Saturday update - first the link to the prior post from Fri as a lead in to where things stand....
http://fredw-catharsisours.blogspot.com/2013/08/syria-chemical-attack-update-august-23.html
Now the news of the day .....
Arguments and counter arguments as to source of alleged chemical agents , status of any investigation and cooperation of both sides.........
http://washingtonexaminer.com/syria-warns-us-not-to-intervene-militarily/article/2534673
http://www.debka.com/article/23218/The-sarin-shells-fired-on-Damascus---by-Syrian-4th-Division%E2%80%99s-155th-Brigade---were-followed-by-rockets-on-Israel-and-car-bombings-in-Lebanon-
( Debka offers its fact pointing finger at Assad... also slams Le Figaro.... )
Not a single shell or gram of poison gas is loaded for use at any of the three sites without an explicit directive from the president or his brother.
Therefore, the clamor raised by the US and French presidents, Western prime ministers and Russian leaders for an independent investigation to turn up evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria and identity of its perpetrator – the Assad regime, says the West, and a rebel provocation, according to Moscow – is nothing but playacting. The facts are known and the evidence is present. And the price for refusing to come down to earth and putting an immediate stop to this horrifying precedent may be unimaginably grim – not just for Israel and Jordan – but for the rest of the Middle East and beyond.
DEBKAfile’s military sources affirm that, just as the Assad brothers orchestrated the chemical shell attack on Syrian civilians, so too did Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah set in motion the rocket attack on Israel.
Then, on Friday night, two car bombs blew up outside Sunni mosques in the northern Lebanese town of Tripoli, killing 42 people and injuring 500.
The triple coordinated outrages added up to a dire warning from Tehran and Damascus about what they have in store for the region, and especially Syria’s neighbors, as payback for foreign intervention in the Syrian civil war.
On the subject of intervention, the French daily Le Figaro took the liberty last Thursday, Aug. 23, of lifting wholesale and publishing without credit the exclusive report carried Wednesday, Aug. 21, by DEBKAfile. We were the first publication in the world to reveal on Saturday, Aug. 17 the entry from Jordan into southern Syria of a unit of US-trained Syrian rebel commandoes, under the caption:Reported Syrian gas attack after first
In that report, DEBKAfile was also the first to expose Assad’s poison gas attack as a warning of the heavy price he would exact for intervention in the Syrian war by foreign forces or by rebels trained by foreign forces – in this case US instructors and officers based in Jordan.
The Secretary “forgot” to mention that, had the president really wanted to do something, all he had to do was keep the USS Truman aircraft carrier, which was present in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, the day of the chemical attack, from sailing out through the Suez Canal Thursday.
Except that none of these assets has so far been ordered into action.
For Options Two and Three, the attack would have to destroy all the poison shells at once before they exploded and leaked contamination across wide regions of Syria and neighboring Turkey, Israel and Jordan. The Syrian ruler is capable of having the shells’ contents mixed and armed ready for use ahead of a US attack, thus maximizing the deadly impact of lethal gases across a broad Middle East region.
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/23/un_blocking_its_own_chemical_weapons_investigation_into_syria
Posted By Colum Lynch, Noah Shachtman
http://rt.com/news/neurotoxic-symptoms-damascus-msf-947/
http://rt.com/news/rebel-tunnel-damascus-chemical-940/
http://rt.com/news/rebel-tunnel-damascus-chemical-940/
( First , the fog of War has descended and getting at the truth here will take time , patience and due to the significance of the conclusions - there must not to be rush to suspicions , the US and West can't form judgments and then seek evidence only confirming what they want to believe. )
The Iranian president, who was speaking to reporters on Saturday, expressed his “deep concerns and regret” over the ongoing situation in the region, particularly in Syria, where innocent people have been killed or affected by chemical weapons.
The government in Damascus says Takfiris have used chemical weapons on several occasions, including an attack in the region of Khan al-Assal in Aleppo Province on March 19, where over two dozen people died. A Russian-led inquiry confirmed that the militants operating in Syria had carried out the chemical attack in Khan al-Assal.
On August 21, the militants in Syria alleged that 1,300 people had been killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar.
However, the Syrian government vehemently dismissed the claim, saying the new accusations were fabricated to distract a visiting team of UN chemical weapons experts and to cover up militants’ losses.
Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011.
A very large number of the militants operating inside Syria are reportedly foreign nationals.
According to reports, the West and its regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey - are supporting the militants inside Syria.
President Rouhani further condemned the recent Israeli airstrike against Lebanon.
Israeli warplanes bombed a target near the coastal town of Naameh, between Beirut and Sidon, on Friday.
Rouhani warned that instability in the region would be detrimental to regional countries and Muslim nations and would only serve the interests of the Israeli regime.
He expressed hope that peace and stability would be restored in the region through the vigilance of the regional nations and countries that are concerned about stability in the Middle East.
They’re not only willing to buy the rebels’ version of events, they went a step further and say that the attack “likely” had direct approval from top officials in the Assad government.
Russia’s been extremely sensitive about Syria resolutions specifically because of this, however, and the reality is that there isn’t going to be a UN resolution that remotely leaves open a loophole like that. So now officials are turning to Kosovo as a “precedent.”
http://www.trust.org/item/20130823114204-aeuoa/?source=hpbreaking
http://fredw-catharsisours.blogspot.com/2013/08/syria-chemical-attack-update-august-23.html
Now the news of the day .....
Putin Responds To Syria Escalation: May "Reinforce Naval Grouping In Mediterranean" Following US Buildup
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/24/2013 - 13:08
Arguments and counter arguments as to source of alleged chemical agents , status of any investigation and cooperation of both sides.........
http://washingtonexaminer.com/syria-warns-us-not-to-intervene-militarily/article/2534673
Syria warns US not to intervene militarily
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The Syrian government accused rebels of using chemical weapons Saturday and warned the United States not to launch any military action against Damascus over an alleged chemical attack last week, saying such a move would set the Middle East ablaze.
The accusations by the regime of President Bashar Assad against opposition forces came as an international aid group said it has tallied 355 deaths from a purported chemical weapons attack on Wednesday in a suburb of the Syrian capital known as Ghouta.
Syria is intertwined in alliances with Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and Palestinian militant groups. The country also borders its longtime foe and U.S. ally Israel, making the fallout from military action unpredictable.
Violence in Syria has already spilled over the past year to Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Battle-hardened Hezbollah fighters have joined the combat alongside Assad's forces.
Meanwhile, U.S. naval units are moving closer to Syria as President Barack Obama considers a military response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by Assad's government.
U.S. defense officials told The Associated Press that the Navy had sent a fourth warship armed with ballistic missiles into the eastern Mediterranean Sea but without immediate orders for any missile launch into Syria. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss ship movements publicly.
Obama emphasized that a quick intervention in the Syrian civil war was problematic, given the international considerations that should precede a military strike. The White House said the president would meet Saturday with his national security team to consider possible next steps by the United States. Officials say once the facts are clear, Obama will make a decision about how to proceed.
Syria's Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi dismissed the possibility of an American attack, warning that such a move would risk triggering more violence in the region.
"The basic repercussion would be a ball of fire that would burn not only Syria but the whole Middle East," al-Zoubi said in an interview with Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV. "An attack on Syria would be no easy trip."
