There’s no doubt that the events of 2024 have changed the Middle East. Israel’s continued war in Gaza has caused a ripple effect across the region. Multi-front conflicts over the past year have stoked the rise and fall of non-state actors backed by Iran.

The geopolitical impacts of this are already starting to materialise, some concerning and others promising. The question of Palestine – unresolved for decades – has become an international priority as more countries recognise it officially as a state. In Lebanon and Syria, power dynamics are shifting after the weakening of Hezbollah and the fall of president Bashar Al Assad. At the same time, Israel is seizing territories across its border in unprecedented land grabs. And Iran’s role in the region has arrived at a critical crossroads as its proxy project begins to falter.

For the millions in the Arab world, a sense of apprehension is overshadowed only by the extreme fatigue of bearing witness to unbearable human suffering. But there’s also hope, dim as it may be, as talks inch closer to a ceasefire in Gaza.

In the last episode of Beyond the Headlines this year, host Nada AlTaher speaks to The National’s foreign editor Mohamad Ali Harisi to reflect on the most significant events in the Middle East that defined 2024 and how they might shape the region in 2025.