TODAY IN HISTORY
January 14, 1761: Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani defeats the emerging Maratha Confederation in the Third Battle of Panipat and briefly keeps it from subjugating the remnants of the Mughal Empire.
January 14, 2011: Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali resigns after over 23 years in power and almost a month of anti-government protests. Ben Ali’s resignation marked the successful conclusion of the Tunisian Revolution and the first major success of the Arab Spring movement. It helped spark and motivate similar movements in Libya, Egypt, Syria, and elsewhere, to…oh, let’s say “mixed results.”
MIDDLE EAST
SYRIA
The Syrian army says it’s planning to open an evacuation corridor for civilians in eastern Aleppo province on Thursday, providing them with an opportunity to escape the fighting there between the army and the Syrian Democratic Forces group. This suggests that a more robust military offensive is in the offing. Syrian authorities are demanding that SDF fighters withdraw east of the Euphrates River, into areas that are still being administered by the group. Fighting in Aleppo city last week left at least 23 people dead and ended, briefly, with the displacement of SDF fighters to the east.