In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Abbas Arakji, warned that an American military intervention in Syria will "complicate matters."
"Sending warships will not solve the problems but will worsen the situation," Arakji said in comments carried by Iran's Arabic-language TV Al-Alam. He added that any such U.S. move does not have international backing and that Iran "rejects military solutions."
In France, Doctors Without Borders said three hospitals it supports in the eastern Damascus region reported receiving roughly 3,600 patients with "neurotoxic symptoms" over less than three hours on Wednesday morning, when the attack in the eastern Ghouta area took place.
Of those, 355 died, the Paris-based group said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday that its estimated death toll from the alleged chemical attack had reached 322, including 54 children, 82 women and dozens of fighters. It said the dead included 16 people who have not been identified.
The group said it raised its death toll from an earlier figure of 136, which had been calculated before its activists in the stricken areas met doctors, residents and saw medical reports. It said the dead "fell in the massacre committed by the Syrian regime."
Death tolls have varied wildly over the alleged attack, with Syrian anti-government activists reporting between 322 and 1,300 killed.
Al-Zoubi blamed the rebels for the chemical attacks in Ghouta, saying that the Syrian government had proof of their responsibility but without giving details. "The rockets were fired from their positions and fell on civilians. They are responsible," he said.
With the pressure increasing, Syria's state media accused rebels in the contested district of Jobar near Damascus of using chemical weapons against government troops Saturday.
State TV broadcast images of plastic jugs, gas masks, vials of an unspecified medication, explosives and other items that it said were seized from rebel hideouts Saturday.
One barrel had "made in Saudi Arabia" stamped on it. The TV report also showed medicines said to be produced by a Qatari-German medical supplies company. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are strong supporters of the Syrian rebels. The report could not be immediately verified.
An army statement issued late Saturday said the discovery of the weapons "is clear evidence that these gangs are using chemical weapons against our people and soldiers with help from foreign sides."
The claims could muddy the debate about who was responsible for Wednesday's alleged gas attack, which spurred demands for an independent investigation and renewed talk of potential international military action if chemical weapons were used.
Just hours before the state media reports, the U.N. disarmament chief arrived in Damascus to press Assad's regime to allow U.N. experts to investigate the alleged Wednesday attack. The regime has denied allegations it was responsible, calling them "absolutely baseless" and suggesting they are an attempt to discredit the government.
The U.S., Britain, France and Russia have urged the Assad regime and the rebels fighting to overthrow him to cooperate with the United Nations and allow a team of experts already in Syria to look into the latest purported use of chemical agents. The U.N. secretary-general dispatched Angela Kane, the high representative for disarmament affairs, to push for a speedy investigation into Wednesday's purported attack. She did not speak to reporters upon her arrival in Damascus Saturday.
The state news agency said several government troops who took part in the Jobar offensive experienced severe trouble breathing or even "suffocation" after "armed terrorist groups used chemical weapons." It was not clear what was meant by "suffocation," and the report mentioned no fatalities among the troops.
"The Syrian Army achieved major progress in the past days and for that reason, the terrorist groups used chemical weapons as their last card," state TV said. The government refers to rebels fighting to topple Assad as "terrorists."
State TV also broadcast images of a Syrian army officer, wearing a surgical mask, telling reporters wearing similar masks that soldiers were subjected to poisonous attack in Jobar. He spoke inside the depot where the alleged confiscated products were placed.
"Our troops did not suffer body wounds," the officer said. "I believe terrorist groups used special substances that are poisonous in an attempt to affect this advance."
Al-Mayadeen aired interviews with two soldiers hospitalized for possible chemical weapons attack. The two appeared unharmed but were undergoing tests.
"We were advancing and heard an explosion that was not very strong," a soldier said from his bed. "Then there was a strange smell, my eyes and head ached and I struggled to breathe." The other soldier also said he experienced trouble breathing after the explosion.
Al-Mayadeen TV, which has a reporter embedded with the troops in the area, said some 50 soldiers were rushed to Damascus hospitals for treatment and that it was not yet known what type of gas the troops were subjected too.
In Turkey, top Syrian rebel commander Salim Idris told reporters that opposition forces did not use chemical weapons on Saturday and that "the regime is lying."
For days, the government has been trying to counter rebel allegations that the regime used chemical weapons on civilians in rebel-held areas of eastern Damascus, arguing that opposition fighters themselves were responsible for that attack.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius dismissed the Syrian government's claims.
"All the information we have is converging to indicate there was a chemical massacre in Syria, near Damascus, and that Bashar Assad's regime was behind it," Fabius told reporters during a visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah. He did not elaborate.
France has suggested that force could be used against Syria if Assad's regime was proven to have used chemical arms.
The new talk of potential military action in in the country has made an independent investigation by U.N. inspectors critical to determine what exactly transpired.
The U.N. experts already in Syria are tasked with investigating three earlier purported chemical attacks in the country: one in the village of Khan al-Assal outside the northern city of Aleppo in March, as well as two other locations that have been kept secret for security reasons.
It took months of negotiations between the U.N. and Damascus before an agreement was struck to allow the 20-member team into Syria to investigate. Its mandate is limited to those three sites, however, and it is only charged with determining whether chemical weapons were used, not who used them.
Leaders of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group on Saturday vowed retaliation for the alleged chemical weapons attack.
From Istanbul, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, Ahmad Al-Jarba, also criticized the lack of response to the attack by the United Nations and the international community, saying the UN was discrediting itself.
"It does not reach the ethical and legal response that Syrians expect," he said. "As a matter of fact we can describe it as a shame."
http://www.debka.com/article/23218/The-sarin-shells-fired-on-Damascus---by-Syrian-4th-Division%E2%80%99s-155th-Brigade---were-followed-by-rockets-on-Israel-and-car-bombings-in-Lebanon-
( Debka offers its fact pointing finger at Assad... also slams Le Figaro.... )
In the space of 48 hours, the Assad regime, Iran and Hizballah launched a three-point offensive against foreign intervention, DEBKAfile reports. Here are some facts: The sarin nerve gas atrocity of Wednesday, Aug. 21, alleged to have claimed more than 1,000 lives, was the work of the 155th Brigade of the Syrian army’s 4th Division, headed by President Bashar Asad’s younger brother Gen. Maher Assad.
The poison gas shells were fired from the big Mount Kalmun army base south of Damascus, one of the three repositories of Syria’s chemical weapons. In response to a demand from Moscow last December, Assad collected his chemical assets in three depots. The other two are Dummar, a suburb 5 kilometers outside Damascus, and the Al-Safira air base, west of Aleppo.
Not a single shell or gram of poison gas is loaded for use at any of the three sites without an explicit directive from the president or his brother.
Therefore, the clamor raised by the US and French presidents, Western prime ministers and Russian leaders for an independent investigation to turn up evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria and identity of its perpetrator – the Assad regime, says the West, and a rebel provocation, according to Moscow – is nothing but playacting. The facts are known and the evidence is present. And the price for refusing to come down to earth and putting an immediate stop to this horrifying precedent may be unimaginably grim – not just for Israel and Jordan – but for the rest of the Middle East and beyond.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu commented Thursday, Aug. 22 that Iran is using Syria as its testing ground while closely monitoring international responses to its actions.
