The year’s tragic backdrop was Israel’s non-stop airstrikes on Hamas in Gaza; the misery of trapped Palestinians; and the agony of Israeli hostages and their families.
But the game-changer was a much bigger offensive: Israel took on its arch-enemy, Iran.
In September, in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran: If you strike us, we will strike you.”
Armed with billions of dollars of American weapons, Israel attacked Iran’s puppet militia, Hezbollah, in Lebanon, with ground forces, and from the air.
Israel also assassinated Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and booby-trapped hundreds of pagers that left Hezbollah fighters dismembered and demoralized.
Ayatollah Khamenei put on a brave face, telling supporters earlier this month, “With the divine power of God … our resistance will now expand.”
But the regime has been humiliated. Even the hundreds of cruise missiles Iran fired at Israel were mostly intercepted, and did little damage.
Tehran lost in Syria, too, when its ally, the dictator Bashar al-Assad, was toppled by Islamist fighters who swept into the main cities and declared victory.
2024 has been a year of seismic changes in the Middle East, and only one thing is certain: The region will never be the same again.
Add to the mix Donald Trump, whose foreign policy will be (at the very least) disruptive, and 2025 could offer either a fragile peace … or disaster.Â
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Story produced by Mark Hudspeth. Editor: Chad Cardin.Â
