Syrian rebels testing their own chemical weapons on rabbits - can you say False Flag type chemical weapon attack against Syrian civilians in 5 , 4 , 3 , 2 , 1 ? Syria allegedly has loaded Sarin into bombs and are awaiting orders from Assad....... And NATO and GCC forces are poised for action !

First a recap on earlier news of the day ( War watch ) - focus on Syria...... When last checked , the US Eisenhower had taken position off the Coast of Syria , which had started to allegedly move Sarin toward Aleppo - speculation that Thursday might be when the chemical weapons could be in place to hit rebel positions.... Obama , NATO and UN issuing warning to Assad to back down from using chemical weapons against the rebels.....

The fog of War is descending - fwiw ........

http://www.infowars.com/shock-video-shows-syrian-rebels-testing-chemical-weapons/

Shock Video Shows ‘Syrian Rebels’ Testing Chemical Weapons

Clip shows gas killing lab rabbits as rebel threatens Alawite population

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
December 6, 2012

A shocking You Tube video shows alleged Syrian rebels testing chemical weapons on lab rabbits before making threats to use them against Syria’s pro-Assad Alawite population.

The video is particularly pertinent given reports yesterday that claim President Bashar Al-Assad has ordered the Syrian military to load “the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs,” in preparation for fighter jets to drop the bombs on the civilian population. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied that it will use chemical weapons in its war against opposition rebels.

The evidence contained in the video suggests that the rebels are just as likely to be considering the prospect of using chemical weapons. The clip, obtained by the Syria Tribune, shows lab equipment and chemical containers. Some of the containers display English writing and some bear the label of Tekkim, a Turkish chemicals company.

The video shows a poster on the wall with Arabic text which reads “The Almighty Wind Brigade (Kateebat A Reeh Al Sarsar).” The man in the clip then begins to mix the chemicals in a beaker which subsequently emits gas. Rabbits contained inside a glass box begin to have random convulsions, collapse and die.

“You saw what happened? This will be your fate, you infidel Alawites, I swear by Allah to make you die like these rabbits, one minute only after you inhale the gas,” states the man in the video.

“Judging from the rabbits’ reaction, the gas must be a nerve agent. The number of containers, if not a bluff, indicates ability to produce a considerable amount of this gas. Deployment could be by means of a smoke generator placed in the target area, an explosion, possibly a suicide one, of a ”chemmed” car, or simply by using a humidifier,” reports Syria Tribune.

Given that the only suggestion Assad’s government is preparing to use chemical weapons comes from western media reports and somewhat hysterical proclamations from the Obama administration, the weight of evidence indicates that it is the rebels themselves, who have repeatedly been caught committing atrocities, that are more likely to resort to such tactics.

Indeed, reports circulated 6 months ago that rebel fighters had been given gas masks and were willing to stage a chemical weapons attack which would then be blamed on the Assad regime and grease the skids for NATO military intervention.

In August, a source told Syrian news channel Addounia that a Saudi company had fitted 1400 ambulance vehicles with anti-gas & anti-chemical filtering systems at a cost of $97,000 dollars each, in preparation for a chemical weapons attack carried out by FSA rebels using mortar rounds. A further 400 vehicles were prepared as troop carriers.

The attack would be blamed on the Syrian Army and exploited as an excuse for a military assault. A March 2012 Brookings Institution report entitled Saving Syria: Assessing Options For Regime Change outlined this very scenario- where a manufactured humanitarian crisis would be cited as justification for force.

The history of western governments and intelligence organizations manufacturing a fake “weapons of mass destruction” threat in order to justify wars planned years in advance clearly inform us that claims Syria is about to drop chemical weapon bombs on its own population should be treated with the utmost suspicion.

With the USS Eisenhower and other warships now facing Syria with thousands of troops and dozens of fighter jets in place, only the very naive would think the media’s sudden hype over Assad using chemical weapons – generated off the back of unverified claims by anonymous US officials – is a mere coincidence.

http://rt.com/news/syria-chemical-weapons-rebels-460/

US ramps up threats in 'psychological' war on Assad

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Published: 06 December, 2012, 23:26

TAGS:
Arms, War, Syria

US Soldiers in anti-chemical weapons suits in Iraq.(AFP Photo / Roberto Schmidt)

American media are reporting extensively that the Syrian president is getting ready to use chemical weapons on his own people, raising concerns that Washington could be planning a strike on Damascus with the chemical threat as a pretext.