His remark followed the four Grad rockets fired on northern Israel the day after the chemical attack in East Damascus. His words were scarcely noticed, mainly because Israel’s own spokesmen were busy spreading a blanket of disinformation over the attack, attributing it vaguely to “Global Jihad” (whatever that is).
DEBKAfile’s military sources affirm that, just as the Assad brothers orchestrated the chemical shell attack on Syrian civilians, so too did Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah set in motion the rocket attack on Israel.
By good fortune, the two which exploded in built-up areas caused damage but no casualties and a third was intercepted by Iron Dome.
Nasrallah had his disposal two Palestinian terrorist groups functioning in Lebanon and Syria under direct Iranian command. They are the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian – General Command (PFLP-GC) and Jihad Islami – both of them eager to attack Israel.
Then, on Friday night, two car bombs blew up outside Sunni mosques in the northern Lebanese town of Tripoli, killing 42 people and injuring 500.
The triple coordinated outrages added up to a dire warning from Tehran and Damascus about what they have in store for the region, and especially Syria’s neighbors, as payback for foreign intervention in the Syrian civil war.
On the subject of intervention, the French daily Le Figaro took the liberty last Thursday, Aug. 23, of lifting wholesale and publishing without credit the exclusive report carried Wednesday, Aug. 21, by DEBKAfile. We were the first publication in the world to reveal on Saturday, Aug. 17 the entry from Jordan into southern Syria of a unit of US-trained Syrian rebel commandoes, under the caption:Reported Syrian gas attack after first
US-trained rebel incursion from Jordan.
In that report, DEBKAfile was also the first to expose Assad’s poison gas attack as a warning of the heavy price he would exact for intervention in the Syrian war by foreign forces or by rebels trained by foreign forces – in this case US instructors and officers based in Jordan.
CBS News reported Friday that US and Israel intelligence monitoring known chemical weapons sites detected activity there 20 minutes before the chemical shells were fired Wednesday. Those agencies were therefore on top of valuable advance information, but did nothing to stop - or even warn against – the coming poison gas attack.
Washington and other Western capitals as well as Israel continued to circle around reality Friday and Saturday, when Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel let it be known that US warships had been sent to the region for possible cruise missile attacks, in case the president decided on action against Syria.
The Secretary “forgot” to mention that, had the president really wanted to do something, all he had to do was keep the USS Truman aircraft carrier, which was present in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, the day of the chemical attack, from sailing out through the Suez Canal Thursday.
Furthermore, America doesn’t need to send more warships to the region for possible attacks on Syria. It holds plenty of assets at US air and missile bases crisscrossing the Middle East, southern and central Europe and the Persian Gulf. All are fully capable of conducting a variety of operations against Syria without bringing in extra warships.
Except that none of these assets has so far been ordered into action.
What could the Obama administration do if it was so minded?
DEBKAfile’s exclusive military sources described three options available: One: Striking the Syrian unit which perpetrated the poison gas last Wednesday east of Damascus. Two: Destroying the Syrian army’s three chemical weapons depots. Or Three: Coordinated attacks on the first two targets.
For Options Two and Three, the attack would have to destroy all the poison shells at once before they exploded and leaked contamination across wide regions of Syria and neighboring Turkey, Israel and Jordan. The Syrian ruler is capable of having the shells’ contents mixed and armed ready for use ahead of a US attack, thus maximizing the deadly impact of lethal gases across a broad Middle East region.
Notwithstanding the grave risks of action, the consequences of inaction by the US and Israel would be worse: It would give Damascus and Tehran a green light for escalating their viciousness – and not just against the Syrian people. If the barbarity is not stopped, they will get away with making nerve gas and other poison substances acceptable weapons for fighting their foes. Lebanon and Israel are in extreme jeopardy.
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/23/un_blocking_its_own_chemical_weapons_investigation_into_syria
Posted By Colum Lynch, Noah Shachtman 
Friday, August 23, 2013 - 1:45 PM 
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The world's governments are demanding that Syria immediately let United Nations inspectors onto the scene of alleged chemical attacks that killed as many as 1,800. But even if Bashar al-Assad's regime gave the inspectors permission to visit the disputed battlefields right now, they still couldn't leave. The U.N. is blocking its own inspectors, at least for the moment.
Kevin Kennedy, a retired U.S. Marine colonel who heads the U.N. Department of Safety and Security, told a small group of reporters at U.N. headquarters on Friday that he hasn't given the inspection team a green light to visit the site of the supposed attacks. His office is still carrying out a security assessment to see if it is safe enough to go.
"It's an active war zone in Damascus," said Kennedy, who has gained extensive experience managing U.N. humanitarian operations in the world's deadliest trouble spots over the past 20 years. "I was there a few months ago: you hear every day impacts, shells, there might be 10 in a day, you might hear 80 in a day. You can see airstrikes, you can see artillery. You get shot at, I was only there for 3 and ½ days as a visitor and my car was shot, we were shot at twice," including once by an unidentified sniper.
Britain and France issued strong statements in support of allowing the U.N. investigators to visit the Damascus suburb where locals say hundreds, and possibly thousands, were killed with nerve gas. "We do believe that this is a chemical attack by the Assad regime on a large scale," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said during an interview on Friday. Even the Assad regime's biggest ally, Russia, is now calling on "the Syrian government to cooperate with the U.N. chemical experts," as Moscow's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
But Kennedy said it's not quite that simple. "There's places in Syria we've not gone to for months simply because it's just not safe to go and we can't mitigate the risk," he said.
On Thursday night, U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon pleaded with the Syrian government to "extend its full cooperation so that the mission can swiftly investigate this most recent incident."
"This is a grave challenge to the entire international community," he added. "I can think of no good reason what any party-either government or opposition forces-would decline this opportunity to get to the truth of the matter."
Meanwhile, his inspectors wait -- as the world tries to figure out why either side in Syria's awful civil war would've launched a chemical attack with U.N. inspectors so close by. (Russia is hinting at rebel responsibility for the attack, while the U.S. and its allies are blaming Assad's forces.) "We're still trying to work out why the regime chose to do it on this scale with the U.N. in spitting distance, but there are a couple of working theories," an American intelligence official told The Cable. "One is that this was planned well in advance and no one called it off at the last minute. Another is that most of the regime military assets are off fighting in the north of the country, so they had to resort to using chemical weapons as a force multiplier" -- a way to fight off large numbers of rebels with a comparative handful of troops.
In recent weeks, some military analysts have noted the opposition gaining strength in and around the Damascus suburbs. Perhaps Assad noted it as well, the thinking goes, and decided to try to put an end to it.
The U.N. chemical weapons team, headed by Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, arrived in Damascus on Sunday to begin a two-week investigation into more than a dozen allegations of chemical weapons use. Sellstrom, who has received assurances from the Syrian government that he can visit three of those sites, has appealed to the Assad regime to let his team visit a cluster of towns in the suburbs of Damascus to test claims by opposition figures that more than 1,000 civilians were killed in a chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government. Syrian officials have dismissed the claims as "fabricated," noting that conducted a chemical weapons strike while U.N. weapons inspectors were in the county would defy logic.
