Was the sarin kitchen type or military grade ? Still not clear.....
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/09/16/un-report-confirms-chemical-weapons-use-in-syria/
The report concluded that the strikes were fired from northwest of Ghouta, meaning the strike originated in the direction of the contested, but mostly rebel-held suburb of Arbin, and not Damascus itself. They speculated that the rockets were launched by some variant of the old BM-14 Soviet-made rocket launcher, which Syria’s military acquired in large numbers in the 1960′s.
http://rt.com/news/syria-chemical-attack-un-report-933/
Pentagon Press Secretary George Little indicated that the heavy lifting of securing the arms would remain the job of the Assad government’s military, saying it “owes this much to the international community.”
They put the overall rebel fighters at 100,000 strong, but that is made up of some 1,000 different factions. Al-Qaeda directly commands the loyalty of around 10,000 of those fighters.
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/09/16/un-report-confirms-chemical-weapons-use-in-syria/
UN Report Confirms Chemical Weapons Use in Syria
UN Official Claims 14 'Potential' Attacks
by Jason Ditz, September 16, 2013
A new UN report on the Jobra Incident, an August 21 strike in Syria’s Ghouta area, has concluded that the strike involved a chemical weapon composed of sarin, and fired from an unguided artillery rocket system.
The report concluded that the strikes were fired from northwest of Ghouta, meaning the strike originated in the direction of the contested, but mostly rebel-held suburb of Arbin, and not Damascus itself. They speculated that the rockets were launched by some variant of the old BM-14 Soviet-made rocket launcher, which Syria’s military acquired in large numbers in the 1960′s.
The report makes no attempt to assign blame for the attack, and rebel factions are also believed to have some capability to produce sarin, with some of the Islamist factions releasing videos bragging of their ability to produce such weapons.
The report was followed up by a separate news conference by the UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights violations in the ongoing civil war, saying there were 14 “potential” chemical weapons attacks since the conflict began.
The chairman of the commission, Paulo Pinheiro, declined to offer any details on those putative attacks, however, saying “we don’t have to share where, or when, or what moment.”
The use of chemical weapons is a war crime per the 1925 Geneva Protocol, though realistically they are just one of a myriad of war crimes committed by both sides in this ongoing war.
http://rt.com/news/churkin-un-chemical-report-938/
'Not bulletproof’: Russia says UN chemical attack report does not show who was responsible
Russia’s UN representative says the newly unveiled report on the chemical attack of August 21 in Syria offers no “bulletproof data or conclusions” on who ordered it. The US and UK say the study confirms the regime was behind the attack.
“The report is diligent but very technical. It avoids categorical judgments and inferences, and it needs to be studied,” Vitaly Churkin told the Russian media at the UN headquarters in New York.
“As people examine it, everyone can draw their own conclusion, but I hope that won’t be driven by political motives.”
US President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, said in a statement the technical evidence of high-grade sarin revealed in the report "reinforces our assessment that these attacks were carried out by the Syrian regime, as only they had the capability to mount an attack in this manner."
Earlier, Washington envoy to the UN Samantha Power said the study proved that “only the regime” had the capacity to carry out the attack on a Damascus suburb that the US claims took more than 1,400 lives. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague also said the findings were “fully consistent” with the previous British stance that Bashar Assad’s forces were responsible for the attack.
Churkin said that suggestions the attack was a rebel provocation “cannot be shrugged off”.
The 38-page report was compiled by a UN expert team, which inspected Damascus at the end of last month, and collected over 30 samples from victims and the environment. Its authors state that it found “clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin” were released on “a relatively large scale” during the August attack. The report doesn't blame either of the sides.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has labeled the incident a “war crime”.
Churkin also told journalists “not to jump to conclusions” when questioned about whether Cyrillic alphabet markings, which were found on fragments of rockets reportedly used in the attack, proved that they were in possession of government forces. He said that UK and US assertions that rebels do not have the capacity to execute a large scale gas attack were “not grounded in reality”.
Last week, Russia and the United States put forward a proposal that would see Syria hand over its chemical weapons to international observers. Syria has also applied to join the Chemical Weapons Convention - an international treaty that regulates the destruction of such weapons - next month.
http://rt.com/news/syria-chemical-attack-un-report-933/
Chemical weapons were used on a relatively large scale in the Ghouta area of Damascus in Aug.21 attack, the UN investigators’ report says. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has submitted report at a closed-door meeting in New York.
