Portal:Current events/2024 December 7

December 7, 2024 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war
- 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
  - Operation Dawn of Freedom
    - 2024 Manbij offensive
      - Turkish-backed Syrian National Army forces conduct extensive drone strikes and artillery shelling on villages near U.S.-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces positions in the city of Manbij in Aleppo Governorate, Syria. (Motabaat) (Asharq Al-Awsat)
  - Fall of Damascus
    - The Military Operations Command coalition led by Tahrir al-Sham says that a military operation to capture Damascus is underway with rebels reportedly advancing on the capital on several fronts. (The Jerusalem Post)
    - Rebel forces capture the cities of Al-Dumayr and Yabroud and the town of Sa'sa' in Rif Dimashq Governorate as the Syrian Defense Ministry denies reports that its troops are abandoning positions in the Damascus countryside. (Al Arabiya) (SOHR)
    - Syrian security officials and Arab officials say that First Lady of Syria Asma al-Assad fled with her three children to Russia last week. However, amid conflicting reports, Syrian state television says that President Bashar al-Assad remains in Damascus. (The Telegraph via Yahoo! News) (BBC News)
    - United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Otto Pedersen calls for an "orderly political transition" from the collapsing Syrian government to the Syrian opposition in order to end the conflict. (AP) (Barron's)
    - A statue of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad is toppled in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana. (NBC News) (Barron's)
  - Southern Syria offensive
    - The Syrian Armed Forces announce a complete withdrawal from the Daraa and Suwayda Governorates in order to reinforce Damascus. (AP)
    - Rebel forces capture the city of Al-Sanamayn in Daraa Governorate and also capture the city of Quneitra. (First Post) (The Hindustan Times) (Al Arabiya)
  - 2024 Homs offensive
    - Rebel forces enter the city of Homs, eventually capturing the city after hours of urban warfare to oust Assad loyalists. Rebels also capture Homs Central Prison and release around 3,500 prisoners. (Reuters) (Times Now) (Cedar News) (Barron's)
  - Deir ez-Zor offensive
    - More than 1,000 Syrian soldiers seeking refuge cross into Iraq through the Al-Qa'im border crossing according to Iraqi authorities. (Iraqi News Agency)
  - Palmyra offensive
    - The U.S.-backed Revolutionary Commando Army takes control of the city of Palmyra in Homs Governorate following heavy fighting with pro-government forces. Rebels also capture the towns of Al-Sukhnah and Al-Qaryatayn in Homs Governorate. (Yeni Safak)
  - The Syrian Army withdraws from the cities of Al-Hasakah and Qamishli in Al-Hasakah Governorate, transferring control of the Kurdish-majority cities to the Syrian Democratic Forces. (Anadolu Agency) (Yeni Safak)
- Iranian intervention in the Syrian civil war
  - Iran begins to evacuate military personnel, diplomatic staff, and civilians from Syria amid rebel advances. (The New York Times)
- Refugees of the Syrian civil war
  - The UN World Food Programme reports that the renewed conflict in Syria is estimated to displace around 1.5 million Syrians. (Al Jazeera)
Israel–Hamas war
- Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
  - Refugee camp airstrikes in the Israel–Hamas war
    - At least 20 people, including six children, are killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp in Deir al-Balah Governorate, Gaza. (Al Jazeera)
- Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says at the Doha Forum that his country is seeing a momentum build up for a ceasefire to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Al Jazeera)
Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Six Pakistan Army soldiers and 22 Tehreek-e-Taliban militants are killed in clashes near the Afghan border. (Reuters)
- Six soldiers are killed and seven are injured after a mass shooting at a military checkpoint in Kurram District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

2024–25 European windstorm season
- Storm Darragh
  - Two people are killed by falling trees in England and more than 1.5 million people experience power outages in Ireland and the United Kingdom as Storm Darragh hits the British Isles. (BBC News) (Sky News)
2024 The Hague explosion
- Five people are killed, four others are injured, and several others are missing in an explosion that destroyed several apartments in The Hague, Netherlands. (BBC News) (Euronews)

Law and crime

Cross-strait relations, Chinese intelligence activity abroad
- Prosecutors in Taiwan charge four soldiers with espionage, accusing the soldiers of passing photographs of Taiwan's military capability to Chinese agents in exchange for money between 2022 and 2024. (DW) (The Standard)

Politics and elections

2024 South Korean martial law
- Attempted impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol
  - A vote to impeach South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol fails in the National Assembly due to a boycott of the vote by members of Yoon's People Power Party. (AP)
- President Yoon Suk Yeol apologizes to the South Korean population, promising that he will not avoid legal sanctions or institute martial law a second time. (The Guardian)
2024 Indian farmers' protest
- Over 100 Indian farmers march from Punjab to the capital city New Delhi to demand for the legal assurance of a minimum support price for all crops as well as loan forgiveness for farmers. (DW)
- Punjab Police set up barricades and fire tear gas at the marching farmers as they enter Haryana, causing them to turn around and return to Shambhu, Punjab. (Hindustan Times) (Anadolu Agency)
2024 Ghanaian general election
- Ghanaians vote to elect the President and the 275 members of the Parliament. (France24)
2025 Singaporean general election
- Former Workers' Party Secretary-General and longest-serving opposition Member of the Parliament of Singapore Low Thia Khiang announced retirement in politics ahead of the election. (The Straits Times) (CNA)
Interim President and military junta leader of Burkina Faso Ibrahim Traoré dismisses Prime Minister Apollinaire J. Kyélem de Tambèla and dissolves the government. (DW) (Irish Examiner)

Science and technology

The Iranian Space Agency successfully launches the Simorgh rocket carrying two satellites and the Saman-1 space tug from the Imam Khomeini Space Launch Terminal in Semnan, Iran, the heaviest payload ever launched in Iran. (DW)

Sports

MLS Cup 2024
- In association football, the Los Angeles Galaxy defeat the New York Red Bulls 2–1 to win a record 6th championship. (AP)