Syria Chemical attack Caused by Third Party: Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani.

Syria Chemical attack Caused by Third Party: Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani.(IFPnews).

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani discussed the recent US military strike on Syria’s al-Shayrat airbase with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev.

The two sides conferred on the issue during a telephone conversation on Saturday, according to a Farsi report by ISNA.

During the phone call, Shamkhani underlined the need for the establishment of an independent international committee to investigate the suspicious chemical incident in Idlib.

Syria’s chemical weapons had been destroyed by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in previous years, Shamkhani noted.

Therefore, he added, the Tuesday chemical attack on Khan Shaykhun was definitely launched by a third party in an attempt to create a pretext for a military attack on Syria.

He further blasted the US missile attack on the Syrian airbase on Friday, and stressed that the ‘aggressive and illegal’ move will only strengthen the terrorists and disrupt the ongoing fight against terrorism pursued by the governments of Russia, Syria, and Iran under the UN supervision.

Patrushev, for his part, strongly denounced the US military attack on Syria and described it as a blatant violation of international laws.

“The US move was a clear invasion of an independent country, and despite what the US government claims, served the interests of terrorists,” he noted.


The Russian official pointed to the US history of raising false allegations about Weapons of Mass Destruction [the claims about Iraq’s possession of WMDs], and said the recent political fuss on Syria is just aimed at disrupting the process of resolving the Syrian crisis and increasing pressures on the legitimate government of Bashar al-Assad.

Ankara should have tried to find out how chemical weapons and chemical materials were smuggled from Iraq to Idlib. https://t.co/2f2rV60sbM

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) April 8, 2017

@manny_ottawa Flashback - 2010. Al Nusra captures base who's of part of Syria’s chemical weapons program. https://t.co/eEoXvchvCf

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) April 8, 2017

@manny_ottawa Flashback 2013. Questions about alleged gas attack in #Syria . #AlNusra....Again. FDD's Long War Journal. https://t.co/Zs21rtIvs5

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) April 8, 2017

ISIS Carrying Out Chemical Experiments on Prisoners and animals.

ISIS Carrying Out Chemical Experiments on Prisoners and animals. (IranFrontpage).

ISIS [also known as Daesh or ISIL] has moved its chemical weapons operations to densely populated residential areas, and is testing homemade chlorine and mustard gas on its prisoners, residents of the Iraqi city of Mosul have claimed.

ISIS is reported to have set up laboratories in built-up neighborhoods in the heart of its so-called caliphate to avoid being targeted by coalition air strikes, The Telegraph reported, as covered by ISNA.
The terror group is known to harbour chemical and nuclear ambitions, and is trying to manufacture weapons not only for attacks within Iraq and Syria but also the West.

It has a special unit for chemical weapons research made up of Iraqi scientists who worked on weapons programs under the former dictator Saddam Hussein, as well as foreign experts.
The head of the unit, Suleiman Daoud al-Afari, was captured during a raid by US special forces outside Mosul in March and is now sharing intelligence on ISIS’s chemical operation.

An investigation by Syrian and Iraqi citizen journalists, who report under the name Sound and Picture, reveals that he has now been replaced by Abu Shaima, an Iraqi doctor who worked at the University of Baghdad during Saddam’s reign.

Other than his links to the late Iraqi dictator, little is known about Shaima, which is customary for top ISIS leaders.

He is said last month to have moved the group’s operations away from its main laboratories at the universities of Mosul and Tel Afar, which have both been hit in recent months, to residential areas to protect it against aerial attack.

Residents of al-Mohandseen – which had been a wealthy Christian neighborhood until ISIS seized the city – said several houses had been taken over by ISIS officials in the last few weeks. A number of large unmarked trucks have been parked outside and more recently they reported seeing dozens of dead dogs and rabbits in nearby rubbish containers.

An ISIS insider confirmed to the journalists, who shared the information with The Telegraph, that they had been dumped there after they were used for chemical testing.

