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Suicide attack
Suicide attack (also suicide bombing, martyrdom operation): an attack in which the perpetrator intends to die while killing for a political cause. 13 times deadlier than other terrorism; first major modern attack was the 1981 Iraqi embassy bombing in Beirut; LTTE invented the suicide vest.
Sullivan Expedition
A 1779 scorched-earth campaign of the American Revolutionary War, ordered by Washington and led by John Sullivan, that destroyed over forty Iroquois villages but failed to capture Fort Niagara.
Sulu expedition (1851)
The Sulu expedition of 1851 was a Spanish punitive operation against the Sultanate of Sulu, led by Governor-General Antonio Urbiztondo and ending in a treaty signed that April.
Support for Russia in the Russo-Ukrainian war
Support for Russia in the Russo-Ukrainian war: military, economic, and diplomatic backing from Iran, North Korea, China, and Belarus, including Shahed drones, millions of North Korean shells and up to 12,000 troops, Chinese technology flows, sanctions evasion, and UN abstentions.
Supreme Command dispute
The Supreme Command dispute (統帥権干犯問題) was a 1930 Japanese constitutional crisis over whether the cabinet could sign the London Naval Treaty without the Navy General Staff's consent.
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
SHAEF, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, was the integrated U.S.-British command under General Dwight D. Eisenhower, established in London in February 1944, successor to COSSAC, which directed Operation Overlord and the liberation of western Europe until its dissolution on July 14, 1945.
Supreme Political Council (المجلس السياسي الأعلى)
Supreme Political Council (المجلس السياسي الأعلى), a ten-member Houthi-GPC governing body formed in 2016 in Sana'a, Yemen; exercises presidential power in Houthi-held areas but lacks international recognition versus the Aden-based Presidential Leadership Council.
Surinamese Interior War
The Surinamese Interior War (Binnenlandse Oorlog) was a civil war from 1986 to 1992 between the army under Desi Bouterse and Ronnie Brunswijk's Jungle Commando.
Surrender (military)
Surrender (military): the unilateral act of ceasing combat and placing oneself hors de combat; distinct from capitulation, armistice, and ceasefire; governed by Geneva law, with signals, duties, perfidy rules, and Ukraine-era practice.
Surrender of Abd al-Qadir
The surrender of Abd al-Qadir (عبد القادر) in December 1847 ended the Algerian amir's fifteen-year resistance to the French conquest of Algeria, at Nemours before the duc d'Aumale.
Surrender of Japan
Surrender of Japan: acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration ending Japan's WWII role, announced by Hirohito August 15, 1945 and signed aboard USS Missouri September 2, after the atomic bombings and Soviet entry, amid debate over which was decisive.
Susan Rosenberg
Susan Lisa Rosenberg (born 1955) is an American radical activist, May 19th Communist Organization associate, convicted in 1985 of explosives and weapons charges, sentenced to 58 years, freed by Clinton's 2001 commutation.
Sutherland Springs church shooting
Sutherland Springs church shooting: Devin Patrick Kelley killed 26 and wounded 22 at First Baptist Church, Sutherland Springs, Texas, on November 5, 2017, despite a disqualifying Air Force conviction never reported to NICS; the US later settled for $144.5 million.
Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria
Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria was a 967/968 to 971 war in which Rus' ruler Sviatoslav I of Kiev, paid by Byzantium, attacked Bulgaria, then turned on Byzantium itself.
Swatting of American politicians (2023–2024)
Swatting of American politicians (2023–2024): hoax emergency calls triggering armed police raids at officials' homes, beginning with Marjorie Taylor Greene at Christmas 2023; Romanian Szabo and Serbian Radovanovic charged over 61 official victims.
Swedish invasion of Moravia
The Swedish invasion of Moravia was a series of Thirty Years' War campaigns into the Habsburg margraviate of Moravia from 1642 to 1645, led chiefly by Field Marshal Lennart Torstensson.
Sword Beach
Sword Beach was the easternmost of the five Normandy D-Day landing beaches, assaulted on 6 June 1944 by the British 3rd Infantry Division at H-Hour 0725, with about 29,000 troops landed and 630 casualties.
Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing
Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing: terrorist bomb attack at 12:40 am on 13 February 1978 outside the Hilton Hotel during the first CHOGRM, killing three and prompting the creation of the AFP.
Sylvester Magee
Sylvester Magee, claimed born May 29, 1841 and died October 15, 1971, was a Mississippi man publicized as the last surviving American slave and Civil War veteran; his 130-year age claim lacks documentation and is doubted by census evidence.
Syngman Rhee's release of anti-communist POWs
Syngman Rhee's release of anti-communist POWs (반공포로 석방) was South Korea's unilateral release of about 27,000 North Korean prisoners who refused repatriation, ordered by Rhee in June 1953.
Syria in the 2026 Iran war
Syria in the 2026 Iran war: after Assad's December 2024 fall, interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa kept Syria actively neutral during the US/Israeli war on Iran begun 28 February 2026, managing spillover and repositioning as an energy corridor.
Syrian civil war
Syrian civil war: armed conflict from March 2011 protests against Bashar al-Assad to his fall on 8 December 2024; also called the Syria war. At least 580,000 killed, millions displaced, foreign intervention by Russia, Iran, the US-led coalition, and Turkey, followed by a fragile transition under Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Syrian civil war spillover in Lebanon
Syrian civil war spillover in Lebanon: how the 2011 Syrian conflict spread into Lebanon via refugees, sectarian violence, Hezbollah's intervention, and economic strain, and how Assad's December 2024 fall reversed refugee flows and reshaped bilateral relations.
Syrian invasion of Jordan
The Syrian invasion of Jordan was a Syrian armored incursion into northern Jordan from 18 to 23 September 1970, launched during Black September in support of the Palestinian fedayeen.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان)
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان, SOHR): UK-based monitoring group founded 1 May 2006 by Rami Abdulrahman in Coventry, documenting Syrian war casualties via an activist network, two-source verification, and cumulative death tolls cited by media and the UN.
Syrian occupation of Lebanon (الاحتلال السوري للبنان)
Syrian occupation of Lebanon (الاحتلال السوري للبنان): Syria's military and political control of Lebanon from its 1976 civil war intervention, via the Arab Deterrent Force and Taif mandate, until the 26 April 2005 withdrawal under UN resolution 1559.
Syrian Salvation Government (حكومة الإنقاذ السورية)
Syrian Salvation Government (حكومة الإنقاذ السورية), SSG: civilian technocratic administration set up by HTS in November 2017 to govern Idlib and parts of Aleppo, Latakia, and Hama; its ministers later formed Syria's post-Assad caretaker government.
Syrmian Front
The Syrmian Front (Сремски фронт) was a stabilized front line in Syrmia, between the Danube and the Sava, where Yugoslav Partisan forces fought retreating German troops from October 1944 to April 1945.
Tachibana no Naramaro Rebellion
The Tachibana no Naramaro Rebellion (橘奈良麻呂の乱) was a failed 757 coup in which the court noble Tachibana no Naramaro plotted to depose Empress Kōken and kill Fujiwara no Nakamaro.
Tacky (rebel)
Tacky was an enslaved Akan (Coromantee) man from the Gold Coast who led the outbreak of the 1760 Jamaican slave revolt, the largest in the eighteenth-century British Empire.