World roundup: June 6 2025

Stories from China, Mali, Brazil, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

June 6, 1982: The Israeli military invades Lebanon, beginning a new phase in the Lebanese Civil War that’s also known as the Lebanon War.

June 6, 1944: The Allied invasion of France begins with the “D-Day” amphibious landings in Normandy, the largest amphibious military operation in history. Despite heavy losses, the Allies were able to establish five beachheads and by mid-June (though it took longer than planned) they secured a small but crucial foothold in northern France. From there they began the final phase of World War II on its Western Front.

US soldiers disembarking from their landing craft along the portion of the Normandy coast designated as “Omaha Beach” (US National Archives and Records Administration via Wikimedia Commons)

MIDDLE EAST

SYRIA

Syria’s Supreme Fatwa Council issued a decree on Friday disparaging extrajudicial violence and insisting that grievances be addressed “through the judiciary alone, not through individual acts or based on rumors.” It’s a timely fatwa inasmuch as extrajudicial violence against Alawites once again seems to be on the rise, though to the extent that said violence is being carried out by Syria’s ostensibly “legitimate” security forces it’s unclear how much effect the council’s decree will have. It applies to all types of extrajudicial violence, including “honor killings” as Al-Monitor noted, though again it remains to be seen what sort of practical effect it will have. The ruling received a hearty “attaboy” from Trump administration envoy Tom Barrack, who may have been the primary audience for it anyway.