As the year 2023 draws to a close, we are monitoring the most prominent global events in this leap year.it was a year full of tragic and seismic events from the beginning to the end. it began with the tragedy of the earthquake in Turkey, which was named Kahraman Marash, and ended with a continuous war on the besieged Gaza Strip, and presidential elections in Egypt that resulted in the continuation of Sisi's continuous rule of Egypt since 2013.
♦️the Chinese airship accident:
In January, early 2023, the US Department of Defense announced that it had detected movements of a “Chinese spy balloon” flying at a high altitude over US territory and sensitive military sites, for its part, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that “the balloon that flew into US airspace is civilian and derailed”.
♦️ Turkey and Syria earthquake:
At the beginning of February, two earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 hit southern Turkey and northern Syria, followed by thousands of violent aftershocks, and the disaster, the center of which was the state of Kahraman Marash, claimed tens of thousands of lives and massive destruction.
The total death toll in Turkey and Syria reached 52 thousand and 18, according to official data, and also left huge material destruction in 11 Turkish States.
Sudan war
In April, large-scale fighting broke out in Sudan between the army and the Rapid Support forces, and the war led to the displacement of more than 7 million Sudanese, according to the United Nations.
The conflict began on the fifteenth of April 2023 between the Sudanese armed forces led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support forces under the command of Mohammed Hamdan Daglo (hemedti). The clashes were concentrated on its first day in the capital Khartoum (Khartoum state), especially in the vicinity of the presidential palace and Khartoum International Airport, but they spread in the following days to other cities and towns, until it turned into a major disaster that continues until today without a solution in sight.
♦️Turkish elections:
In May, general elections were held in Turkey to elect the president and the country's new Legislative Council, both for five-year terms, which ended with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan winning a new presidential term, while the coalition that includes his party won a majority of seats in Parliament.
♦️Wagner's rebellion and the death of its leader:
On June 24, the leader of the Wagner Group announced his rebellion against the Russian military command, which he held responsible for the failure of the war in Ukraine and causing the death of “Wagner ” elements by preventing their supply of ammunition.
Within hours, the “Wagner " fighters occupied the general headquarters of the Russian army in Rostov in southwestern Russia, advancing hundreds of kilometers towards Moscow, before the Rebellion ended on the basis of an agreement providing for Prigogine to move to Belarus.
Prigogine was accusing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov of incompetence and sacrificing tens of thousands.
A private plane carrying Wagner commander Yevgeny Prigogine, who in June led a short-lived rebellion against the Russian military leadership in the biggest challenge to Putin's authority since he came to power, crashed.
♦️African coups:
The military coup in Niger took place in July, during which President Mohamed Bazoum was detained and the commander of the presidential guard, the general, declared himself the leader of the new military council, and about a month later a military coup took place in Gabon after President Ali Bongo won a third term.
♦️Morocco earthquake:
In September, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 hit Morocco, its center was the Haouz region (north), and its impact reached several Moroccan cities such as the capital Rabat, Casablanca, Meknes, Fez, Marrakech, Agadir and Taroudant, and resulted in the death of about 3 thousand people.
♦️The Iran-US agreement:
The Qatari Foreign Ministry announced the implementation of a mediation agreement between the United States and Iran, according to which Tehran will release 5 Americans in exchange for the release of Iranian funds frozen in South Korea.
South Korea announced on September 18 the release of Iranian assets worth 6 billion dollars, following a Qatari-brokered US-Iranian deal on the exchange of prisoners.
Under the deal, it was decided that the 6 billion would be deposited in Qatari banks and used by Tehran to finance goods not subject to US sanctions such as food and medicine.
♦️the storm"Daniel ":
The Mediterranean storm "Daniel" caused devastating floods in Libya, swept through entire neighborhoods, caused thousands of deaths, destroyed many homes, properties and facilities in multiple coastal cities in the east of the country.
The storm was named "Daniel" the next day by the Greek national meteorological service, as the storm began on Greek soil before moving towards Africa, and the largest number of storm victims was concentrated in Libya, the authorities announced the number of approximately 4148 .
♦️ the Trump trial:
In September, former US President Donald Trump and his two sons faced a civil trial on charges of inflating his assets by billions of dollars between 2011 and 2021 and corruption cases.
♦️the maximum flood:
On the seventh of October, the Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza launched a large-scale operation" by land, sea and air " against the settlements of the Gaza Strip, which led to the death of more than 1,000 settlers and soldiers and the capture of about 250 others.
The occupation launched a devastating war on Gaza, characterized by indiscriminate and deliberate shelling of civilian sites, and the fierce and continuous war since last October 7 against the Gaza Strip, until Tuesday, resulted in 20,915 martyrs and 54,918 wounded, most of them children and women, massive destruction of infrastructure and an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, according to the Gaza Strip authorities and the United Nations.
Demonstrations and boycott campaigns:
Since October, many countries around the world have witnessed solidarity events with Palestine and demonstrations demanding an end to the occupation's aggression on the Gaza Strip, while global campaigns have been launched to boycott products and companies supporting the occupation.
♦️Egyptian elections:
Egypt held presidential elections in which Sisi competed with 3 "sham" candidates, after the exclusion of candidate Ahmed Tantawi for not being able to collect sufficient proxies for his candidacy, to end the elections with Sisi winning a new term with 89%.
The race was contested by three candidates who are not widely known to the public, namely Hazem Omar from the Republican People's party, who took second place in the number of votes with 4.5%, Farid Zahran, the head of the Egyptian Democratic Party (center-left), who won 4% of the votes and came in third place, then Abdel-sind yamamiya from the ancient liberal Wafd Party, which is now marginal and came in last place with 1.9% of the votes.
