海角大神

Acts of extremism have long fueled a cottage industry of academics and think-tankers seeking to understand how terrorism ends. The question was made new again this weekend, when two U.S. soldiers were killed in Syria. The assailant, as Dominique Soguel reports today, was apparently a member of the country鈥檚 security forces who harbored jihadist sympathies. A lone strike or signal of something resurgent? The answer may depend less on how the state responds than on Syria's awakening mental forces. A week before the deadly attack, Syria marked its first anniversary of the fall of its former dictator, Bashar al-Assad. Tens of thousands poured into the streets to celebrate 鈥渁 patriotism, a loyalty to our country I never felt before,鈥� one ordinary citizen told us last week. Said another: 鈥淭oday is another opportunity to move past death and fear and associate Syria with life.鈥