Portal:Current events/2023 December 16

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2024 Iran–Israel conflict, Israel–Hezbollah conflict
  • An IDF 129th Battalion soldier is killed and two other soldiers were injured by a Hezbollah drone strike near Margaliot, which also caused a fire in a building. Another drone was shot down by the IDF, which then shelled and launched airstrikes on Hezbollah targets. (JPost)
• Myanmar civil war
  • Operation 1027
    • The Three Brotherhood Alliance claims to have captured Namhsan in the northern Shan State, following a joint offensive against the Myanmar military despite a temporary ceasefire mediated by China. (AFP via France 24)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Southern Ukraine campaign
    • Russia says that two civilians are killed and two others are injured in a Ukrainian missile strike on the Russian-occupied village of Nova Maiachka in Kherson Raion. (AFP via Al Arabiya)
• Yemeni Crisis
  • Red Sea crisis
    • The Royal Navy's HMS Diamond shoots down a drone launched from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen over the Red Sea using a Sea Viper missile. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 Libya migrant boats sinking
  • A boat departing from Zuwarah, Libya, carrying about 86 illegal immigrants from various African countries, sinks in the Mediterranean Sea, killing about 61 of them. (The Telegraph)
• At least 13 people are killed after a thunderstorm strikes Bahía Blanca, Argentina. (Reuters)
• Three people are killed and two others injured when a wall of the Gate of Floggers collapses while it is being renovated in Kairouan, Tunisia. (The Guardian)

Health and environment

• The China Meteorological Administration issues a low-temperature warning, forecasting a cold wave affecting most of the country. (AFP via The Straits Times)

Law and crime

• Capital punishment in Iran
  • Iran executes an alleged Mossad agent in Sistan and Baluchistan province. (Reuters)
• Gansu ultramarathon disaster
  • A court in Baiyin, Gansu, China, sentences five organizers of a 2021 ultramarathon to prison terms ranging from three to five and a half years, following the deaths of 21 runners due to extreme weather during the event. (AFP via The Straits Times)
• Fifteen suspected drug smugglers are killed and about 2 million methamphetamine tablets are seized during a shootout with soldiers at Thailand's border with Myanmar. (AP)
• A court in the Holy See sentences Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu to five and a half years in prison for embezzlement. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Emir of Kuwait Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah dies at 86. His half-brother, Crown Prince Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, succeeds him as the new emir. (AFP via TBS)