Among the many forces that have vied for power in the Syrian civil war is the Nusra Front, a local franchise of al-Qaeda. In 2016 it changed its name to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and repositioned itself as an independent organization that remained dedicated to jihad and an extremist interpretation of Islam. Whether this was a real break with the parent organization or merely a public-relations exercise remains unclear. The group now has thousands of fighters holed up in the Syrian province of Idlib, where they are under sustained assault from Bashar al-Assad and his allies. Eli Galia and Yoram Schweitzer discuss their fate:

In the aftermath of high-profile, violent incidents in the U.S., there is virtually always a national attempt to blame one or the other major political party. Dominic Green, considering the recent hostage-taking at a Colleyville, Texas synagogue, notes that while political discussions of this type may not matter much to the victims of any given attack, they have an invidious effect on our politics. For Jewish parents worried about whether to send their kids to school, he suggests,