The war on terror is slowly ending. The U.S. military will try to keep bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, but with most troops gone in the next few years, the lives of the few who remain will be at constant risk. Pressure will mount to get those soldiers out. But …

In the early morning of September 11, Syrian air defenses were suddenly activated; moments later, a series of strikes leveled two buildings in a compound of nondescript, gray concrete structures just south of Aleppo city in northern Syria.

Three days after his attempt to cross the Syrian-Turkish border, Ahmad al-Nasser’s fate remained unknown. “He didn’t send me a message to reassure me as he did during his previous attempts,” al-Nasser’s wife told Syria Direct. “He would always let me know that he was okay.”