World roundup: December 11 2024

Stories from Syria, South Korea, Sudan, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

December 11, 861: The Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil is assassinated by his Turkic royal guard in his palace in Samarra. Al-Mutawakkil’s murder was the final straw in the capture of the caliphate by its Turkish slave soldiery and kicked off a 10 year period known as the “Anarchy at Samarra,” during which four caliphs were enthroned and deposed in rapid succession, each backed by some faction of the military. The period ended with the accession of the caliph al-Muʿtamid, who reigned from 870-892 mostly due to the efforts of his brother, al-Muwaffaq, who pacified the Turks and essentially ruled the caliphate from behind the throne.

December 11, 1917: British General Edmund Allenby enters the newly captured city of Jerusalem.

MIDDLE EAST

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

The United Nations General Assembly voted on a resolution calling for “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza on Wednesday. It passed 158-9, with 13 abstentions. As with everything else the UNGA does this is purely a symbolic statement but it does show how isolated Israel and the US (the two main “no” votes) are internationally.