Syria’s elite Fourth Army Division fought fierce battles to drive rebels from some Damascus suburbs. But on a typical recent morning it had a different mission: Escort a 26-year-old student through government-held territory to take his law-school exams without getting arrested by other regime security forces. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime relies on a patchwork of state security forces and dozens of domestic and foreign...

Source: Wall Street Journal March 07, 2017 10:30 UTC