They change offices every few months and store documents only in hard copy. They scan their businesses for covert listening devices and divert all office calls to their cellphones. They know they are under surveillance, and assume their electronics are hacked.

An enormous fire raged across several wheat fields outside this town on July 6. It was a dry summer day and dark smoke towered over the countryside as the flames spread across the farmland. Some locals watched in awe at the inferno. Others tried to fight back with shovels and …

A Pentagon report that the Islamic State terror group is making a resurgence in both Syria and Iraq is causing bit of a stir in the region, where most governments would like to see a definitive end to its saga.