TODAY IN HISTORY
February 23, 1455: This is traditionally the date cited for the publication of the “Gutenberg Bible,” one of the first books mass printed in Europe using moveable metal type and certainly the most famous. Johannes Gutenberg’s work helped to usher in the age of printing, in which books could be produced at such a volume that they became affordable and available to a wider segment of the public and printing works in vernacular languages (rather than just Latin) became more economically viable.
February 23, 1966: Leaders of the Syrian regional branch of the Baʿath Party pull off a coup d’etat, ousting the old guard party leadership. The incident precipitated the splintering of the previously pan-Arab Baʿathist movement into Syrian and Iraqi national parties.
MIDDLE EAST
SYRIA
Militants attacked a security checkpoint near the Syrian city of Raqqa on Monday, killing at least four soldiers. Reuters is reporting that the attackers were Islamic State fighters, which would make this the group’s deadliest attack on Syrian security personnel since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December 2024. IS issued a statement over the weekend warning of “a new phase of operations” in Syria and the past few days have seen at least three IS attacks (assuming they were behind Monday’s incident).
Meanwhile, AFP reported on Monday that the US military is aiming to be fully withdrawn from Syria “within a month.” It’s begun pulling out of another facility, this time in the village of Qasrok in northeastern Syria’s Hasakah province, which makes at least three of its major Syrian bases that it has quit in the past few weeks. US forces will presumably continue carrying out airstrikes against IS targets in Syria from regional facilities.
