Kunashir Island Kunashir Island Kunashir Island (; , "Kunashiri-tō"; or クナシㇽ, "Kunasir"), possibly meaning "Black Island" or "Grass Island" in Ainu, is the southernmost island of the Kuril Islands, an archipelago under Russian control, among which Kunashir Island and another three islands are claimed by Japan (see Kuril Islands dispute). It lies between the straits of Kunashir Island, Catherine, Izmena, and South Kuril. Kunashir Island is visible from the nearby Japanese island of Hokkaido, from which it is separated by the Nemuro Strait. Kunashir Island is formed by four volcanoes which were separate islands but have since joined together by low-lying areas
Battle of the Straits Manuel Phokas among the dead. Left without hope of relief, Rometta fell in spring 965. Following their defeat before Rometta, the remaining Byzantine forces were forced to withdraw to Messina. From there, Niketas with the Byzantine fleet tried to cross over the Straits of Messina to the Italian mainland, but he was intercepted by the Fatimid fleet under Ahmad al-Kalbi. In the ensuing battle, known in the Arabic sources (Ibn al-Athir, al-Maqrizi, Abu'l-Fida) as the "Battle of the Straits" ("waq‘at al-majāz"), the Fatimid governor employed divers equipped to attack the Byzantine ships: in the description of Heinz Halm, "they would