The ACLED Conflict Alert System (CAST) forecasts organized political violence up to six months into the future. Forecasts are made globally - at the national and sub-national levels - and can be disaggregated by event type (battles, explosions/remote violence, or violence against civilians). Every month, ACLED CAST produces a report highlighting key conflict developments and significant predictions for the coming months.

This report reflects the October 2023 update of global forecasts.

September Global Performace

Global Accuracy, by Event Type

Global Accuracy

CAST predicted 10,747 organized political violence events for September. There were ultimately 351 more events than predicted, a 3% difference. This difference was driven primarily by an increase of 406 Explosions & Remote Violence events relative to the forecast.


High Activity Countries within 3% Accuracy

Accuracy Highlights

Of the countries and territories with at least 20 violent events in September, six were within 3% of their forecast.

Explore the Accuracy Metrics tab of the CAST dashboard for performance information across the world.


Large Deviations from Forecasts

Significant Changes from Forecasts

CAST under-predicted total events in three of the five largest deviations from the September forecast (Azerbaijan, Russia, Syria), while the remaining two largest deviations were from over-prediction (Mexico, Ukraine).

Track evolving conflict dynamics in these countries and others around the world each week with ACLED’s Early Warning Dashboard.

October Global Forecast

Total Forecast: 10,818 events

Forecasted 10 Most Violent Countries

Israel and Palestine Conflict

Geography of Adjusted Predicted Violence
Adjusted October Forecast

Note: the adjusted forecasts include preliminary data not yet released by ACLED. These figures are subject to change as new information becomes available.

Preliminary Update

On Saturday, 7 October, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups launched Operation al-Aqsa Flood, a coordinated assault consisting of land and air attacks into multiple border areas of Israel. CAST predictions of violence in Israel and Palestine for October 2023 did not account for this unprecedented crisis, so this report offers an updated adjusted forecast for the remainder of the month.

For more on the conflict, see ACLED’s Israel and Palestine Conflict Fact Sheet.

October Early Warning Watch List

The maps show CAST’s total organized violence prediction at the ADMIN1 level for October 2023. Hover to reveal forecasted event counts.

The charts depict the proportion of each event type of the total October 2023 forecast. Hover to see event totals within each event type.

The tables show the top 5 most active ADMIN1s within each country, with values denoting total organized violence.

Syria

Mexico

Sudan

Ukraine