World roundup: October 3 2025

Stories from Israel-Palestine, Sudan, Venezuela, and elsewhere

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Due to a family commitment this evening I have to release tonight’s newsletter early. Given the breaking news regarding Gaza (see below) this is not ideal, but I will have more to say on Sunday. Thanks for reading!

TODAY IN HISTORY

October 3, 42 BC: An army led by two of Julius Caesar’s assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, meets the combined armies of Triumvirs Marc Antony and Octavian in the first round of the Battle of Philippi. Antony’s forces defeated Cassius’s, and Cassius subsequently committed suicide after hearing that Brutus had also been defeated. In fact Brutus’s portion of the army had been victorious in its part of the battle against Octavian’s forces. So the battle overall was more or less a draw. The two armies would meet again 20 days later, at which point the Triumvirs soundly defeated Brutus and he, too, committed suicide.

17th century Flemish painter Pauwels Casteels’ The Death of Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Philippi (Wikimedia Commons)

October 3, 1932: In accordance with the terms of the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930, Iraq gains independence from Britain upon the expiration of its League of Nations Mandate, albeit with Britain retaining substantial political and commercial influence in the newly “independent” kingdom. Commemorated annually as Iraqi National Day.

October 3, 1990: The German Democratic Republic (“East Germany”) is merged into the Federal Republic of Germany (“West Germany”) after a 45 year separation. Commemorated annually as German Unity Day.

MIDDLE EAST

SYRIA

Syria’s interim government will select a new parliament on Sunday. I’ve seen this process described as an “election” but that really stretches things. Even calling it an “indirect vote,” as that Reuters piece does, is a bit much. The new legislature will include 210 seats, of which one-third are filled through direct appointment by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. On Sunday a number of regional electoral bodies will choose the people to fill the other 140 seats. Those bodies were filled by a central electoral commission whose members were…appointed by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. At least he’s assured of a friendly legislature. Syrian officials say they cannot conduct an open public election under the circumstances and that’s presumably true, but there are real concerns about Sharaa wielding this much authority over the process and what that might mean in terms of ethnic and gender inclusivity in the makeup of the parliament.