“The Mission has concluded that chemical weapons were used on a relatively large scale in the Ghouta area of Damascus in the context of the ongoing conflict in Syria. The attack resulted in numerous casualties, particularly among civilians,” Ban Ki-moon said in a statement published on the UN website.
The UN Secretary General said the conclusions drawn in the report are “overwhelming and indisputable”.
“The facts speak for themselves,” he added.
“The facts speak for themselves,” he added.
Ban called the attack in Ghouta “the most significant confirmed use of chemical weapons against civilians since Saddam Hussein used them in Halabja in 1988.”
The UN team’s report is based on interviews and eyewitnesses' accounts which investigators collected at the scene.
The UN investigators spoke to more than 50 survivors, medical personnel and first responders. They also recorded individuals’ symptoms and took biomedical samples, including from hair, urine and blood.
The UN investigators spoke to more than 50 survivors, medical personnel and first responders. They also recorded individuals’ symptoms and took biomedical samples, including from hair, urine and blood.
Local medical staff documented many patients' symptoms consistent with nerve agent exposure. A number were “were diagnosed with intoxification” and “clearly showed symptoms associated with sarin, including loss of consciousness, shortness of breath, blurred vision, eye inflammation, vomiting and seizures," the report said.
All the samples the UN collected were examined at four laboratories designated by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the report said.
It has been revealed that 85 percent of the blood samples tested positive for sarin. The UN team said that almost all of the 36 patients who showed signs of poisoning tested positive for sarin.
Environmental samples also revealed the use of sarin, the UN scientists said. "A majority of the rockets or rocket fragments recovered were found to be carrying sarin."
‘Warheads could be original or improvised’
The UN mission concluded that there was “clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used in the Ein Tarma, Moadamiyah and Zalmalka [neighborhoods] in the Ghouta area of Damascus.”
The inspection team concluded that the munitions linked to one of the impact sites, called Site 1 in the report, matched types of the Soviet-made M14 artillery rocket, “with either an original or improvised warhead." The UN experts suggested that based on the “orientation and impact craters” and other damage in the area, the rockets were fired from an unspecified area to the northwest.
At the same time, the report does not say who those surface-to-surface rockets belonged to – rebels or government forces.
However, after the presentation of the UN report, Samantha Power, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, said that she was convinced, based on the technical details from the inspectors, the weapons belonged to forces loyal to President Assad's regime.
“Now the mandate of the UN chemical weapons team was, as you well know, not to investigate capability. But the technical details of the UN report make clear that only the regime could have carried out this large-scale chemical weapons attack,” Power told reporters at a news conference.
“Now the mandate of the UN chemical weapons team was, as you well know, not to investigate capability. But the technical details of the UN report make clear that only the regime could have carried out this large-scale chemical weapons attack,” Power told reporters at a news conference.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant also said that judging by the details, there was "no remaining doubt that it was the regime," Syria's government, not the opposition, behind the Aug. 21 attack with sarin gas.
Russia, at the same time, said that the report is “very technical” and did not contain exact details or conclusions that would indicate the Assad regime was involved in the attack.
Ban praised the mission, which he said “performed in battlefield conditions” and despite “difficulties and dangers” carried out a thorough investigation at the site of the attack in a limited time.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-16/turkish-army-said-down-syrian-jet-turkey-syria-border
( Turkey desperately seeking a response from Syria ? )
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/16/2013 08:10 -0400
A Syrian military helicopter today crashed in Syrian territory near the Turkish border, Doğan News Agency has reported.
The reports said the helicopter exploded in mid-air and that the explosion was visible from Hatay’s Yayladağı district.
Two pilots who reportedly ejected from the aircraft before the explosion but were reportedly killed by opposition forces after landing safely on the ground, according to Doğan News Agency.
A group of Turkish military personnel was transferred to the area after the incident.
( Turkey desperately seeking a response from Syria ? )
Turkish Army Said To Down Syrian Jet By Turkey-Syria Border
A flurry of headlines suggesting the Syrian situation may not be contained, after Turkish media report a Syrian jet crashed 400 meters away from the Syrian-Turkey border.
