Very good. Exactly what I was hoping for, given the uhhh ... "slant" ... of most of our "news" here ...
These excerpts stood out to me:
"... more for financial reasons than ideological)."
"It is important to understand that both Lebanon and Syria are now extremely poor after decades of civil war ..."
"The Christians of Lebanon and Syria are very entreprenerial historically and will move quickly to create business relationships."
The 1st one - seems similar to my understanding, from personal conversations with some of my American acquaintances involved in our military efforts in Afghanistan. Their "services" were available to the highest bidder ...
The 2nd one - yes, I can only imagine. Leading me to often wonder what these people, in their "heart of hearts" and true private thoughts and feelings, think about all of it ...
The 3rd one - Not surprising. Our shared Judeo-Christian worldview is not a trivial topic. IMHO ... Said differently, this is not a coincidence ...
Thank you for your comprehensive response!