Salih ibn Mirdas (died 1029) was the founder of the Mirdasid dynasty and emir of Aleppo from 1025 until his death. His sons and grandsons ruled Aleppo for most of the next five decades. In 1008 he seized the Euphrates river fortress of al-Rahba. He was imprisoned and tortured in 1012 by the emir of Aleppo, Mansur ibn Lu'lu', before escaping two years later and capturing Mansur in battle. With his Bedouin warriors, Salih captured a string of fortresses along the Euphrates, including Manbij and Raqqa, by 1022. He later allied with the Banu Kalb and Banu Tayy tribes in their rebellion against the Fatimids of Egypt, who ruled Aleppo. He annexed the central Syrian towns of Homs, Baalbek and Sidon before conquering Aleppo in 1025 and establishing a well-organized administration. He paid formal allegiance to the Fatimids, but his alliance with the Banu Tayy drew him into conflict with the Fatimid general, Anushtakin al-Dizbari, whose forces killed Salih in battle near the Sea of Galilee.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salih_ibn_Mirdas

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1845:

John L. O'Sullivan, in his newspaper the New York Morning News, argued that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country "by the right of our manifest destiny", popularizing the term's use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_destiny

1904:

The stage play Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, by Scottish author and dramatist J. M. Barrie, premiered in London. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_Wendy

1966:

A group of three men made the first descent into the Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, in Aquismón, Mexico. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Swallows

2002:

The company Clonaid claimed that a cloned human baby had been born, although it has yet to present any verifiable evidence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonaid

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

golden touch: (idiomatic) Synonym of Midas touch (“the ability to achieve financial reward (or, more generally, success) easily and consistently”) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/golden_touch

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The Greeks understood the mysterious power of the hidden side of things. They bequeathed to us one of the most beautiful words in our language — the word "enthusiasm" — en theos [Εν Θεος] — a god within. The grandeur of human actions is measured by the inspiration from which they spring. Happy is he who bears a god within and obeys it.   --Louis Pasteur https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur