World roundup: April 25 2025

Stories from Jordan, India, Ukraine, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

April 25, 775: An Armenian rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate is cut short at the Battle of Bagrevand. Many of the leading Armenian families that supported the uprising suffered greatly in its aftermath and the Abbasids began encouraging migration from other parts of their empire into the southern Caucasus. This policy helped remake the region of Caucasian Albania, which more or less corresponds to modern Azerbaijan.

April 25, 1846: A small detachment of US soldiers is resoundingly defeated by a much larger Mexican contingent in what became known as the Thornton Affair, after the US commander Captain Seth Thornton. This was the first military engagement of the Mexican-American War, which ended in February 1848 with Mexico’s surrender, including its recognition of the US annexation of Texas and the cession of the territory that includes the modern states of California, Nevada, and Utah as well as parts of Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.

April 25, 1898: The US Congress declares war on Spain retroactive to the imposition of a US naval blockade on Cuba on April 21. This marks the start of the Spanish-American War, which ended in August with Spain’s surrender and the cession of Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico to the US along with a renunciation of Spain’s claim on Cuba.

MIDDLE EAST

SYRIA

Syrian security forces have apparently carried out another anti-Alawite pogrom. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, security personnel carried out several raids in Homs province on Thursday and Friday, killing at least 11 Alawites including three who “died under torture.” Additionally the SOHR is reporting a battle between security forces and fighters loyal to former Syrian general Ali Shalhoub in the city of Homs. Syrian authorities were attempting to arrest Shalhoub but he was reportedly killed in the fighting along with one member of the security forces.