World View: With jihadis at their door, terrified Maysoun, Nizar, Karim and Bishr reached for grenades rather than face torture and inevitable death at the hands of Jabhat al-Nusra It is a terrible story but it throws a grim light on the terrors of the Syrian war. It is...

  A second round of  Syria  peace talks got off to a shaky start on Monday with the international mediator meeting the two sides separately after violations of a local ceasefire and an Islamist offensive set back his efforts. Ahead of the talks, mediator Lakhdar Brahimi...

Lebanese leaders adapt quickly… and they’ve done so yet again. After decades of manipulating political divisions and communal distrust, the Lords of Lebanon—your favorite Arsonist Firemen—have now co-opted a popular social media campaign aimed at undermining the logic of martyrdom...

An Alawite village in the central province of Hama was seized by Islamist fighters on Sunday, Reuters news agency reported, adding that the fighting was “part of an offensive to try to cut off supply routes from Damascus to the north of the country.” The fighters,...