In January, Lebanon agreed to a new cabinet after nine months of political stalemate. The long-awaited government restructured the balance of power in ways that did not reflect the results of parliamentary elections in May 2018.

U.S. President Donald Trump has declared that the Islamic State (IS) “caliphate” is on the verge of collapse and he called on European allies to “take back” more than 800 militants captured in Syria.

A mortar blast shook the rooftop where Hunter Pugh stood watch over the last stretch of Syria controlled by the Islamic State, and he scanned the winter dawn, trying to decide whether it had been outgoing fire or an attack zeroing in on his post. The answer came from a …