But outside observers, reviewing YouTube videos of the attacks and the accounts of the doctors who treated the victims, are becoming increasingly convinced that chemical weapons were used. "All of this evidence does suggest some kind of chemical agent," Charles Duelfer, the former chief weapons inspector for the United States, told Al Jazeera America on Thursday night. "These are not the effect of conventional munitions. There are no external wounds. There are all the signature symptoms of nerve damage."
Now it's up to the U.N. inspectors to prove it. In a sign that Sellstrom has yet to prevail upon the Syrian government to visit the sites, Ban dispatched his top disarmament chief, Angela Kane, to Damascus to make the case for access. In the meantime, Reuters reporters, Assad opponents have managed to "smuggle tissue samples to U.N. inspectors from victims of Wednesday's reported mass poisoning."
Kennedy said his department "will do a security risk assessment based on what we know, what we can see....We will make a recommendation whether, and this goes for any mission, not so much the Syrian mission, if it is a go or a no go." Asked if it were possible the inspectors would not get a green light, he said "we'll see what the security assessment says about that when it comes out. It's a moveable feast."
http://rt.com/news/neurotoxic-symptoms-damascus-msf-947/
3,600 patients with neurotoxic symptoms in Damascus hospitals on Wednesday – Doctors Without Borders
Nearly 3,600 patients with neurotoxic symptoms were treated in three Damascus hospitals on the day a toxic gas attack was reported, say Doctors Without Borders (MSF). 355 patients were reportedly pronounced dead.
The international medical humanitarian organization said it received information from hospitals it has been supporting in Syria.
“Medical staff working in these facilities provided detailed information to MSF doctors regarding large numbers of patients arriving with symptoms including convulsions, excess saliva, pinpoint pupils, blurred vision and respiratory distress,” MSF director of operations, Dr. Bart Janssens said in a press-releasepublished on the organization’s webpage.
However, MSF could not “scientifically confirm the cause of these symptoms”.
However, MSF could not “scientifically confirm the cause of these symptoms”.
“The reported symptoms of the patients, in addition to the epidemiological pattern of the events—characterized by the massive influx of patients in a short period of time, the origin of the patients, and the contamination of medical and first aid workers—strongly indicate mass exposure to a neurotoxic agent,”Janssens says in the report.
At the same time, he says they are unable to “establish who is responsible for the attack”.
Hospitals have been reportedly treating patients with atropine, an antidote drug used to cure nerve gas poisoning that MSF supply to the facilities.
It follows from the report that MSF will now replenish “empty stocks” and deliver additional medical supplies.
“In addition to 1,600 vials of atropine supplied over recent months, MSF has now dispatched 7,000 additional vials to facilities in the area. Treatment of neurotoxic patients is now being fully integrated into MSF’s medical strategies in all its programs in Syria,” stated Janssens.
It follows from the report that MSF will now replenish “empty stocks” and deliver additional medical supplies.
“In addition to 1,600 vials of atropine supplied over recent months, MSF has now dispatched 7,000 additional vials to facilities in the area. Treatment of neurotoxic patients is now being fully integrated into MSF’s medical strategies in all its programs in Syria,” stated Janssens.
The revelation by MSF happened within a week of a UN investigative team entering the country to examine three different sites of alleged chemical weapons usage. It was also just hours after UN disarmament chief Angela Kane arrived in the Syrian capital of Damascus to apply pressure on the Syrian government to grant access to the site of the reported attack in the Damascus suburbs on Wednesday.
Syria is yet to give its assent to the UN inspectors currently in the country, who have not yet visited the sites of the alleged assault.
However, the Syrian government said on Thursday that in light of the event it was ready to engage in“maximum” cooperation with UN experts, according to Russia’s foreign ministry.
Both the US and France have joined the chorus of accusations that Bashar al-Assad's forces carried out the attack in the eastern suburbs of Damascus on Wednesday, with the US cautiously mulling military intervention. Obama said that he was weighing his options and has described it as “a big event of grave concern.”
A report released on Saturday indicated that the Pentagon was already making “initial preparations” for a cruise missile attack on Syrian government forces.
Moscow has commented that it was monitoring events surrounding the alleged attack. “We’re getting more new evidence that this criminal act was of a provocative nature,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich, said in a statement on Friday.
“In particular, there are reports circulating on the Internet that the materials of the incident and accusations against government troops had been posted for several hours before the so-called attack. Thus, it was a pre-planned action,” he said.
Syria is yet to give its assent to the UN inspectors currently in the country, who have not yet visited the sites of the alleged assault.
However, the Syrian government said on Thursday that in light of the event it was ready to engage in“maximum” cooperation with UN experts, according to Russia’s foreign ministry.
Both the US and France have joined the chorus of accusations that Bashar al-Assad's forces carried out the attack in the eastern suburbs of Damascus on Wednesday, with the US cautiously mulling military intervention. Obama said that he was weighing his options and has described it as “a big event of grave concern.”
A report released on Saturday indicated that the Pentagon was already making “initial preparations” for a cruise missile attack on Syrian government forces.
Moscow has commented that it was monitoring events surrounding the alleged attack. “We’re getting more new evidence that this criminal act was of a provocative nature,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich, said in a statement on Friday.
“In particular, there are reports circulating on the Internet that the materials of the incident and accusations against government troops had been posted for several hours before the so-called attack. Thus, it was a pre-planned action,” he said.
http://rt.com/news/rebel-tunnel-damascus-chemical-940/
Syrian rebels have used chemical weapons against regime forces in the Damascus suburb of Jobar, where soldiers discovered stockpiles of toxic poisoning antidotes, state media reports.
According to SANA citing “an official source” suffocation cases among army soldiers have been reported.
The source told the agency that army unit pushed into the area, where soldiers were attacked, and seized a warehouse containing material labeled 'Made in KSA' as well as a large number of protective masks.
In addition, the army discovered a stockpile of chemical poisoning antidotes with 'The Qatari-German Company for Pharmaceutical Industries' label on them.
Clashes have been reported between rebels and regime forces in Jobar.
Rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad accuse government forces of attacking people in the Damascus suburbs with toxic gas on Wednesday.
The ruling regime has dismissed the accusations.
However, some Western powers suspect Assad’s forces to be behind the attack that the opposition claims killed anywhere between ‘dozens’ to ‘1,300’.
France says all indications show that Syrian army troops are responsible for what it called a "chemical massacre".
"All the information at our disposal converges to indicate that there was a chemical massacre near Damascus and that the Bashar regime is responsible," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Saturday.
"All the information at our disposal converges to indicate that there was a chemical massacre near Damascus and that the Bashar regime is responsible," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Saturday.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has suggested that "the Assad regime has something to hide" as the UN team, which is “20 minutes away” from the site of the recent attack, “have not been able to” go there and investigate.
“Why else have they not allowed the UN team to go there?” Hague said.
The US and European security sources have made a preliminary assessment that the Syrian government used chemical weapon, but still said they are seeking conclusive proof, which could take days, weeks or longer to gather.
The White House said on Saturday that a ‘range of options’ is available on Syria if it’s proven that Assad’s forces used chemical weapons.
"We have a range of options available, and we are going to act very deliberately so that we're making decisions consistent with our national interest, as well as our assessment of what can advance our objectives in Syria," the White House official said. "Once we ascertain the facts, the President will make an informed decision about how to respond," the official added.
