high court acquits Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, of 17 charges of money laundering and tax evasion due to insufficient evidence. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Aleksandar Šapić, the mayor of Belgrade, Serbia, announces the city will make all public transit free on January 1, 2025. (DW) (Novinite)