Current events: 2024-12-12

[Wikipedia Current Events]

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Israel and the Syrian civil war
    • 2024 Israeli invasion of Syria
      • Syrian residents of Hader, Hamidiya, and Umm Batna in Quneitra Governorate are displaced from their homes after Israeli military forces entered with military vehicles, with troops entering Umm Batna and probing its entirety. (SOHR)
  • Operation Dawn of Freedom
    • 2024 Kobani offensive
      • Turkish military forces and the pro-Turkish Dawn of Freedom Operations Room launch a "violent" attack with tanks and drones against the Tishrin Dam crossing the Euphrates, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warns could trigger a dam failure and severe humanitarian crisis. (SOHR)
    • 2024 Manbij offensive
      • Pro-Turkish factions are filmed executing dozens of surrendered prisoners of the pro-Kurdish Manbij Military Council and Syrian Democratic Forces. (SOHR)
      • Large-scale protests erupt in Manbij against pro-Turkish Dawn of Freedom Operations Room revenge killings and crimes against regional civilians. (SOHR)
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • At least six civilians are reported to have been killed by gunfire in celebration of the fall of the Assad regime. (SOHR)
  • Syrian peace process
    • The Syrian transitional government announces that the constitution and parliament will be suspended during the three-month transitional period. (Al Arabiya)
  • Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • Satellite images and MarineTraffic data confirms that the Russian Navy has abandoned its Tartus naval base in the port city of Tartus. Five Russian warships remain in a holding pattern in the Eastern Mediterranean sea, out of range of rebel artillery and drones. (The Telegraph)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Four police officers are injured in a drone attack on the barracks of a police regiment building in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia. (Kyiv Independent)
• Islamic State–Taliban conflict
  • The Islamic State – Khorasan Province claims responsibility for yesterday's suicide bombing in Kabul which killed Afghanistan's acting Minister of Refugee and Repatriation Khalil Haqqani and several others. (AP)

Arts and culture

• President-elect of the United States Donald Trump is named Person of the Year by Time magazine. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • Tropical Cyclone Chido makes landfall over Agaléga, Mauritius. (Crisis24)

Law and crime

• Federal pardons in the United States
  • Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden announces pardons of 39 people convicted of non-violent offenses, and commutions of the sentences of 1,500 others released from prison to home incarceration during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is considered the "largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history". (AP)

Science and technology

• Edith Heard, biologist specialist of epigenetics and director-general of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, is awarded the CNRS Gold Medal in Paris, France. (CNRS - Le Journal)

Sports

• World Chess Championship 2024
  • 18-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju beats Ding Liren and becomes the youngest ever chess champion, beating the record previously held by Garry Kasparov. (Sportstar)

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