President Obama is set to meet with his national security team later on in the day to discuss possible options.
In response, Iran has warned the US against possible military intervention in Syria, saying it will fuel tension across the region.
In response, Iran has warned the US against possible military intervention in Syria, saying it will fuel tension across the region.
"Iran has announced several times that there is no military solution to the Syrian crisis, these provocative measures and moves make regional issues more complicated and fuel tensions," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Araqchi said.
"The Syrian problem could be resolved only through a peaceful solution and there is no international permit for military meddling in Syria," he added.
FM said there is evidence showing that terrorist groups and rebels have been using chemical weapons against Syrian civilians.
UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane arrived in Syria to try to get access for the team of international inspectors to work at the site in the Damascus suburbs.
The UN investigative team entered the country last Sunday to examine and investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons in three different locations, as it was agreed with President Bashar Assad’s government.
Following Wednesday attack, UN inspectors requested access to the site “without delays”.
The Syrian government said that it was ready to engage in “maximum” cooperation with UN experts, according to Russia’s foreign ministry.
On Friday the Syrian opposition said they will ensure the safety of UN chemical weapons experts as they pass through rebel-controlled areas, adding that their successful arrival at the site of an alleged gas attack near Damascus within 48 hours was "critical."
The Lawless Dictator
from K . Denninger......
from K . Denninger......
http://rt.com/news/rebel-tunnel-damascus-chemical-940/
( First , the fog of War has descended and getting at the truth here will take time , patience and due to the significance of the conclusions - there must not to be rush to suspicions , the US and West can't form judgments and then seek evidence only confirming what they want to believe. )
Syrian soldiers find chemical agents in rebel tunnels near Damascus- state TV
Syrian army soldiers have found chemical agents when they entered rebel tunnels in Damascus suburb of Jobar, Syrian TV reports, adding that some of them started suffocating.
Soldiers "entered the terrorists’ tunnels and saw chemical agents," state television quoted a "news source" as saying. "In some cases, soldiers started suffocating while entering Jobar," it said.
"Ambulances came to rescue the people who were suffocating," it added.
"Ambulances came to rescue the people who were suffocating," it added.
The source added that army troops were preparing to storm the suburb where rebels are believed to be based, Reuters reports.
Rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad accuse government forces of attacking people in the Damascus suburbs with toxic gas. At the same time, the ruling regime has dismissed the accusations.
However, some Western powers suspect Assad’s forces to be behind the attack that the opposition claims killed anywhere between ‘dozens’ to ‘1,300’.
France says that all indications show that Syrian army troops are responsible for what it called a"chemical massacre".
"All the information at our disposal converges to indicate that there was a chemical massacre near Damascus and that the Bashar regime is responsible," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Saturday.
"All the information at our disposal converges to indicate that there was a chemical massacre near Damascus and that the Bashar regime is responsible," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Saturday.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has suggested that "the Assad regime has something to hide" as the UN team, which is “20 minutes away” from the site of the recent attack, “have not been able to” go there and investigate.
“Why else have they not allowed the UN team to go there?” Hague said.
The White House said on Saturday that a ‘range of options’ is available on Syria if it’s proven that Assad’s forces used chemical weapons.
The US and European security sources have made a preliminary assessment that the Syrian government used chemical weapon, but still said they are seeking conclusive proof, which could take days, weeks or longer to gather.
On Saturday, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane, arrived in Syria to try to get access for the team of international inspectors to work at the site in the Damascus suburbs.
On Wednesday a gas attack in Damascus suburbs was reported by opposition activists.
Next day the UN inspectors requested access to the site “without delays” on Thursday in order to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons in attacks in the country.
The Syrian government said that it was ready to engage in “maximum” cooperation with UN experts, according to Russia’s foreign ministry.
On Friday the Syrian opposition said they will ensure the safety of UN chemical weapons experts as they pass through rebel-controlled areas, adding that their successful arrival at the site of an alleged gas attack near Damascus within 48 hours was ‘critical.’
The UN investigative team entered the country last Sunday. Three weeks ago an agreement was reached with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government regarding the three different locations that were to be examined by the mission.
and....
http://www.infowars.com/experts-doubt-syrian-chemical-weapons-claims/
Experts Doubt Syrian Chemical Weapons Claims
Washington’s Blog
August 24, 2013
August 24, 2013
CBS News reports that the U.S. is finalizing plans for war against Syria – and positioning ships to launchcruise missiles against the Syrian government – based on the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people.
The last time the U.S. blamed the Syrian government for a chemical weapons attack, that claim was was debunked.
But is the claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people true this time?
It’s not surprising that Syria’s close ally – Russia – is expressing doubt. Agence France-Presse (AFP)notes:
Russia, which has previously said it has proof of chemical weapons use by the rebels, expressed deep scepticism about the opposition’s claims.The foreign ministry said the timing of the allegations as UN inspectors began their work “makes us think that we are once again dealing with a premeditated provocation.”
But Russia isn’t the only doubter.
AFP reports:
“At the moment, I am not totally convinced because the people that are helping them are without any protective clothing and without any respirators,” said Paula Vanninen, director of Verifin, the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention.“In a real case, they would also be contaminated and would also be having symptoms.”John Hart, head of the Chemical and Biological Security Project at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said he had not seen the telltale evidence in the eyes of the victims that would be compelling evidence of chemical weapons use.“Of the videos that I’ve seen for the last few hours, none of them show pinpoint pupils… this would indicate exposure to organophosphorus nerve agents,” he said.Gwyn Winfield, editor of CBRNe World magazine, which specialises in chemical weapons issues, said the evidence did not suggest that the chemicals used were of the weapons-grade that the Syrian army possesses in its stockpiles.“We’re not seeing reports that doctors and nurses… are becoming fatalities, so that would suggest that the toxicity of it isn’t what we would consider military sarin. It may well be that it is a lower-grade,” Winfield told AFP.
Haaretz reports:
Western experts on chemical warfare who have examined at least part of the footage are skeptical that weapons-grade chemical substances were used, although they all emphasize that serious conclusions cannot be reached without thorough on-site examination.Dan Kaszeta, a former officer of the U.S. Army’s Chemical Corps and a leading private consultant, pointed out a number of details absent from the footage so far: “None of the people treating the casualties or photographing them are wearing any sort of chemical-warfare protective gear,” he says, “and despite that, none of them seem to be harmed.” This would seem to rule out most types of military-grade chemical weapons, including the vast majority of nerve gases, since these substances would not evaporate immediately, especially if they were used in sufficient quantities to kill hundreds of people, but rather leave a level of contamination on clothes and bodies which would harm anyone coming in unprotected contact with them in the hours after an attack. In addition, he says that “there are none of the other signs you would expect to see in the aftermath of a chemical attack, such as intermediate levels of casualties, severe visual problems, vomiting and loss of bowel control.”Steve Johnson, a leading researcher on the effects of hazardous material exposure at England’s Cranfield University who has worked with Britain’s Ministry of Defense on chemical warfare issues, agrees that “from the details we have seen so far, a large number of casualties over a wide area would mean quite a pervasive dispersal. With that level of chemical agent, you would expect to see a lot of contamination on the casualties coming in, and it would affect those treating them who are not properly protected. We are not seeing that here.”Additional questions also remain unanswered, especially regarding the timing of the attack, being that it occurred on the exact same day that a team of UN inspectors was in Damascus to investigate earlier claims of chemical weapons use. It is also unclear what tactical goal the Syrian army would have been trying to achieve, when over the last few weeks it has managed to push back the rebels who were encroaching on central areas of the capital. But if this was not a chemical weapons attack, what then caused the deaths of so many people without any external signs of trauma?***The Syrian rebels (and perhaps other players in the region) have a clear interest in presenting this as the largest chemical attack by the army loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad to date, even if the cause was otherwise, especially while the UN inspectors are in the country. It is also in their interest to do so whilst U.S. President Barack Obama remains reluctant to commit any military support to the rebels, when only the crossing of a “red line” could convince him to change his policy.The rebels and the doctors on the scene may indeed believe that chemical weapons were used, since they fear such an attack, but they may not have the necessary knowledge and means to make such a diagnosis. The European Union demanded Wednesday that the UN inspectors be granted access to the new sites of alleged chemical attacks, but since this is not within the team’s mandate, it is unlikely that the Syrian government will do so.
