5. “I can’t believe it. I ruined my life. I ruined my future.”

Four years ago, Hoda Muthana, above, was a 20-year-old college student in Alabama convinced of the righteousness of the Islamic State. But after being married to three Islamic State fighters and witnessing executions like those she had once cheered on social media, she wants to come home.

We spoke with her and a second American woman at a refugee camp in northeastern Syria where they are being held. Less than 24 hours after we published the article, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said she had no legal basis to return, and President Trump tweeted that he had directed Mr. Pompeo “not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!”

Separately, Vera Mironova, a visiting fellow at Harvard University who has embedded with Iraq’s special forces, writes in an Op-Ed essay that women are playing an increasingly important role in the Islamic State — and that security forces are not prepared.

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