Reports that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime is preparing to use its chemical weapons at home have created a storm in the US media.

NBC reports that the Syrian military has loaded sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs, which could then be dropped on rebels from Mig-23 or Sukhoi-24 aircraft.

Unnamed American officials stressed that so far the bombs have not been loaded onto planes, and that over the last 48 hours there have been no major movements at chemical weapons sites of concern, ABC News reported.  

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton warned that if Assad goes down the chemical weapons road, he would be crossing “a red line.”

President Barack Obama also warned Assad that “the use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. And if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable.”

Clinton said that Washington is worried that Syria’s chemical weapons might fall into the hands of the Syrian rebels, some of whom have links to Al-Qaeda.  

“Our concerns are that an increasingly desperate Assad regime might turn to chemical weapons or might lose control of them to one of the many groups that are operating within Syria,” Clinton told reporters Wednesday.

Syrian rebels also claim to have reached Safira, a town with stockpiles of chemical weapons south east of Aleppo,according to a video posted to YouTube.

According to another video posted to YouTube, rebels threaten to kill Naseeriyah, the Allawide sect, "and supporters of Bashar Al-Aasad with our chemical weapons.”

The video features two rabbits that die in convulsions just a minute after inhaling a chemical agent.

A text underneath the video reads, “Your destiny would be like them because you are missionaries for Naseeriyah and supporters of Bashar Al-Aasad. God is great. God is Great. Wait and see.  We from the AR-Reeh Asarsar Chemical Battalion, the Destructive Wind Chemical Battalion – we shall kill you all with our chemical weapons.”  

The situation is reminiscent of the military buildup and war of words before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Washington and London used the pretext that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction as a justification for going to war. The allegations proved to be false, but the damage was done.

In the latest round of US saber-rattling, the USS Eisenhower, an American aircraft carrier holding eight fighter bomber squadrons and 8,000 men, joined the USS Iwo Jima, an Amphibious Ready Group of 2,500 marines off the Syrian coast yesterday.

Paula Slier, RT’s Middle East correspondent, explained that the US is making contingency plans in case Assad’s regime suddenly crumbles.

“They are aware that Assad has received numerous asylum offers, and the United States stands ready for direct military intervention in the Syrian conflict,” she said.

Hisham Jaber, a former general in the Lebanese army and head of the Middle East Center for Studies and Research in Beirut, explained to RT that America is conducting “a psychological game designed to threaten the Assad regime.”

He expressed concern that the weapons might fall into the hands of the rebels, and believes the only viable option available to Assad is to ask the United Nations to help him safely dispose of them.

He thinks the US “may send in Special Forces to occupy, control and destroy the chemical weapons.”

and.....




http://rt.com/usa/news/us-opposition-group-terrorist-449/

US to declare leading Syrian opposition group foreign terrorist organization

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Published: 06 December, 2012, 22:43

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Arms, Conflict, Military, NATO, Politics,Terrorism, USA, War, Syria, Security,Sanctions, Clashes

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Syria unrest

Syrian rebels (AFP Photo/Bulent Kilic)

The US may soon name the Syrian rebel al-Nusra Front, one of the strongest among the opposition, a foreign terrorist group. The designation is likely to complicate the opposition’s fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The US Department of State has been collecting evidence against the group for several months to classify the Islamic radicals as a foreign terrorist organization. Officials believe the designation will come before the Friends of Syria meeting, which is scheduled for Dec. 12 in Morocco.

The Department of State originally planned to add the al-Nusra Front to its international terrorist list this week, but the announcement was postponed while officials discussed when the timing would be most beneficial, McClatchy reports. Officials who spoke to the publishing company said the al-Nusra Front will likely be added to the list shortly before the Morocco conferences.

American officials claim the goal of the designation is to isolate extremist groups in Syria and give more power to the new political opposition group that was unveiled in Qatar last month,  National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, CNN reports. The al-Nusra Front has expressed opposition to this new coalition and some fear the group wouldn't accept its authority if Assad is defeated.

But calling Nusra a terrorist organization could also affect the course of Syria’s civil war. About nine percent of all rebels are members of the Nusra group. The organization gets most of its funding from Saudi Arabia and has played a major role in the battles against the Assad regime. Through car and suicide bombings in Damascus, support in the battles in Aleppo, the seizure of a border crossing at Ras al Ayn and the capture of an artillery base in Mayadeen, al-Nusra Front has been a vital part of the rebel victories. 

