World roundup: August 30 2023

Stories from Israel-Palestine, Mali, Russia, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

August 30, 1363: The navies of two competing factions of the Red Turban rebels vying to replace the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty—one led by Zhu Yuanzhang and the other by Chen Youliang—begin a five week battle on China Lake Poyang. When it was over, Chen Youliang was dead and Zhu Yuanzhang’s faction was ascendant. Zhu and his forces eventually overthrew the Yuan and he took the throne as the Hongwu Emperor, the first ruler of China’s Ming Dynasty.

August 30, 1922: The Republican Turkish army defeats an occupying Greek force at the Battle of Dumlupınar in western Anatolia. In their victory the Turks destroyed the better part of an entire Greek army corps and began driving the rest of the Greek army toward the western Anatolian coast. The Greek position was untenable and they withdrew completely from Anatolia in mid-September.

MIDDLE EAST

SYRIA

The Syrian Democratic Forces and their erstwhile “Deir Ezzor Military Council” allies have reportedly agreed to remove the Council’s commander, Ahmad al-Khabil or “Abu Khawla,” from his post. He and four other senior figures in the Deir Ezzor militia are apparently being punished for “multiple crimes and violations,” which include drug trafficking and negotiating with the Syrian government without SDF approval. The SDF and the Deir Ezzor group have been clashing since Sunday, when SDF authorities arrested Khabil, and the violence has claimed at least 32 lives according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Presumably this agreement will bring an end to the fighting, though it’s possible Khabil’s supporters will try to keep going.