Today is Thursday; 8th of the Iranian month of Azar 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 21st of the Islamic month of Rabi al-Awwal 1440 lunar hijri; and November 29, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1115 solar years ago, on this day in 903 AD, Hussain ibn Hamdan at-Taghlibi, as commander of the Abbasid army under Mohammad ibn Sulayman al-Kateb, played the leading role in the crushing defeat of the Qarmatians at the Battle of Hama, fought some 24 km from the city of the same name in Syria. The leadership of the Qarmatians (a deviationist cult which desecrated the holy Ka’ba and resorted to brute measures to achieve its goals like modern-day Takfiri terrorists), especially Yahya ibn Zikrwaiyh known as Saheb ash-Shama – Man with the Mole – was captured and later executed in Baghdad. This weakened the Qarmatian presence in northern Syria, which was finally eradicated after the suppression of another revolt in 906.

498 solar years ago, on this day in 1520 AD, Spanish sailor, Ferdinand Magellan, in his voyages around the South American landmass passed through the strait. Known today as the Strait of Magellan, it links the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.

406 solar years ago, on this day in 612 AD, the Battle of Swally, off the coast of Suvali, a village near the city of Surat, Gujarat, India, ended in victory for four English East India Company galleons over four Portuguese naus and 26 barks. This relatively small naval battle, which went unnoticed by the powerful Moghal Empire, is historically important for the emerging European colonialists, since it marked the beginning of the end of Portugal's commercial monopoly over India, and the ascent of the English East India Company's presence in India. This battle convinced the East India Company to establish a small navy to safeguard its commercial interests from other European powers, and eventually establish British hegemony over the Subcontinent a century and a half later.

205 solar years ago, on this day in 1813 AD, the discovery of Iodine – a new substance – was announced at the French Institute by Nicolas Clement. In 1811, Bernard Courtois had observed violet crystals with a metallic lustre that condensed from the vapour rising from the mother liquor of seaweed ash being leeched in sulfuric acid at his family's saltpetre business in Dijon. Although he made a preliminary investigation of this substance, he lacked the resources to fully research it. For this he turned to C.B. Desormes and Nicolas Clement. They suspected the substance was similar to chlorine, but confirmation of its nature as an element was made independently by Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac.

197 lunar years ago, on this day in 1243 AH, the Iranian city of Erivan and the khanate of the same name in the Caucasus, was occupied by Russia after stiff resistance by the governor Hussain Qoli Khan Qajar, during the two-year war that led to the signing of the humiliating Turkmenchay Treaty by the inefficient ruler Fath Ali Shah Qajar, resulting in the detachment from the Persian Empire of what are now the Caucasus republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan, along with Nakhichevan. Erivan was renamed Yerevan and became the centre of the Russian oblast of Armenia.

154 solar years ago, on this day in 1864 AD, US forces led by Colonel John Chivington of the Colorado militia attacked and destroyed a peaceful village of Cheyenne and Arapaho Amerindians, massacring and mutilating at least 163 defenceless people, about two-thirds of whom were women and children. This was part of the genocide of the original inhabitants by the European Anglo-Saxon occupiers of North America.

146 solar years ago, on this day in 1872 AD, as part of the US-Amerindian Wars, the Modoc War began with the Battle of Lost River. The skirmish, which was fought near the Lost River along the California-Oregon border, was the result of an attempt by the US 1^st Cavalry Regiment to force a band of the Modoc tribe to relocate to the Klamath Reservation. In the subsequent war, Amerindian Captain Jack of the Modoc and 53 warriors bravely held off over 1000 white US soldiers for 7 months.

133 solar years ago, on this day in 1885 AD, the Third Anglo-Burmese War ended with the end of the Burmese monarchy after battles lasting 22 days, although sporadic resistance and insurgency continued till 1887. It was the final of three wars fought in the 19^th century between the Burmese and the British colonialists. The war saw the loss of sovereignty of an independent Burma under the Konbaung Dynasty, whose rule had already been reduced to the territory known as Upper Burma – the region of Lower Burma having been annexed by the British in 1853, as a result of the Second Anglo-Burmese War. Following the war, Burma came under the rule of the British Raj as a province of India. From 1937 the British governed Burma as a separate colony. After World War II Burma achieved independence as a republic in 1948.

71 solar years ago, on this day in 1947 AD, during the First Indochina War, French colonialist forces, as part of their bid to re-establish control over Vietnam, carried out a cowardly massacre of civilians at My Trach village in Quang Bình Province. The French burnt down 326 houses, raped many women before killing them, and murdered over 300 civilian residents, of which 170 were women and 157 children. The victims were lined up and killed with machine gun fire. Every year, 29 November is mourned in Vietnam as “Hatred Date” of the residents in this village.

71 solar years ago, on this day in 1947 AD, the UN General Assembly, in an unjust move, voted with a narrow majority on division of Palestine into two separate states: Arab and Jewish. This unfair and illogical decision was adopted under pressure of Western regimes. The Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas was declared an international enclave. Palestinians refused to accept the division of their homeland, but Britain, which had occupied Palestine, worked in tandem with the illegal Zionist settlers from Europe, and on May 15, 1948, while leaving Palestine, handed power to the Zionists, who resorted to terrorism to set up the illegal state called Israel.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1994 AD, Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammad Ali Araki, passed away at the age of 103. Born in Arak, he learned Islamic sciences under prominent ulema, such as Grand Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Haeri, and Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Taqi Khwansari. For several decades he taught at the Qom Seminary, presenting the most complicated topics in simple form. He was a supporter of the Islamic Revolution and greatly respected Imam Khomeini (RA).

22 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, a UN court sentenced Bosnian Serb army soldier Drazen Erdemovic to 10 years in prison for his role in the massacre of 1,200 Muslims. The Serbs massacred tens of thousands of Muslims during the civil war in the Balkans as Europe chose to ignore the genocide of its native Muslim population.

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, Iran built a submarine equipped with sonar-evading technology, and launched it in the Persian Gulf waters as part of its drive to strengthen the defences of the country against any would-be aggressor.

8 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, Iran’s nuclear physicists, Dr. Majid Shahriari, and Dr. Fereydoun Abbasi, were targets of two separate terrorist attacks in which the former attained martyrdom while the latter was wounded. Martyr Shahriari was born in Zanjan in 1966 and completed his PhD in nuclear engineering at Tehran’s Amir Kabir University. On establishment of the Nuclear Engineering Faculty at Martyr Beheshti University in 2006, he joined its academic board. One of his most important designs was related to development of a new generation of nuclear reactors, which was widely reflected throughout the world’s scientific centers. The US and Zionist agents are the evil brains behind such cowardly acts of terrorism, in a bid to sabotage Iran’s peaceful nuclear plans.

AS/SS