World roundup: September 1 2023

Stories from Gabon, Ukraine, Ecuador, and elsewhere

PROGRAMMING NOTE: I’m probably going to take advantage of the Labor Day holiday this weekend to give myself a little break. I say “probably” because I could always change my mind, especially if something particularly significant happens. But barring that I will be back on Tuesday. Thanks for reading and if you’re celebrating, Happy Labor Day!

TODAY IN HISTORY

September 1, 1880: A decisive British victory at the Battle of Kandahar ends the Second Anglo-Afghan War. British authorities deposed Afghan Emir Ayub Khan Barakzai and replaced him with his more pliable cousin, Abdur Rahman Khan.

September 1, 1939: Nazi Germany invades Poland. The German offensive began a week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the USSR and a day after the pact’s ratification by the Supreme Soviet. The initial German invasion overwhelmed the outgunned Polish military, and a subsequent invasion by the Red Army on September 17 sealed Poland’s fate and resulted in a partition of the country. The invasion is regarded as the start of World War II, as it triggered French and British declarations of war against Germany.

September 1, 1969: The 1969 Libyan Coup

MIDDLE EAST

SYRIA

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters attacked a military position in northwestern Syria’s Latakia province on Friday, killing at least nine soldiers and wounding another 12. One HTS fighter was also wounded. Meanwhile, Turkish-backed rebels briefly drive the Syrian Democratic Forces militia out of a northern Syrian village called Mahsanli, but the SDF regrouped and retook it a short time later. There were casualties in this exchange but I haven’t seen any details. There also continue to be reports of fighting between the SDF and local Arab militias in eastern Syria despite the apparent resolution to the group’s feud with the Deir Ezzor Military Council earlier this week. These reports seem fairly sketchy but suggest that forces allied with the Syrian government and/or Islamic State have taken advantage of the recent chaos to undertake their own operations against the SDF.