Unnamed analysts told CNN that al-Nusra is preparing to conduct suicide bombings against Assad’s military and intelligence facilities. Al-Nusra is also currently responsible for protecting the most dangerous area along the road to Aleppo. The group is thought to have several thousand fighters and is looking to recruit more.

But US officials say Nusra has links to al-Qaeda’s branch in Iran. If this group of opposition fighters is designated as a terrorist organization, then all of Nusra’s US assets will be frozen and American citizens will be prohibited from making any financial transactions with them.

Perhaps most important for the US would be the opposition’s establishment of credibility without the inclusion of al-Nusra Front. Secular rebels have expressed frustration with the US for failing to provide financial aid, while Nusra received support from Saudi Arabia.

“The strongest ones fighting now are the ones who have money,” Abdullah Alsayed, former leader of a rebel group, told McClatchy. “All the money comes in from Saudi Arabia and Qatar and all the money goes to the Salafis and Islamists.”

Even though the West has ideological concerns with the inclusion of al-Nusra in the opposition, its designation as a terrorist group could weaken the rebel fight against the Syrian government.

The designation could also complicate matters if the US decides to provide arms and other military or humanitarian aid to the opposition fighters. There would be a risk that the resources fall into the hands of the al-Nusra, rather than its intended recipients. New evidence has recently emerged that arm shipments from Qatar to Libyan rebels fell in the hands of Islamist militants, which strengthened those groups and allowed them to become a destabilizing force. US officials are considering the Libya situation before making any decisions on arming Syrian rebels.

By weakening al-Nusra and perhaps refusing to provide arms to the opposition, the US may be forced to intervene militarily itself. The White House already issued a warning to the Assad regime, claiming that any attempt to use chemical weapons would be a "red line" for the United States. 

Such an intervention has appeared more likely after the US stationed massive aircraft carriers with thousands of servicemen along the coast of Syria this week. The USS Dwight Eisenhower, an aircraft carrier that holds 8,000 men, arrived at the Syrian coast Tuesday. This week NATO also approved deployment of Patriot Air and Missile Defense Systems in Turkey near the northern Syrian border towns controlled by the rebels.

“The muscle is already there to be flexed,” a US official told the London Times about American preparation to intervene in the conflict, if necessary.

Congress has also opposed the Pentagon’s initiative to cut the defense budget – a $3 million trim that would reduce US military resources at a time when an intervention in Syria could be imminent.

The US now faces a choice to either support the jihadist al-Nusra Front and allow the well-equipped group to continue fighting with the rebels, or to designate them as terrorists and deal with the potentially disastrous consequences of a weakened opposition. Unnamed officials told CNN and McClatchy that the Department of State has already made its choice and that the consequences remain largely unknown.

http://fredw-catharsisours.blogspot.com/2012/12/war-watch-december-5th-syria-iran-and.html


Here is the latest......

US: Sarin bombs ready for Assad’s “go” order. Israel's odd silence

DEBKAfile Special Report December 6, 2012, 8:13 AM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  US aircraft carriers   Syrian war   Turkey   chemical weapons   Israel  Bashar Assad 

The USS Eisenhower in a lightning storm

American officials said Wednesday, Dec. 4, that they believed bombs had been made ready with sarin gas, but not yet loaded onto fighter planes and Assad had not issued the “go” order. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned President Assad once again that he would be crossing “a red line” if he used nerve gas against the country’s rebels. But “there’s little the outside world can do to stop it.”
In answer to US allegations, Syrian spokesmen reiterated that their government would not use chemical weapons against its own people.

This statement leaves wide open the possible use of lethal gas against the countries supporting the Syrian rebels, such as Turkey and Jordan. And indeed, the Assad regime has in the past referred to “external enemies” as possible targets of chemical warfare.

This locution undoubtedly covers Israel. Yet against the flood of information and warnings coming from the United States, Israel is strangely silent and its media are officially discouraged from tracking the Syrian chemical weapons menace.