Stephen Johnson, an expert in weapons and chemical explosives at Cranfield Forensic Institute, said that the video footage looked suspect:
There are, within some of the videos, examples which seem a little hyper-real, and almost as if they’ve been set up. Which is not to say that they are fake but it does cause some concern. Some of the people with foaming, the foam seems to be too white, too pure, and not consistent with the sort of internal injury you might expect to see, which you’d expect to be bloodier or yellower.
Chemical and biological weapons researcher Jean Pascal Zanders said that the footage appears to show victims of asphyxiation, which is not consistent with the use of mustard gas or the nerve agents VX or sarin:
I’m deliberately not using the term chemical weapons here,” he said, adding that the use of “industrial toxicants” was a more likely explanation.
Michael Rivero asks:
1. Why would Syria’s Assad invite United Nations chemical weapons inspectors to Syria, then launch a chemical weapons attack against women and children on the very day they arrive, just miles from where they are staying?2. If Assad were going to use chemical weapons, wouldn’t he use them against the hired mercenary army trying to oust him? What does he gain attacking women and children? Nothing! The gain is all on the side of the US Government desperate to get the war agenda going again.As I type these words, US trained and equipped forces are already across the border into Syria, and US naval forces are sailing into position to launch a massive cruise missile attack into Syria that will surely kill more Syrians than were claimed to have died in the chemical attack.
Last time there was a chemical weapon attack in Syria, Bush administration office Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson said that he thought Israel might have given chemical weapons to the Syrian rebels to frame the government.
British MP George Galloway just floated the same theory in regards to the new chemical weapon attack.
Of course, we don’t know who carried out the attack, or what weapon was used.
But given the well-documented fact that the U.S. has been planning regime change in Syria for 20 years straight – and planned to use false ploys for 50 years – it is worth being skeptical until all of the evidence is in.
Indeed, many are asking whether this is Iraq War 2.0. For example, the Independent writes:
Pictures showing that the Syrian army used chemical weapons against rebel-held Eastern Ghouta just east of Damascus are … likely to be viewed sceptically because the claims so much resemble those made about Saddam Hussein’s possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) before the US and British invasion of Iraq in 2003.***Like the Iraqi opposition to Saddam, who provided most of the evidence of WMDs, the Syrian opposition has every incentive to show the Syrian government deploying chemical weapons in order to trigger foreign intervention.***But the obvious fact that for the Syrian government to use chemical weapons would be much against their own interests does not prove it did not happen. Governments and armies do stupid things. But it is difficult to imagine any compelling reason why they should do so since they have plenty of other means of killing people in Eastern Ghouta, such as heavy artillery or small arms, which they regularly use.***The evidence so far for the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian army is second-hand and comes from a biased source.
Blood rush from US , France and UK very unseemly....
http://rt.com/news/us-missile-attack-syria-929/
( There is no need for a mad rush to re-examine military options when it has yet to been established that a chemical attack occurred , let alone who is responsible for same . )
US readies possible missile strike against Syria - report
Despite President Obama cautioning against intervention in Syria, the Pentagon is making “initial preparations” for a cruise missile attack on Syrian government forces, according to a new report.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey is expected to present options for such a strike at a White House meeting on Saturday, CBS News reported on Friday.
US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel suggested Friday naval forces are moving in position closer to Syria in case Obama chooses action.
"The Defense Department has a responsibility to provide the president with options for contingencies, and that requires positioning our forces, positioning our assets, to be able to carry out different options — whatever options the president might choose," Hagel said, adding a decision must be made quickly given “there may be another (chemical) attack.”
Meanwhile, a defense official, cited by Reuters, said on Friday the US Navy was expanding its Mediterranean presence with a fourth cruise-missile ship, the USS Mahan. Though the source stressed to Reuters the Navy did not have orders to prepare for military operations against Syria.
The ship was due to head back to the United States, but the commander of the US Sixth Fleet decided to maintain the ship in the region.
All four ships are capable of launching long-range, subsonic cruise missiles to reach land targets.
President Barack Obama is under renewed pressure to take action following the emergence of footage of what appears to be the aftermath of a toxic agent attack in a Damascus suburb on Wednesday. The forces of President Bashar Assad were assaulting a rebel stronghold in the district at the time, but deny responsibility. Moscow, which has maintained close ties with the regime, called the incident a rebel “provocation” possibly designed to derail upcoming Geneva peace talks.
Though the Pentagon will present plans for potential action on Saturday, as CBS reported, President Obama has final say on any further developments.
Questioned on the continuing upheaval in Syria and Egypt during a CNN interview Friday, Obama said the United States should be wary of “being drawn into very expensive, difficult, costly interventions that actually breed more resentment in the region.”
Obama went on to express reservations for becoming involved in the 30-month Syrian conflict due to a lack of international consensus.
"If the US goes in and attacks another country without a UN mandate and without clear evidence that can be presented, then there are questions in terms of whether international law supports it, [and] do we have the coalition to make it work?” said Obama.
Despite his cautious tone, Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice said via Twitter, “What is Bashar al Assad hiding? The world is demanding an independent investigation of Wednesday’s apparent CW attack. Immediately.”
Adding to the rhetoric in Washington, Sen. John McCain said that if the administration was to “let this go on,” it was “writing a blank check to other brutal dictators around the world if they want to use chemical weapons."
The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee also spoke out in support of a strike in Syria, writing to Obama of the need to respond to the latest alleged outrage.
"If we, in concert with our allies, do not respond to Assad's murderous uses of weapons of mass destruction, malevolent countries and bad actors around the world will see a green light where one was never intended," Rep. Eliot Engel wrote on Friday.
Engel has been a proponent of a more aggressive approach to Assad’s government.
"And, we can do this with no boots on the ground, from stand-off distances," he added in the letter. "I know that your Administration is wrestling with these very complex issues, but I believe that we, as Americans, have a moral obligation to step in without delay and stop the slaughter."
Obama insisted to CNN that while the United States remains “the one indispensable nation” in international diplomacy, he suggested that perhaps this was one conflict where the world should not look to Washington for a definitive answer.
"The notion that the US can somehow solve what is a sectarian complex problem inside of Syria sometimes is overstated," said the president.
