Recap of all the major geopolitical developments from February 2024. Ukraine’s top general is replaced, Alexei Navalny dies in prison, Avdiivka falls to the Russians, and Israeli forces continue advances into Gaza.
The recap of major geopolitical developments for March, 2024. Ukrainian missile strikes hit Russian oil refineries. Russia launches its largest bombing campaign of Ukraine of the year. A mass civilian shooting near Moscow perpetrated by ISIS kills more than 140. Ceasefire proposals continue to fail in Gaza. Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping escalate in lethality and destruction. The government of Haiti collapses, leaving the country's future deeply uncertain.
Across the month of April, 2024, Israel and Iran exchanged missile and drone fire against one another directly, with Iran firing missiles at Israel directly for the first time in history. Iran's consulate in Damascus was destroyed, 7 aid workers in the Gaza Strip were killed by Israeli drone fire, America passed a $92 billion military aid package for Ukraine, Israel, & Taiwan, small Russian advances in Ukraine continued, while Ecuadorian security forces raided the Mexican embassy in Quito, sending relations between the two Latin American countries into a tailspin.
May of 2024 was unfortunately an eventful month for global conflicts. Israel's long-anticipated offensive on the Gazan city of Rafah began, where more than a million displaced Palestinians have been sheltering. Russian forces opened up a new military offensive of their own in Ukraine by initiating a renewed assault on the Kharkiv province with tens of thousands of troops. Deadly riots erupted in France's overseas Pacific territory of New Caledonia. A coup d'etat attempt was made in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Iran's President and foreign minister were both killed in a helicopter crash. A major assassination attempt was made on the Prime Minister of Slovakia. And the UN issued a warning that genocide is likely taking place in Sudan's Darfur region again.
The month of June in 2024 saw several major geopolitical developments around the world. For the first time since the War in Ukraine began, American-made weapons were used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to attack targets within Russia-proper - marking the first time in history that US-weapons were used to attack a nuclear-armed power. Russia and North Korea signed a landmark mutual-defense-pact, cementing their alliance further with North Korea vowing to support Russia militarily in Ukraine. Putin offered his peace terms in Ukraine for the first time since the war began. The IDF launched a major raid in central Gaza that successfully rescued 4 hostages and reportedly killed hundreds of Palestinians. The Houthis sank a second cargo ship in the Red Sea with an anti-ship missile, and tensions rose sharply between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel assassinates high-profile targets across Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran. Houthi drone strikes Tel Aviv, Israel retaliates by bombing Yemen for the first time. Russia launches one of the largest missile attacks on Ukraine since the war began, resulting in the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians in months. Russian troops gain modest ground and push Ukrainians from the east bank of the Dnipro in Kherson. Bangladesh explodes in a revolution. Mali, Burkina Faso, & Niger form a new military alliance and confederation. Donald Trump is nearly assassinated by a gunman in Pennsylvania.
Ukrainian forces launch a major new offensive into Russia's Kursk province, Israel launches a major pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah and the two exchange very heavy fire, the Houthis destroy another oil tanker in the Red Sea, and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh resigns and flees the country aboard a helicopter.
The IDF recovered the bodies of six hostages executed by Hamas, revealing the organization’s shift in tactics to execute hostages close to being rescued. In Ukraine, Russia makes one of the deadliest single attacks on Ukraine, and Israel detonates thousands of Hezbollah pagers, bringing months of escalating conflict to a boil, and pointing to all-out war.
Hamas confirmed Israel’s killing of their leader, Yahya Sinwar, the Israeli parliament voted to ban UNRWA, and Iran attacked Israel with 180 ballistic missiles. Russia recaptured about half of the territory in Kursk that they had previously lost to Ukraine, and some 10,000 North Korean soldiers were reportedly training in Russia to be deployed in the war with Ukraine. Finally, the UK announced its return of the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius.
