Acc to mediazzzona there is an ongoing hostage situation in a prison in Rostov, Russia - the hostage takers say they are #IS#daesh#isis#IslamicState members. Shootouts at checkpoints and targeting of policemen has been the main method the IS #Caucasus branch has kept active since the loss of the #caliphate
In its latest special, #Theglobaljigsaw has looked into IS' evolution and re-emergence - some quotes to follow in a thread
The Mongol conqueror #Genghis Khan's grandson Hulegu captured #Baghdad and ended the Abbasid #caliphate in the city in 1258.
I just read a text that asserts that around 25 years later, the Muslim vizier Shams al-Din Juvayni was involved in a plot to restore the caliphate, but he was put to death when Hulegu's grandson Arghun overthrew his uncle Teguder Ahmad. This is probably just slander, but it is surprising slander in a #Syriac text written in the late 1310s!
I'm (re)reading the History of Mar Yahballaha and Rabban Sawma.