The White House later released a statement confirming Obama’s words, and emphasizing that the US has no plans to put “boots on the ground.”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/24/320239/rouhani-censures-chemical-weapons-use/
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has strongly condemned the use of chemical weapons, urging the international community to spare no effort in preventing the use of such arms in all parts of the world, particularly in Syria.
The Iranian president, who was speaking to reporters on Saturday, expressed his “deep concerns and regret” over the ongoing situation in the region, particularly in Syria, where innocent people have been killed or affected by chemical weapons.
The government in Damascus says Takfiris have used chemical weapons on several occasions, including an attack in the region of Khan al-Assal in Aleppo Province on March 19, where over two dozen people died. A Russian-led inquiry confirmed that the militants operating in Syria had carried out the chemical attack in Khan al-Assal.
On August 21, the militants in Syria alleged that 1,300 people had been killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar.
However, the Syrian government vehemently dismissed the claim, saying the new accusations were fabricated to distract a visiting team of UN chemical weapons experts and to cover up militants’ losses.
Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011.
A very large number of the militants operating inside Syria are reportedly foreign nationals.
According to reports, the West and its regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey - are supporting the militants inside Syria.
President Rouhani further condemned the recent Israeli airstrike against Lebanon.
“The airstrike by the Zionist regime (Israel) on Lebanon under the ongoing circumstances is also condemned and this matter shows that enemies have hatched a big plot against us and the Middle East, which is more obvious in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt than in other places,” the Iranian chief executive said.
Israeli warplanes bombed a target near the coastal town of Naameh, between Beirut and Sidon, on Friday.
Rouhani warned that instability in the region would be detrimental to regional countries and Muslim nations and would only serve the interests of the Israeli regime.
He expressed hope that peace and stability would be restored in the region through the vigilance of the regional nations and countries that are concerned about stability in the Middle East.
No Proof, But Western Officials Convinced of Syria ‘Chemical Attack’
Rebels Agree to Let Investigators Into Site
by Jason Ditz, August 23, 2013
There’s still no real proof and UN inspectors haven’t even gotten to the site, but Western officials say they have “little or no doubt” that Wednesday’s Ghouta incident was a chemical weapons attack.
They’re not only willing to buy the rebels’ version of events, they went a step further and say that the attack “likely” had direct approval from top officials in the Assad government.
The Obama Administration is calling for a “full investigation” by UN investigators, and the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), one of the rebel factions, agreed to “guarantee the safety” of investigators.
Other rebels say they’re trying to smuggle evidence to the UN, but they’re already downplaying the prospect of it amounting to anything, saying they haven’t got much equipment and are constantly fighting the Syrian government so their evidence could be “damaged” en route.
With Turkey and France already calling for war without the proof and most of the decision-makers already convinced, there’s little reason to think that anyone’s minds will be changed even if the investigation fails to turn up what they’d hoped for.
After all, even though the UN investigators said the previous attack was almost certainly launched by the rebels, Western officials continue to present that as the Assad government’s doing as well.
Obama Aides See Kosovo as Precedent for Attacking Syria
Disastrous Kosovo Bombing Campaign Also Ignored UN Opposition
by Jason Ditz, August 23, 2013
Officials across NATO have been long trying to put together a war in Syria that would mirror the NATO attack on Libya, in which regime change was imposed after a loophole in a UN Security Council resolution was used as an excuse for total war.
Russia’s been extremely sensitive about Syria resolutions specifically because of this, however, and the reality is that there isn’t going to be a UN resolution that remotely leaves open a loophole like that. So now officials are turning to Kosovo as a “precedent.”
The 1999 Kosovo campaign was essentially a four month campaign of violations of the Geneva Conventions, with NATO warplanes deliberately attacking sites like hospitals and schools on the grounds that they were “dual use” and could conceivably have been of value to the Yugoslav military. The campaign also included the inexplicable bombing of the Chinese embassy.
The war ended with a protracted NATO-EU deployment in Kosovo, which continues to this day, and the tiny Republic of Kosovo remains fiercely divided along racial lines, and NATO troops imposing a blockade of ethnic Serbian villages that want to continue to trade with Serbs across the border.
As a practical matter, the precedent of the US attacking a nation without UN authorization could just as easily have been Iraq as Kosovo, but Iraq was a recent enough disaster of a war that it would be rejected out of hand.
Of course , past is prologue - we have been down the chemical road already....
example one....
Flashback: Yahoo Uncovered Syria Chemical Weapon False Flag in January
Anthony Gucciardi
Infowars.com
August 24, 2013
Infowars.com
August 24, 2013
Bypassing all claims of ‘conspiracy theory’, it was actually Yahoo News that published an eerily psychic piece that warned of moves by the Obama administration to launch a chemical attack in Syria and blame it on Assad’s regime.
Laying out what is now history in clear text, the mainstream Yahoo report sourcing ANI reads (I have archived a screenshot of the page in case it is removed):
“The Obama administration gave green signal to a chemical weapons attack plan in Syria that could be blamed on President Bashar al Assad’s regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country, leaked documents have shown. As per the scheme ‘Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to usechemical weapons,’ the Daily Mail reports.”
But maybe AIN and Yahoo News are conspiracy news organizations? After all, the very notion of a false flag is now considered treason in the mind of Obama drones. It is not politically correct to talk about how the Syrian rebels, who may have carried this out under Obama, are barbaric minions of Hell who revel in beheading all Christian families.
PREDICTED MONTHS BEFORE
There has much been talk of the recent chemical attack in Syria, yet there appears to be virtually no mention of this piece in the mainstream news. Instead, we look to the alternative news, which actually lit the proverbial pilot light behind this bombshell to begin with. Powerhouse journalists like Paul Joseph Watson have been covering the reality of a staged chemical attack for months, shouting from the rooftops that Assad will be blamed in order to begin a hot conflict.
Yet it seems the media is now blatantly corrupt and irrelevant enough to ignore this, and instead call for immediate actions against Assad. But what can they say when Yahoo, now the #1 largest website in the entire nation and the epitome of mainstream news, goes on record and warns about it being a false flag? Better yet, the piece even references Infowars in the text. But you ask, why would they do that? Why would they reference an alternative news site like that?
The simple answer is that the mainstream news is out of real content. They can only push sensational lies over the Trayvon Martin case and other shootings for so long before they literally have zero audience, and we already know their trust rankings are virtually dead. That’s why we see many mega media outlets actually starting to act as if they are on a crusade against the banksters and want justice. Think of it as a basic fight for survival on their end. They know that unless they somehow make themselves relevant, they will burn out very quickly in the face of alternative news.
Here is a video report on the Obama-funded Syrian rebels who likely carried out these attacks:
MOSCOW, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Friday Syria's opposition was preventing an objective investigation into allegations the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack.
"Much needed signals from the opposition, including its readiness to guarantee the safety and effective work of U.N. experts on territory controlled by militants, unfortunately are not forthcoming," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"It is directly preventing an objective investigation into the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria." (Reporting By Thomas Grove, editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Video Footage of ‘Chemical Weapons Attack’ Uploaded Before it Happened?
