Reading.

I've been on a bit of a hiatus from recreational reading, but I am almost halfway through the last Harry Potter book, HP7 - Deathly Hallows. One thing I've noticed about the series overall is that the characters become richer as Harry's understanding of them becomes deeper. The younger Harry was quick to draw such inferences as, "this person treated me badly, therefore he/she must be evil"; now, at seventeen, Harry is more circumspect in his assessment of heroes and villains. All the men he has seen as father figures - Sirius Black, Dumbledore, and of course his actual father, James Potter - have come into focus as noble but imperfect flesh-and-blood men. And conversely, some of the less likeable characters (Kreacher, for example) have become less distasteful as we've gotten to know them better. And one character - an individual whose soul Harry literally saved - becomes an unlikely friend.

It's not an overtly religious story in the conventional sense, but I feel like there is an overall theme of redemption.

I'll be reading eagerly to learn how it all plays out.

Linkage.

SYRIA: ASSAD REGIME FALLS.

Jonathan Spyer: Iran revealed as paper tiger.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/assad-falls-thanks-to-a-weak-tehran-iran-proxy-network-paper-tigers-more-defeats-will-follow-36d1d3fe?st=HXg6fz
'By removing the Assad regime, the insurgents—known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham—have cut off Tehran’s main proxy militia, Hezbollah, from its supply lines. This was possible because of Israel’s mauling of Hezbollah in November, prompting the terror group to accept a cease-fire with the Jewish state. The decision was in direct contrast with Hezbollah’s goal when it entered the war on Oct. 8, 2023. As Hassan Nasrallah, its now-deceased leader, expressed at the time: “The Lebanon front will not stop before the aggression on Gaza stops. The resistance in Lebanon won’t stop supporting and assisting the people of Gaza, the West Bank and the oppressed people in these holy lands.” By the time both parties agreed to a cease-fire, Nasrallah was dead. Hezbollah decided that sticking by its junior ally in Gaza was no longer worth the price. The dramatic events in Syria rapidly followed.'

Arutz Sheva: IDF 20 km from Damascus.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/400490
'In the wake of the toppling of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Israel has struck more than 250 targets across Syria. Reports say the IDF has taken control of nine villages in the southern suburbs of Damascus.

Long War Journal: IDF strikes former regime sites.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2024/12/idf-strikes-former-syrian-regime-military-sites.php
'The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out strikes on more than 300 targets in Syria over several days in the wake of the Assad regime’s fall on December 8. The strikes aimed at key military sites, such as warplanes the Syrian regime abandoned as its troops fled their posts during the opposition’s rapid advance across the country between December 1 and December 8. The strikes, combined with a naval operation that destroyed the Syrian Navy’s missile boats, are part of Israel’s multi-pronged attempt to respond to the crisis.'

Rebel News: Ezra Levant on Syria. [with video]
https://www.rebelnews.com/radical_islamist_terrorists_topple_syrian_dictator_assad_what_s_next_in_the_middle_east
'"Israel has taken Mount Hermon inside Syria to stop any terrorist from setting up too close to the border. I don't know how long that will be able to continue for Israel to have a presence in a buffer zone in Syria," added Ezra. The Rebel News publisher went on: "I don't know the outcome here. I put it to you that Netanyahu's exhilaration is premature and will not be long lasting."'
In the video, Ezra remarks that tyrants such as Saddam, Qaddafi, and the Assads "did have something to offer, I suppose, which is that they were a gate barred against the sheer chaos of brutality that was to come."