Surprise was voiced in some Israeli defense and military quarters, when the prime minister, the defense minister and other key ministers traveled to Europe Wednesday for visits to Prague and Berlin, at a time when Israel’s northern border with Syria might be targeted for a chemical attack.
Although it was only a 48-hour absence - they return Friday - Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak are holding to an outward attitude of coolly controling the situation, in contrast to the Turkish government which has prepared itself for possible attack - and not only with defensive measures. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu remarked Wednesday that the Syrian regime has 700 missiles whose location, storage method and holders are no secret to Ankara. This was a veiled threat to destroy them.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said nothing more than the routine: “We are watching the Syrian chemical weapons with concern.”
DEBKAfile reported Wednesday:

The USS Eisenhower Strike Group transited the Suez Canal from the Persian Gulf Saturday, Dec. 1, sailing up to the Syrian coast Tuesday in a heavy storm, with 8 fighter bomber squadrons of Air Wing Seven on its decks and 8,000 sailors, airmen and Marines.
The USS Eisenhower group joins the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group which carries 2,500 Marines.  

Facing Syria now are 10,000 US fighting men, 70 fighter-bombers and at least 17 warships, including the three Iwo Jima amphibious craft, a guided missile cruiser and 10 destroyers and frigates.
Four of these vessels are armed with Aegis missile interceptors.
This mighty US armada brings immense pressure to bear on the beleaguered Assad regime after it survied an almost two-year buffeting by an armed uprising. Its presence indicates that the United States now stands ready for direct military intervention in the Syrian conflict when the weather permits.
Left behind in the Persian Gulf is just one US aircraft carrier, the USS Stennis and its strike group.

Welcoming NATO’s decision Tuesday, Dec. 4, to deploy Patriot missile batteries in Turkey, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday: “The protection from NATO will be three dimensional; one is the short-range Patriots, the second is the middle-range Terminal High Altitude Air Defense [THAD] system and the last is the AEGIS system, which counters missiles that can reach outside the atmosphere.”
DEBKAfile’s military sources: While the Patriot is land-based and will be deployed on the Turkish-Syrian border, the THAD and the Aegis have just reached the Syrian coast aboard the USS Eisenhower strike group.
 “With this integrated system,” said Davutoglu, Turkey will have maximum protection.”

He added: “The Syrian regime has 700 missiles,” and their location, storage method and holders are no secret to Ankara. This was the first time Ankara had made threats to destroy Syrian missiles, including any carrying chemical warheads.

and.....

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-06/us-french-troops-prepare-syria-invasion-response-chemical-weapons-threat

US, French Troops Prepare For Syria Invasion In Response To "Chemical Weapons" Threat

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/06/2012 00:28 -0500

• China
 
• France
 
• Iran
 
• Iraq
 
• Israel
 
• NBC
 
• Obama Administration
 
• SWIFT
 
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The 8 day mini war between Israel and Gaza has come and gone and any attempts at provoking a wider regional conflict, one involving Iran (if indeed this was the intention), have failed. Which means the fallback plan - Syria - is back in play. And sure enough, as both the most recent naval map update, which shows a US aircraft carrier and a big deck amphibious warfare ship, both of which house thousands of troops and numerous offensive aircraft, and an RT news flash, indicating that thousands of troops have amassed near the Syrian shore confirm, the time for a US invasion may be near. The alibi? "Chemical weapons" of mass or non-mass destruction. In other words the Iraq playbook all over again.

From RT:

The USS Eisenhower, an American aircraft carrier that holds eight fighter bomber squadrons and 8,000 men, arrived at the Syrian coast yesterday in the midst of a heavy storm, indicating US preparation for a potential ground intervention.

While the Obama administration has not announced any sort of American-led military intervention in the war-torn country, the US is now ready to launch such action “within days” if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad decides to use chemical weapons against the opposition, the Times reports.

Some have suggested that the Assad regime may use chemical weapons against the opposition fighters in the coming days or weeks.

“We have (US) special operations forces at the right posture, they don’t have to be sent,” an unnamed US official told The Australian, which suggested that US military troops are already near Syria and ready to intervene in the conflict, if necessary.

The alibi used by the "democratic" press to justify what may imminently be a land invasion? Chemical weapons:

The Syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons against its own people and is awaiting final orders from President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday.

The military has loaded the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs that could be dropped onto the Syrian people from dozens of fighter-bombers, the officials said.

As recently as Tuesday, officials had said there was as yet no evidence that the process of mixing the "precursor" chemicals had begun. But Wednesday, they said their worst fears had been confirmed: The nerve agents were locked and loaded inside the bombs.

Sarin is an extraordinarily lethal agent. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces killed 5,000 Kurds with a single sarin attack on Halabja in 1988.