Russia: Provocation was “pre-planned”
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
August 23, 2013
Infowars.com
August 23, 2013
Hundreds of videos showing apparent victims of a chemical weapons attack in Syria were uploaded to YouTube on August 20, a day before media reports say the attack actually happened, prompting Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman to assert the incident was a “pre-planned” provocation staged by rebels.
As PBS reports, “At around 3 a.m. (on August 21st) , patients started streaming in from neighborhoods in suburban Damascus like Zamalka and Ain Terma,” following the alleged chemical weapons attack.
However, a playlist of videos entitled ‘Alleged Chemical Attack in Eastern Ghouta August 21st 2013‘ contains 159 videos – every one of which was uploaded to YouTube on August 20th.
While no one is denying that some kind of attack did indeed take place, the fact that hundreds of videos showing victims of the attack were uploaded to YouTube a day before the incident is supposed to have actually happened remains unexplained.
The time stamp attributed to uploaded videos applies to the country in which they were uploaded, meaning that the videos were uploaded in Syria on August 20th, which is seemingly impossible given that the attack took place in the early hours of the 21st. The only way the videos could display as being uploaded on the 20th was if they were uploaded in America, which is on an earlier time zone.
According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich, this represents evidence of a “pre-planned” provocation. Lukashevich labeled the accusations “another anti-Syrian propaganda wave.”
“We’re getting more new evidence that this criminal act was of a provocative nature,” he told RT. “In particular, there are reports circulating on the Internet, in particular that the materials of the incident and accusations against government troops had been posted for several hours before the so-called attack. Thus, it was a pre-planned action.”
The unanswered question as to how footage showing victims of an attack that occurred on August 21 was uploaded to YouTube on August 20 is in addition to doubts cast about the veracity of the videos by several chemical weapons experts.
Paula Vanninen of the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention questions the behavior of those seen handling the victims in the video footage. “At the moment, I am not totally convinced because the people that are helping them are without any protective clothing and without any respirators….In a real case, they would also be contaminated and would also be having symptoms,” he stated.
Stephen Johnson, an expert in weapons and chemical explosives at Cranfield Forensic Institute, told Euro News that the video footage also looked suspect.
“There are, within some of the videos, examples which seem a little hyper-real, and almost as if they’ve been set up. Which is not to say that they are fake but it does cause some concern. Some of the people with foaming, the foam seems to be too white, too pure, and not consistent with the sort of internal injury you might expect to see, which you’d expect to be bloodier or yellower,” Johnson said.
His comments were echoed by chemical and biological weapons researcher Jean Pascal Zanders, who said that the footage appears to show victims of asphyxiation, which is not consistent with the use of mustard gas or the nerve agents VX or sarin. “I’m deliberately not using the term chemical weapons here,” he said, adding that the use of “industrial toxicants” was a more likely explanation.
More on past is prologue - consider the curious Benghazi situation and how the US refuses to act there despite the death of American ...... yet such a curious rush to bomb Syria ?
Example 2.......
More on past is prologue - consider the curious Benghazi situation and how the US refuses to act there despite the death of American ...... yet such a curious rush to bomb Syria ?
Example 2.......
STUNNING REPORT: Special Forces Operatives Scream Frustration Over Obama’s Refusal To Act
Fox News has just released an explosive report detailing special forces operatives who have spent months in and around Benghazi who were ready and willing to deal out deserved justice on the terrorists responsible for the Benghazi Massacre that killed four Americans – only to now have the Obama administration removing these special forces personnel from Libya permanently while allowing the Benghazi terrorists to continue walking free. This is a must read folks.
(“It’s already blowing up. Daily assassinations, bi-weekly prison escapes, we waited way too long.”)
(via Fox News)
Team involved in tracking Benghazi suspects pulling out, sources say
Two weeks after the Obama administration announced charges against suspects in the Benghazi attack, a large portion of the U.S. team that hunted the suspects and trained Libyans to help capture or kill them is leaving Libya permanently.
Special operators in the region tell Fox News that while Benghazi targets have been identified for months, officials in Washington could “never pull the trigger.” In fact, one source insists that much of the information on Benghazi suspects had been passed along to the White House after being vetted by the Department of Defense and the State Department — and at least one recommendation for direct action on a Benghazi suspect was given to President Obama as recently as Aug. 7.
Meanwhile, months after video,photo and voice documentation on the Benghazi suspects was first presented to high-level military leaders, the State Department and ultimately the White House, prison breaks in the country have eroded security. U.S. special forces have now been relegated to a “villa,” a stopover for the operators before they’re shipped out of the country entirely.
“We put American special operations in harm’s way to develop a picture ofthese suspects and to seek justice and instead of acting, we stalled. We just let it slip and pass us by and now it’s going to be much more difficult,” one source said, citing 1,200 prisoners escaping two weeks ago. “It’s already blowing up. Daily assassinations, bi-weekly prison escapes, we waited way too long.”
The latest development raises questions about when the attackers will be brought to justice in the murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans last September.
The special operators are starting to get frustrated at the lack of action, and Fox News has been told by multiple sources that one special forces leader “literally yelled” at former Libyan Chief of Mission William Roebuck “and told him, ‘so you’re willing to let these guys get away with murder?’”
The outburst was “met with crickets,” the sources said.
…Fox News reported earlier this year that American forces had identified suspects by the end of November 2012, and reported on their whereabouts to Roebuck last January, yet no action was taken. They returned again in January to identify and locate these same suspects after being requested to do so by military leaders. In the months since, the operators in the region have been sitting in de facto standby, despite the Justice Department charges being filed.
The men tell Fox News their mission was to capture or kill the suspects in question, and they briefed the acting U.S. ambassador in Libya and the seniorCIA representative in the country. The men were told both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and an under secretary were briefed about their information and their ability to capture or kill those responsible. Still, they did not get approval from the Department of Defense or the White House.
Some of the individuals report seeing former AFRICOM commander General Carter Ham tell former Libya Chief of Mission Laurence Pope that he could easily submit a plan to kill or capture the suspects, but “politics and fallout kept us from acting. To do an operation we have to have (Chief of Mission) and state approval. We didn’t get it. … They sat on it.”
Meanwhile, some of the same suspects in the Benghazi attack are continuing to help the Muslim Brotherhood in eastern Libya and are directly aligned with the militant group Ansar al-Sharia, which has already begun operations to undermine the fledgling Libyan government.
The special operators tell Fox News that Libyan militia leader Ahmed Khattalah, among those charged by the DOJ, is a member of a prominent and influential group in the eastern part of Libya and directly tied to Ansar al-Sharia, the group believed to be behind the attack on Benghazi .
“It won’t be long, they’re already at war. We are just behind,” said one operator after being asked about the intent of the Muslim Brotherhood to overtake the current Libyan government in Tripoli. “So the terrorism will continue to grow and the terrorists responsible for killing an ambassador are right now growing along with it.” LINK
_______________________________
The Obama administration has allowed American special forces operatives to sit increasingly at risk in Libya for months, and as these operatives gathered the Intel necessary to carry out what they are trained to do – KILL AMERICA’S ENEMIES, the Obama administration refused to give them the go ahead to do so. The bigger picture is also this – the same Muslim Brotherhood organization that appears to have played a significant role in the Benghazi Massacre is the very same Muslim Brotherhood organization the Obama White House was so supportive of in Egypt, and continues to try and protect and promote in that nation.
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