- MILITARY JET SAID TO CRASH ON SYRIA BORDER: TURKEY’S DHA
It also appears the crash was not self-inflicted. Moments ago, Turkey's Today's Zaman adds that "Turkish army has downed a Syrian fighter jet in Hatay on the Syrian border." Has Turkey, which has been spoiling for regime change in Syria (just think of all the fringe benefits if and when the Qatari pipeline finally crosses Syria and enters Turkey), grown tired of waiting for a decisive false flag, and decided to take matters into its own hands?
And now a completely different story from TZ:
Syrian opposition fighters have reportedly shot down a Syrian helicopter, which fell 400 meters away from the Turkish border. Reports indicate that the opposition fighters also shot dead two pilots after they catapulted themselves after their chopper was hit.
In other words, nobody knows what is going on. Just buy stocks cause the Wall Street uber dove is gone.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/helicopter-crashes-near-turkeys-border-with-syria-report.aspx?pageID=238&nID=54538&NewsCatID=352
( Helicopter rather than jet , shot down by insurgents ? )
Helicopter crashes near Turkey's border with Syria: Report
The reports said the helicopter exploded in mid-air and that the explosion was visible from Hatay’s Yayladağı district.
Two pilots who reportedly ejected from the aircraft before the explosion but were reportedly killed by opposition forces after landing safely on the ground, according to Doğan News Agency.
A group of Turkish military personnel was transferred to the area after the incident.
September/16/2013
http://rt.com/news/syria-uk-us-france-919/
The US, UK and France have agreed to bolster Syrian rebels by providing more help, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced at a joint media conference with his counterparts from Washington and London.
Fabius was speaking in Paris just days after the US and Russia reached an agreement under which Washington will put its plans to use military force against Syrian President Bashar Assad on hold in exchange for Damascus dismantling its chemical weapons arsenal.
US Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed America’s adherence to the plan, but said there must be consequences for Syria if it does not deliver on its promise. The disarmament deal is to be formalized by a UN Security Council resolution yet to be voted on.
Meanwhile UK Foreign Secretary William Hague pledged that the three countries would work with Russia to gather an international conference in Geneva to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis.
A political solution is part of the plan, which was unveiled by Kerry and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last Saturday. Organization of the Geneva-2 conference has been delayed for months, as Syrian opposition forces opposed it.
Still Kerry stressed Washington’s position that the UN resolution is not “a lifeline” for Assad, who, the UN official said, has “lost all legitimacy” after more than two years of fighting with rebel forces.
The US threatened to use military force against the Assad government after the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian against rebel forces in August. The threats came after years of support of the Syrian rebels by Washington and its allies.
Syria denies having any role in the suspected sarin attack and says it was a provocation of the opposition fighters aimed at securing US military help. Russia, a supporter of Damascus, shares this view.
Russia brokered a deal with Syria, under which it applied for membership in the Chemical Weapons Convention. Joining the international organization involves destruction of its chemical weapons arsenal.
Pentagon: No US Troops Will Be Involved in Syria’s Disarmament
Officials Say Security 'Nothing Very Complex'
by Jason Ditz, September 15, 2013
Pentagon officials are said to be drawing up “options” for the international community regarding the security of Syria’s chemical weapons, pending disarmament, but insisted that those plans will not involve any US troops on the ground.
Pentagon Press Secretary George Little indicated that the heavy lifting of securing the arms would remain the job of the Assad government’s military, saying it “owes this much to the international community.”
CENTCOM officials familiar with the planning say that there is “nothing very complex” about securing the actual chemical weapon sites, though of course the ongoing civil war in the nation has forced Syria to repeatedly move their stockpiles to keep them away from al-Qaeda-dominated rebel factions.
That there’s an ever-worsening war going on all around Syria also means Syria’s military is kind of busy to be putting a ton of their forces into security for the international inspectors, and even if they do, the rebels have shown an ability to hit targets nationwide, including in the most heavily secured areas.
That’s left the Assad government to rely on security through obscurity, moving the arms to secret locations, to keep them away from rebels who don’t have good intel on where they are. Once Syria reveals it to the international community, the options for moving them again become extremely limited, meaning security could be a long-term problem beyond what the Pentagon is couching it as.
Jane’s Report: About Half of Syria Rebels Are Jihadists
Secularists Are Miniscule Part of Overall Rebellion
by Jason Ditz, September 15, 2013
A new report from defense analysts IHS Jane’s provided some of the first recent estimates of the size of Syria’s rebellion, and more importantly the groups that make it up.
They put the overall rebel fighters at 100,000 strong, but that is made up of some 1,000 different factions. Al-Qaeda directly commands the loyalty of around 10,000 of those fighters.
