Just lost my last contribution to this thread due to internet vagueries.

I read the Thomas Friedman article referenced by DaveRo. It was short and sweet. Actually it was short and brutal. And rather inconclusive. I agreed more with the comments that came with the article which observed that Friedman was less consistent with his earlier takes than usual. I like many of the comments and the ones I liked all vigorously disagreed with each other AND Friedman.

For now the average Syrian is feeling liberated and much safer than when the Assad regime was in bloody power. I've been hearing on NPR that many Syrians are returning from abroad, which seems pretty early given the unknonws. No one knows what's down the line because no one or almost no one knows who has the real power.

Meanwhile, Israel is not getting any credit for enabling this sort of liberation by critically weakening the terror hold of Iran and Hezbollah that kept Assad in place. Perhaps it's just as well.