World roundup: March 14 2025

Stories from Israel-Palestine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Russia, and elsewhere

Happy Holi to those who are celebrating!

TODAY IN HISTORY

March 14, 1369: King Peter of Castile (and León) is defeated by forces supporting his half-brother (and rival claimant to the throne) Henry of Trastámara in a battle at the city of Montiel, bringing an end to the 1351-1369 Castilian Civil War. Peter had been indirectly supported by England throughout much of that conflict, with Edward the Black Prince commanding his forces very ably. But he managed to alienate Edward in 1367 and his fortunes took a drastic downward turn. After this battle he fled into the nearby Montiel castle, but Henry drew him out and murdered him on March 23. Henry became King Henry II of Castile and León.

A medieval illustration of the battle (Wikimedia Commons)

March 14, 1978: The Israeli Defense Forces invade southern Lebanon as far north as the Litani River in the cleverly named “Operation Litani.” The invasion was an outgrowth of both the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War and the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Its aim was to drive the PLO out of southern Lebanon and strengthen the South Lebanon Army, a Christian militia that was supported by the Israelis. In about a week of fighting Israeli forces killed somewhere between 1100 and 2000 people and displaced tens of thousands more. They withdrew in late March, ostensibly in favor of UN peacekeepers though in reality in favor of the SLA. That militia continued to clash with the PLO, leading to a second and much more impactful Israeli invasion in 1982.

MIDDLE EAST

TURKEY

Senior Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) official Cemîl Bayik expressed skepticism about the potential for a party congress to address founder Abdullah Öcalan’s call for dissolution in an interview that aired on Kurdish media on Friday. In what was really more a shot at the Turkish government than anything else, Bayik contended—not unreasonably, it seems to me—that it’s impossible to gather party members into a mass meeting when the Turkish military keeps bombing every PKK member it finds. Even if party members are interested in dissolving the organization, presumably very few are willing to let the Turkish government kill them while they’re trying to do the thing that the Turkish government is demanding they do. If Ankara wants this process to play out, a genuine ceasefire would seem to be in order.