Another 30,000 to 35,000 of the rebels are “jihadists” from pro-al-Qaeda factions that aren’t explicitly run by the group, and still 30,000 more represent various Islamist factions of a somewhat more moderate character. What’s left is the secularist component, a pretty small minority in the grand scheme of things, made doubly so by the fact that the al-Qaeda run forces like Jabhat al-Nusra have been dramatically more formidable in fighting.
Jihadists have been the most active portion of the rebellion, attacking ethnic Kurds and religious minorities nationwide, including three more Alawite villages sackedtoday in Homs Province.
It is in this environment that the Syrian National Coalition’s new prime minister, Ahmad Tumeh, will be taking the helm. A moderate Islamist himself, Tumeh is calling for a confrontation of al-Qaeda and the other more jihadist factions in the rebellion. That may make the US happy, but its a fight that the SNC’s own faction seems unlikely to be able to win.
It’s also a fight al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri seems resigned to, warning his factions and those allied with them not to associate with the secularists or form serious alliances with them. In the past this was less a concern, but with the “rebellion” tearing itself apart at the seams, it seems the various factions will be committing more and more of their forces to fighting each other, rather than the Assad government.
Syria jihadists claim they killed Homs Alawites
Syrian government forces patrol the Khalidiyah district of Homs on July 31, 2013.
AFP - The jihadist Al-Nusra Front said in an Internet statement on Sunday its fighters attacked three villages in Syria's Homs province and killed dozens of Alawites five days earlier.
"The people's wall of fear has been broken, as this was the first time these villages were entered and such a high number was killed," the Al-Qaeda-linked group said in the statement published on a jihadist forum.
Al-Nusra said its fighters entered the villages of Massudiyeh, Maksar al-Hissan and Jab al-Jerah on Tuesday and killed 30 members of the Alawite community, to which President Bashar al-Assad's clan belongs.
The statement said Al-Nusra fighters were urged by an Islamic jurist "to kill the Nusairis, enemies of God," using a pejorative term for Alawites.
The attack was "in revenge for the killing in cold blood of Muslims and their women in Eastern Ghouta" near Damascus, where the opposition claims 1,400 people were killed in a chemical weapons attack on August 21.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported this week on the attack that 12 civilians were killed, before on Sunday updating its toll to 22 civilians killed in Maksar al-Hissan.
It said among them were 16 Alawites including four above the age of 80 and four children aged between nine and 12.
The watchdog said five soldiers loyal to Assad were also killed.
The region, mostly home to Alawites and Bedouins, has been largely free of fighting over the past year.
Other areas of Homs province have seen some of the fiercest fighting in Syria's 30-month war.
Several areas of the provincial capital, dubbed "the capital of the revolution," have been destroyed as the Assad regime bombarded rebel-held areas.
Sectarian tensions have soared in Homs, which is home to sizeable Sunni, Alawite and Christian communities.
"The people's wall of fear has been broken, as this was the first time these villages were entered and such a high number was killed," the Al-Qaeda-linked group said in the statement published on a jihadist forum.
Al-Nusra said its fighters entered the villages of Massudiyeh, Maksar al-Hissan and Jab al-Jerah on Tuesday and killed 30 members of the Alawite community, to which President Bashar al-Assad's clan belongs.
The statement said Al-Nusra fighters were urged by an Islamic jurist "to kill the Nusairis, enemies of God," using a pejorative term for Alawites.
The attack was "in revenge for the killing in cold blood of Muslims and their women in Eastern Ghouta" near Damascus, where the opposition claims 1,400 people were killed in a chemical weapons attack on August 21.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported this week on the attack that 12 civilians were killed, before on Sunday updating its toll to 22 civilians killed in Maksar al-Hissan.
It said among them were 16 Alawites including four above the age of 80 and four children aged between nine and 12.
The watchdog said five soldiers loyal to Assad were also killed.
The region, mostly home to Alawites and Bedouins, has been largely free of fighting over the past year.
Other areas of Homs province have seen some of the fiercest fighting in Syria's 30-month war.
Several areas of the provincial capital, dubbed "the capital of the revolution," have been destroyed as the Assad regime bombarded rebel-held areas.
Sectarian tensions have soared in Homs, which is home to sizeable Sunni, Alawite and Christian communities.
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| French President Still Pushing 'Military Option' Against Syria |
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