U.S. officials stressed that as of now, the sarin bombs hadn't been loaded onto planes and that Assad hadn't issued a final order to use them. But if he does, one of the officials said, "there's little the outside world can do to stop it."

Tangentially, remember when Iraq was supposed to have warehouses full of "WMDs", which story ended up being a fabricated lie. But at least Turkey is ready: after all NATO has already handed over various Patriot missiles to prevent a Syrian retaliation against the ruling Assad regime.

And just to make sure the escalation is complete, the French are coming.

France is preparing its special forces for a mission in war-torn Syria, French weekly magazine Le Point reports.

The mission would only involve a relatively small amount of special forces, and a number of NATO countries — including the UK and the US — would be involved. The mission would be modelled on the Western intervention in Libya, the magazine reports.

The action appears to be in response to fears that the regime is planning on using chemical weapons in the conflict. Earlier this week one US official told reporters that it was believed Bashar al-Assad's forces had moved two key components of a deadly nerve gas in preparation for an attack (a later report refuted this, however).

Le Point says a large ground operation "is out of the question" and that a smaller action aimed largely at securing chemical weapon stockpiles.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today vowed a swift response if Assad's regime used chemical weapons.

So putting it all together, it appears that once again the imminent escalation play is one where an antagonized Syria is forced to strike back, an act which "hopefully" will get Iran involved in the fray, and from there it is smooth sailing for both Israel and the "democratic" forces of the world.

The only wild card: Russia and China, both of which have made it very clear they have quite strategic interests in the Syria region on numerous prior occasions.

Appendix A: full naval map, via Stratfor, where one can see not only aircraft carrier Eisenhower off the Syrian coast but LHD-7 Iwo Jima Big Deck Amphibious warfare ship alongside it:

http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/iran-aims-biological-warheads-at-israel/

Iran has 170 ballistic missiles aimed at Tel Aviv, many with biological warheads, WND has learned.

According to a source who served in Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and who recently defected, the Islamic regime has 170 missiles targeted at Tel Aviv from underground silos, some of which are armed with biological warheads.

The Islamic regime ruling Iran has prepared for the total destruction of Israel as well as a capability to target European capitals, he said.

As reported in the Washington Times in August, a commentary in Mashregh, the media outlet of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, confirmed that the Islamic regime not only has weapons of mass destruction but has armed its terrorist proxies with them, including Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. The commentary warned Israel that if the fighting in Syria does not stop, an all-out attack on the Jewish state will be launched and that at zero hour, Tel Aviv will be the first city to be destroyed.

The CIA has long warned about Iran’s growing missile threat, and in 2010, Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Congress of Iran’s capability of launching a salvo of missiles, even at European capitals. U.S. intelligence officials believe those missiles could be tipped with biological or chemical warheads.

A senior Iranian cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, warned then that Tel Aviv “will burn to ashes,” and the regime’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, promised “the superfluous and fake Zionist regime will disappear from the landscape of geography.”

The source, talking to WND, confirmed that Iran has made significant advances on several fronts – chemical, biological, nuclear and electronic warfare – and that the regime is looking at the deterioration in Syria and the possibility of an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities with the intent of setting Israel and the region on fire.

The regime is adamant about its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the source said, and is working on its nuclear weapons program at several sites unknown to the West. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the source said, is on the wrong track by focusing only on the Natanz and Fordo nuclear sites.

There are more than 70 North Korean military advisers and scientists working in Iran on the country’s defense projects, including work on a plutonium bomb, the source said.

The Associated Press reported exclusively last week that the Islamic regime’s scientists have worked on a design for a plutonium bomb with three times the explosive force of what was used on Hiroshima.

An exclusive report by WND revealed that a secret nuclear site, code name Valayat 1, had been constructed at an underground facility in the outskirts of Najafabad in Isfahan Province. Iranian scientists there were working on a neutron detonator and implosion system along with separating plutonium for an implosion-type fission bomb.

The source also verified the existence of the Valayat 1 nuclear bomb project and the underground facility at that site.

Days ago, Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton offered bilateral talks on Iran’s nuclear program, but Ali Saeidi, the supreme leader’s representative in the Revolutionary Guards, rejected the proposal.

“In the negotiations that America pursues, there is no positive outcome for Iran as the matters between America and Iran on the strategic level are so vast there can’t be any negotiations,” Saeidi said. “America is after its dominance of the world and will never give up its nature … surely in their negotiations, they want Iran to give up its support of Hezbollah in Lebanon, resistance in Palestine, the regional movements and worldwide Shiites.”

