World roundup: February 13 2026
Stories from Israel-Palestine, Bangladesh, Cuba, and elsewhere
TODAY IN HISTORY
February 13, 1861: The city of Gaeta, in modern Italy’s Lazio region, surrenders to Piedmontese forces after a three-plus month siege. As it happens, King Francis II of the Two Sicilies had holed up in Gaeta when Naples came under threat the previous September, so the city’s surrender was also his surrender. He abdicated, and the kingdom came under the rule of Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia. A bit over a month later, on March 17, Victor Emmanuel retitled himself king of a united Italy.
February 13, 1945: The World War II Siege of Budapest ends with the Axis (German and Hungarian) defenders surrendering the city to the Soviet Red Army and allied Romanian forces. Casualties were high on both sides, but at this point in the war they were casualties the Soviets could withstand while the Nazis could not. Some 38,000 civilians are estimated to have died from combat and starvation during the nearly two month siege. On the same day, Allied forces in the west began their extended firebombing of the German city of Dresden, which lasted for three days and killed at least 25,000 people.
MIDDLE EAST
SYRIA
The US military’s Central Command said on Friday that it has finished its transfer of Islamic State prisoners from northeastern Syria to Iraq, after moving some 5700 people in total. US forces began this operation last month amid the conflict between the Syrian Democratic Forces group and the Syrian government, out of concern that these detainees could escape from SDF-run facilities in the chaos. It’s continued the transfer as part of what looks to be a US military withdrawal from Syria.
