Links to an article of commentary from the Cradle and to a report from AP; others are accessible by clicking on their names and initials below. (Scroll down for SYRIA 12-15-25, and up and down for today’s LEBANON, GAZA, UKRAINE and MEDIA.) — MCM

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FROM DEC. 17  How the Sharaa family and a foreign-born operative built Syria’s new deep economy, by a correspondent | The Cable  Since the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad‘s government, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has consolidated control over Syria’s military, security, educational, and economic sectors. A formal civilian facade masks a much narrower circle directing the levers of governance. The gap between appearance and reality is especially visible in the economic sphere. READ MORE . . .

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FROM DEC. 14  Attacker who killed U.S troops in Syria was a recent recruit to security forces, by Abby Sewell | AP  BEIRUT — A man who carried out an attack in Syria that killed three U.S. citizens had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a base security guard two months earlier and was recently reassigned amid suspicions that he might be affiliated with the Islamic State group, a Syrian official told The Associated Press Sunday. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

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