Syrian (or Levantine) Arabic is a dialect spoken by Syrians, Jordanians, Lebanese and Palestinians (all these people previously spoke Syriac). It's probably the nicest souding of all Arabic dialects. I don't know if it is used in print media, like Egyptian Arabic is.

The Persian Gulf and North Africa also have different dialects. For the latter, even some counting numerals are different!

Thackston's book is for learning Classical Arabic, quite another language in a sense, which is used in the Quran, books, newspapers, political speeches and fatwas. BTW, it doesn't have religious connotations any more. Lebanese Christians sort of created its renaissance in the 19th century while under Ottoman rule.

My native tongue is Urdu, which is related to Arabic as English is to Latin. So I don't know if Thackston's focus on grammar & so on would work for you. You could perhaps try books written for future diplomats. I sort of remember one out of Princeton, but can't remeber any more details.

make some lebanese friends:) i was in lebanon and syria this summer and having lebanese friend here when i returned as really helped me a lot.

levantine is a broad name for greater syria which includes lebanon and palestine, though there is some debate im sure. however, each of these countries has a different dialect. the word for orange for example, is different in paslestinian arabic, than in lebanese dialect. lebanese dialect has a large infusion of french thrown into the slang. there is a shirt that says has hello in lebanese: bonjour, keefik, hi (i think that was the english, i cant remember)

lots of fun.

also, if you can get a hold of LBC station on satellite (i cant spell to save my life) it is the lebanese brodcasting channel and you can get a good daily dose of 'levantine' dialect through the shows, commercials, and music.