Khamenei, in a speech to navy commanders last week on the country’s military achievements, said, “A look at the situation and the recent events in the region and the world clearly shows the upper hand of the Islamic republic of Iran.”

A close adviser to the supreme leader, Alireza Panahian, also last week in a speech widely covered by the regime, said “victory for the faithful” is close.

“Based on the recent events and the expansion of the Islamic movement in the region … and based on logical calculation, the coming is upon us and in the coming years everything will be finished,” he said, adding that with the regime’s leadership, the coming of the last Islamic Messiah, the Shiites’ 12th Imam, is soon and a certainty. Shiites believe Mahdi’s coming will be preceded by Armageddon.

and......

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/05/15706380-syria-loads-chemical-weapons-into-bombs-military-awaits-assads-order?lite

Syria loads chemical weapons into bombs; military awaits Assad's order

By Jim Miklaszewski and M. Alex Johnson, NBC News

The Syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons against its own people and is awaiting final orders from President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday.

Andrea Mitchell, Robert Windrem, Courtney Kube and Catherine Chomiak of NBC News contributed to this report. Follow M. Alex Johnson onTwitter and Facebook.

The military has loaded the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs that could be dropped onto the Syrian people from dozens of fighter-bombers, the officials said. 

As recently as Tuesday, officials had said there was as yet no evidence that the process of mixing the "precursor" chemicals had begun. But Wednesday, they said their worst fears had been confirmed: The nerve agents were locked and loaded inside the bombs.

Sarin is an extraordinarily lethal agent. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces killed 5,000 Kurds with a single sarin attack on Halabja in 1988.

U.S. officials stressed that as of now, the sarin bombs hadn't been loaded onto planes and that Assad hadn't issued a final order to use them. But if he does, one of the officials said, "there's little the outside world can do to stop it."

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated U.S. warnings to Assad not to use chemical weapons, saying he would be crossing "a red line" if he did so.

Speaking Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Clinton said the Syrian government was on the brink of collapse, raising the prospect that "an increasingly desperate Assad regime" might turn to chemical weapons or that the banned weapons could fall into other hands.

Kevin Lamarque / AFP - Getty Images

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, said the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government was "inevitable."

"Ultimately, what we should be thinking about is a political transition in Syria and one that should start as soon as possible," Clinton said. "We believe their fall is inevitable. It is just a question of how many people have to die before that occurs."

Aides told NBC News that Clinton was expected next week to officially recognize the main opposition movement, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, with which she is scheduled to meet in Morocco. Britain, France, Turkey and some key Arab leaders have already recognized the opposition.

Fighting intensified Wednesday in the 21-month civil war, which has left 40,000 people dead. The U.N. withdrew its personnel from Damascus, saying conditions were too dangerous.

The government said this week that it wouldn't use chemical weapons on its own people after President Barack Obama warned that doing so would be "totally unacceptable."

But U.S. officials said this week that the government had ordered its Chemical Weapons Corps to "be prepared," which Washington interpreted as a directive to begin bringing together the components needed to weaponize Syria's chemical stockpiles. 

That process would involve mixing "precursor" chemicals for the deadly nerve gas sarin, which could be used in artillery shells, U.S. officials told NBC News, stressing that there was no evidence that process had as yet begun.

and.....

http://www.businessinsider.com/le-point-says-syria-intervention-coming-2012-12

French Magazine Reports That Western Militaries Have Begun Preparing For Intervention In Syria

Adam Taylor | Dec. 5, 2012, 5:42 PM | 449 | 4

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AFP

France is preparing its special forces for a mission in war-torn Syria, French weekly magazine Le Point reports.

The mission would only involve a relatively small amount of special forces, and a number of NATO countries — including the UK and the US — would be involved. The mission would be modelled on the Western intervention in Libya, the magazine reports.

The action appears to be in response to fears that the regime is planning on using chemical weapons in the conflict. Earlier this week one US official told reporters that it was believed Bashar al-Assad's forces had moved two key components of a deadly nerve gas in preparation for an attack (a later report refuted this, however).

Le Point says a large ground operation "is out of the question" and that a smaller action aimed largely at securing chemical weapon stockpiles.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today vowed a swift response if Assad's regime used chemical weapons.