It happened on this day, August 20th.
Events:
636 AD – The Battle of Yarmouk took place between the Muslims led by Khalid bin Al-Walid and the Byzantines led by Heraclius.
1191 – Richard I of England begins the 1,191-acre massacre, killing 2,600–3,000 Muslim hostages.
1882 – The British occupy Port Said and Ismailia, beginning the British occupation of Egypt.
1914 – Germany occupies Brussels during World War I.
1940 – Communist leader Leon Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico, resulting in his death a day later.
1953 – The King and People's Revolution begins in Morocco after the country's Sultan Muhammad bin Youssef refuses French protection.
1955 – Launch of the Aix-Lebanon negotiations between representatives of the Moroccan National Movement and the French authorities at the end of the French protectorate over Morocco.
1956 – The leaders of the Algerian Revolution hold a fasting conference in Kabylie, during which they decide to create the National Council of the Algerian Revolution.
1960 – Declaration of independence of Senegal.
1971 – Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi sign the constitution of the Union of Arab Republics in Damascus.
1975 – NASA launches the Viking 1 rover to Mars.
✴️ A Czechoslovakian civilian aircraft, an Ilyushin L-62, coming from Prague crashed east of Damascus. 126 passengers were killed in the accident.
1976 – Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt warns that establishing a Maronite national homeland in Lebanon would be more dangerous than Israel.
1977 – Launch of the Voyager 2 space probe.
1982 – Multinational forces oversee the withdrawal of Palestine Liberation Organization forces from Lebanon.
1986 – The Soviet Union officially recognizes the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster.
1987 – UN Security Council Resolution 598 is issued declaring the beginning of the end of the First Gulf War between Iraq and Iran.
1991 – Estonia declares independence from the Soviet Union at the first signs of the union's collapse.
1998 – The United States launches cruise missiles on Afghanistan and Sudan in retaliation for the bombing of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
2002 – Iraqis opposed to Saddam Hussein's regime occupy the Iraqi embassy in Berlin for several hours.
2008 – Jordanian authorities release Jordanian prisoners Sultan Al-Ajlouni, Amin Al-Sanea, Khaled Abu Ghalioun and Salem Abu Ghalioun, under an agreement stipulating their release after spending 18 months in Jordanian prisons after receiving them from Israeli prisons.
2009 – Scotland announces the release of Lockerbie convict Abdel Basset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds.
✴️ Organize the second presidential elections in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban government.
✴️ Jamaican runner Usain Bolt breaks the 200 meters world record at the World Athletics Championships.
2011 – The Battle of Tripoli begins as part of the February 17 Revolution fighting to liberate the Libyan capital from the forces of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
2014 – The Israeli army assassinated three leaders of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Raed al-Attar, Muhammad Abu Shamala and Muhammad Barhoum, as part of its war on Gaza.
2015 – Bombings in Egypt targeting government buildings in Cairo and Giza.
2016 – An explosion in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep near the Syrian border caused injuries and deaths.
2017 – Saudi Arabia announces the start of privatization of 10 economic sectors in the country, including the Hajj and Umrah sector, as part of the Vision 2030 plan aimed at diversifying the Saudi economy.
2019 – The Transitional Military Council was dissolved following the formation of the Sudanese Sovereign Council led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, before whom nine members of the Council were sworn in, with the Council ruling Sudan for a 39-month transitional period.
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Births:
1191 – Ahmed bin Asfandyar Al-Baghdadi, Shiite mystic and Iraqi Arab poet.
1779 – Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist.
1833 – Benjamin Harrison, American president.
1858 – Omar Al-Mukhtar, leader of the Libyan resistance against the Italian occupation of Libya.
1860 – Raymond Poincaré, French president.
1888 – Muhammad Hussein Heikal, Egyptian poet, writer and politician.
1890 – Howard Phillips Lovecraft, American writer.
1901 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1959.
1913 – Roger Sperry, American neuroscientist who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1981.
1933 – George Mitchell, American politician.
1935 – Ron Paul, American politician.
1936 – Hideki Shirakawa, Japanese chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000.
1941 – Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia and Yugoslavia.
1944 – Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India.
1946 – Laurent Fabius, French politician.
1948 – Hassan Naji, Jordanian poet and playwright.
1956 – Joan Allen, American actress.
1965 – Hoda Hussein, Iraqi actress working in Kuwait.
1968 – Claes Ingesson, Swedish footballer.
1972 – Adel Karam, Lebanese actor.
1974 – Amy Adams, American actress.
1975 – Badriya Al-Badri, Omani poet and writer.
1976 – Iman Najm, Kuwaiti media personality.
1977 – Ivar Ingemarsson, Icelandic footballer.
1978 – Taqi Mubarak, Omani footballer.
1980 – Jenny Esber, Syrian actress.
1981 – Bernard Mendy, French footballer.
1982 – Joshua Kennedy, Australian rules footballer.
1983 – Yuri Zhirkov, Russian footballer.
1992 – Demi Lovato, American actress.
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Death:
1914 – Pope Pius X, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
1915 – Paul Ehrlich, German physician who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1908.
1917 – Adolf von Baer, German chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1905.
1961 – Percy Williams Bregman, American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1946.
1998 – Heidi Tamzali, Tunisian actress.
2001 – Yasser Al-Badawi, officer of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service.
2011 – Nagham Fattouki, Algerian actress.
2012 – Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian Prime Minister.
** Dom Mentoff, Prime Minister of Malta. Mika Yamamoto, Japanese journalist.
2017 – Jerry Lewis, American actor.
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Public holidays and occasions:
⬅️ Independence Day in Estonia.
