For today, links to five reports from National Public Radio, and to commentary from Consortium News, Indian Punchline, and Substack; others are accessible by clicking on its initials below. (GAZA and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE and HERE. SYRIA, 12-10-24, entry is HERE.) — MCM
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FROM DEC. 10 NPR reports from Syria: The atmosphere in Damascus and the horrors of Saydnaya prison. Reported by Ruth Sherlock | NPR In Syria, people have known that one wrong step could land them in trouble with the government. For the first time in more than half a century, Syrians are experiencing life without that shadow. Click HERE to listen and read.
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FROM DEC. 10 Who is the leader of Syria’s rebels? What to know about Abu Mohammed al-Golani. Reported by Willem Marx | NPR As a new form of government starts to take shape in Syria, the armed group that led efforts to topple former President Bashar al-Assad will play a significant role. Its head may act as a power broker. Click HERE to listen and read.
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FROM DEC. 10 What could happen to the chemical weapons in Syria. Reported by Tom Bowman | NPR The news in Syria has raised immediate questions about the fate of Assad’s stockpiles of chemical weapons and the continued presence of U.S. forces fighting the Islamic State in the northeast. Click HERE to listen and read.
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FROM DEC. 10 Israel takes credit, in part, for the fall of the Assad regime. But what now? Reported by Michele Kelemen | NPR Soon after Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell in Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Israel paved the way for the uprising by its attacks on Iran and its proxies. Click HERE to listen and read.
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FROM DEC. 10 After celebrations, Syria faces an uncertain future. Jane Arraf of NPR, who crossed over the Jordanian border into Syria on Tuesday morning, speaks with Michel Martin soon afterward from the countryside of Daraa, where the Syrian civil war began in 2011. Click HERE to listen and read.
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FROM DEC. 9 Syria now, by As`ad AbuKhalil | Special to Consortium News This moment in Syrian history was inevitable: the Hafiz (Hafiz) al-Assad, and his son Bashar Assad’s regime was destined to collapse. It is gone Ba’th Party rule in the Arab world, which is now also gone, proved to be an abysmal . . . READ MORE . . .
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FROM DEC. 8 Winners and losers in Syria, by M.K. Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline Iran and Russia are the two big losers in the ouster of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday. The Arab oligarchies of the Gulf region are full of trepidation over the surge of a variant of political Islam. Israel and Turkey are the biggest winners, having established . . . READ MORE . . .
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FROM DEC. 10 The fall of Bashar Assad, and my encounters with the Syrian dictator, by Seymour M. Hersh | Substack Damascus, considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, is steeped in charm, beauty, and history. One could not imagine in the spring of 2003 what was to come. READ MORE . . .