Approximately 12,000 North Korean troops arrived in Russia’s Kursk province to go into battle with the Ukrainians. After authorization from the US and UK, Ukraine fired their first ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles into Russia-proper. Russia deployed their first nuclear-capable, but conventionally armed medium-range hypersonic missile, in Ukraine so far. Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and replaced him with the former Foreign Minister, Israel Katz. The ICC also formally issued arrest warrants for both Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gollant, making Netanyahu the 3rd acting head-of-state to ever be issued an arrest warrant by the ICC. Israel and Hezbollah also finally agreed to a ceasefire, after more with both sides accusing the other of violating it almost immediately. HTS, a Sunni-Islamist militia with links to al-Qaeda, launched a major surprise offensive against the Bashar al-Assad regime - the largest military offensive in Syria since 2019.
In an astounding lightning offensive in Syria, a coalition of rebel forces led by the Islamist HTS seized control over all of Syria’s major cities and decisively overthrew the 53-yearlong Assad regime. HTS then established a new temporary interim government in the country, Bashar al-Assad himself fled in exile to Moscow, while fighting in the north of Syria between the Turkish-backed SNA faction and the US-backed SDF faction continued. Meanwhile, Israeli forces seized control over a UN buffer zone in Syria and areas adjacent to the Golan Heights, marking the first Israeli ground invasion of Syrian territory in decades. Amnesty International also released a landmark report, concluding Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza as amounting to genocide. The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza reported by the Gazan Health Ministry also exceeded 45,000 people since the war began in October of 2023. In South Korea, the country’s president declared martial law, sparking hours of chaos, before being quick
In January 2025, after 15 months of grueling total war, Israel and Hamas finally agreed on a long-lasting Gaza ceasefire deal. In Ukraine, Russian forces made major territorial gains in the Donbas, capturing the towns of Toretsk, Velyka Novosilka, and most notably Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk province. In South Korea, the President who had declared martial law was arrested by authorities, after a six hour standoff at his residence. In Sudan, where the reignited civil war has been raging, the US concluded that the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, were guilty of genocide in Darfur, and that the Sudanese Armed Forces, or the SAF were guilty of using chemical weapons, and sanctioned them both. And finally, in the United States, the newly elected President Donald immediately caused major shake-ups in international relations, as he threatened to take both Greenland and the Panama Canal, including by force, to the resistance of the leaders of Denmark and Panama.
In February of 2025, US President Donald Trump ushered in major changes in US foreign policy. In the wake of the war in Gaza slowly coming to an end, he called for the US to take over Gaza, and relocate Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt. The US also voted against a UN resolution condemning Russia for the invasion, while Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly reprimanded Zelenskyy, leading to a potential fallout in relations between the US and Ukraine. Israel began withdrawing from Gaza, while remaining in five positions in Southern Lebanon, despite the previous agreement to withdraw. And in the DRC, the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels marched into the city center of Bukavu, the provincial capital of the South Kivu province.
In March 2025, with US military aid and intelligence frozen on orders by President Trump, Ukraine continued to lose territory in Kursk. In Turkiye, the PKK, a Kurdish militant organization, called a ceasefire with the Turkish government after decades of conflict. In Syria, in the wake of the toppled Assad government, new clashes erupted between new government forces and the Assad-loyalist Alawite community, killing over 1,300 over 3 days. Gaza’s future continued to hang in the balance as the Arab League proposed a postwar plan for the territory, including the removal of Hamas, and an ultimate state merged with the West Bank — which neither Israel nor Hamas publicly accepted.
In April of 2025, Russia launched a massive renewed spring offensive. Multiple major Russian missile attacks against Ukrainian civilians behind the frontlines in Kryvyi Rih, Sumy, and Kyiv, killed dozens of people and injured scores more. The IDF was rocked by a scandal in which a video revealedIsraeli troops ambushing and massacring 15 Palestinian aid workers and paramedics in Gaza. Throughout the month, the IDF encircled over half of Gaza’s territory. The disputed Kashmir territory between Pakistan and India became the site of severely ignited tensions after gunmen massacred 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. And in Rwanda, with 7,000 people killed since January, the DRC and M23 agreed to an immediate ceasefire, with M23 still remaining in control of the eastern cities of Bukavu and Goma.
Ukraine & Russia host their first direct negotiations in more than 3 years. Israel announces its plan to seize control over the entire Gaza Strip and to hold it indefinitely. The conflict in Kashmir explodes into a brief 4-day war between India and Pakistan. The PKK agrees to disband, North Korea loses a brand new missile cruiser, and the US agrees to a ceasefire with the Houthis.