World roundup: July 21 2025

Stories from Israel-Palestine, Ethiopia, Ukraine, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

July 21, 1774: The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca ends the the Russo-Ottoman War of 1768-1774 on decidedly Russian terms. Although the Russians did agree to return territory they’d occupied in Moldavia and Wallachia, the Ottomans gave them control of the city of Azov and thereby satisfied a long-standing Russian desire for a Black Sea port. The Ottomans also agreed to recognize the “independence” of the Crimean Khanate, which in practice meant that it and the Crimean peninsula quickly came under Russian domination. But most significantly they agreed to allow Russia to build and “protect” an Orthodox church in Constantinople, a stipulation the Russians stretched to grant themselves a protectorate over all of the Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman Empire. That assertion, as well as concerns among the other European powers about the growth of Russia, eventually contributed to the Crimean War.

July 21, 1798: Napoleon’s expedition defeats the Egyptian Mamluks at the fancifully named “Battle of the Pyramids.” Unable to invade Britain, Napoleon determined that the best course of action for the French revolutionary government would be to conquer itself a major colony in the eastern Mediterranean that might, over time, threaten Britain’s hold over India. Napoleon also had dreams of conquering his own world empire in the image of Alexander. Egypt was nominally part of the Ottoman Empire but really ruled by the Mamluks and Napoleon believed it was ripe for invasion. His army overwhelmed the Mamluks at Imbaba, which was really too far away from the pyramids to name this the “Battle of the Pyramids” but I digress. Napoleon’s position in Egypt remained unassailable for about a week and a half before the British fleet destroyed his at the similarly misnamed “Battle of the Nile.”

French painter Louis-François Lejeune’s 1808 The Battle of the Pyramids takes a fairly realistic approach to the location of the pyramids (Wikimedia Commons)

MIDDLE EAST

SYRIA

The ceasefire in southern Syria’s Suwayda province continued through Monday amid reports of scattered minor violations, which enabled security forces to evacuate some 200 Bedouin families from Suwayda city. Syrian authorities have accused Druze militias in Suwayda of attacking Bedouins over the past week-plus, while Druze leaders have accused Syrian security forces of joining the Bedouins to carry out anti-Druze attacks. Witnesses/survivors support both accusations, and at any rate separating these two groups seems like a good idea at the moment. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is now counting over 1260 people killed in the violence that began a bit over a week ago in Suwayda, including at least 298 Druze civilians. It’s claiming that Syrian security forces “summarily executed” 194 of those civilians.