Al Jazeera English Marks 20 Years With Look Back at Stories That Shaped Its Journey

Al Jazeera English is marking 20 years since its official launch on November 15, 2006, about a decade after Al Jazeera Arabic was inaugurated.

Since then, the channel and its digital footprint have grown dramatically in content and coverage, becoming one of the most influential outlets in the world, with employees from 78 nationalities and 48 bureaus. To mark the anniversary, the broadcaster revisited some of the most significant stories it has covered.

Among them is the Gaza war of 2008, which lasted 22 days. Israel's widespread aerial bombing of densely populated areas of the Palestinian enclave, including homes, police stations, schools, United Nations buildings and hospitals, was followed by a ground assault. About 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed, and a blockade was imposed on the Gaza Strip.

Later, activists' attempts to break that siege met a brutal Israeli response. The deadliest came on May 31, 2010, when Israeli soldiers boarded the Mavi Marmara, part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla carrying more than 700 activists and 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid, firing at civilian passengers. Ten Turkish nationals were killed, setting off a major diplomatic dispute between Israel and Turkiye.

The channel also chronicled the Arab Spring, the wave of pro-democracy and antigovernment protests that began in Tunisia in December 2010 and swept the Middle East and North Africa in the early 2010s. Some turned into armed rebellions after violent crackdowns by authorities. The upheaval brought revolutions and power shifts in Tunisia and Egypt, prolonged conflicts in Syria, Libya and Yemen, and reforms in other countries.

In 2021, the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan under an agreement between the armed group and the United States. President Donald Trump's administration signed the deal with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, in February 2020, setting a timeline for the complete withdrawal of US troops and allied armies. As they withdrew, the Taliban took control of the country, entering Kabul unopposed in August 2021 after President Ashraf Ghani fled.

In February 2022, the Russian army launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in a move widely seen as unprovoked. The attack, which Moscow called a special military operation, drew broad international condemnation and began a brutal war that continues. Large parts of eastern Ukraine, along with Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, remain under Russian control, with clashes and intense mutual aerial attacks ongoing.

On the sporting front, Qatar hosted the football World Cup in 2022, the first in the Middle East and the Arab world. Because of the Gulf's summer heat, it was also the first World Cup held in late autumn and winter. Argentina won the championship, defeating France in the final.

The broadcaster's list also includes the war in Gaza that began on October 7, 2023, after Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, and other Palestinian groups attacked southern Israel, killing 1,139 people and taking about 240 captive. The enclave has since been almost destroyed, with more than 74,600 people killed, according to local authorities. Al Jazeera describes the Israeli campaign, which it says continues despite a ceasefire agreed in October 2025, as a genocide.

Most recently, the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran in February of this year, starting a war that killed many senior Iranian officials, including the country's supreme leader at the time, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The sides have exchanged attacks repeatedly since. Iran effectively blocked navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for hydrocarbon deliveries from the Gulf, by attacking vessels, and Washington responded with a naval blockade of Iranian ports aimed at crippling the economy. Talks toward a deal continue under the mediation of Qatar and Pakistan.