The report also claimed ISIS has been carrying out experiments on prisoners they are holding at a secret jail in al-Andalus, in the Nineveh governorate of Mosul, exposing them to chlorine and mustard gas to test the toxicity.

Residents near the prison have reported breathing difficulties and children developing severe rashes – some of the side effects of exposure to such substances.

The extremists have seized large quantities of industrial chlorine and are believed to have the expertise to make mustard gas. They are also feared to have captured chemical weapon stocks from the Syrian army across the border.

The militant group has already used chemical weapons against Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq and Syria.

In March, a suspected ISIS chemical attack on the Iraqi town of Taza, south of Kirkuk, killed three children and wounded some 1,500 people, with injuries ranging from burns to rashes and respiratory problems.

Brigadier Roger Noble, the deputy commander of international troops training and supporting the Iraqi army, told The Telegraph that ISIS militants are expected to use chemical weapons against troops trying to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second city.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former commanding officer of the UK Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment (CBRN) and chemical weapons adviser to NGOs in Syria and Iraq, told The Telegraph the revelations showed the group was adapting to the coalition’s punishing air strikes.

“ISIS’s chemical weapons operation has been heavily targeted – as is detailed in this report – and moving into residential areas is exactly what you would expect them to do now.”

He said Western security services should be concerned that their chemical operations have effectively gone underground, allowing them to continue their work outside of strike range.

“Now we know the extent of the ISIS chemical and dirty bomb aspirations we must make doubly sure that our security in the UK is absolutely water-tight against this threat.”

Quoting materials from Iran Front Page is permitted only if the source is mentioned by name.

'Sometimes NATO Ally' - Turkish 'agents' Likely Provided Chemical Weapons to ISIL.

'Sometimes NATO Ally' - Turkish 'agents' Likely Provided Chemical Weapons to ISIL. (SP).

Turkish intelligence agents and scientific experts might have been involved in helping the ISIL to acquire or produce chemical weapons recently used in attacks in Syria and Iraq, experts told Sputnik.

The United States has consistently blamed Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government for using chemical weapons while downplaying suggestions that opposition forces, including the ISIL, might be culpable.

Veteran’s Today (VT) Senior Editor and security consultant Gordon Duff told Sputnik on Friday that Turkish agents have not only distributed chemical weapons to the ISIL, but have helped the militants manufacture them.

Lethal chemical substances were initially being produced within Turkey itself, Duff said, before they moved operations across the border into Raqqah, Syria, where the ISIL is reportedly headquartered.

"Mustard gas and chlorine come from Raqqah… at a Turkish-run facility," Duff explained, citing a Syrian army general who informed VT’s Bureau Chief in Damascus Nayed al Hussaini.

In March, Duff added, Syrians captured a Turkish chemical weapons officer at another facility in the region. Geopolitical analyst and editor Eric Draitser told Sputnik that it was entirely possible Turkish intelligence agents to have supplied chemical weapons to terrorist groups like the al-Nusra Front and the ISIL, either directly or through foreign agents operating on the Syrian-Turkish border.

"Either way, the hands of the Turkish government are not clean," Draitser claimed. "President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan in Turkey has a lot to answer for."

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it had evidence that the ISIL acquired documentation related to manufacturing chemical weapons. The ISIL reportedly used chemicals during an attack on the northeastern Syrian town of Marea on Tuesday. Hmmm......Remember when Turkey used chemical weapons on the Kurds in the past? Read the full story here.

Video Evidence - Jihadists/Terrorists cross Turkish-Syrian border right before the eyes of Turkish soldiers.

Video Evidence - Jihadists/Terrorists cross Turkish-Syrian border right before the eyes of Turkish soldiers.

Russia: 50 Trucks and 25 Ural armored vehicles Airlifted to Syria for Chemical Arms Removal.

Russia: 50 Trucks and 25 Ural armored vehicles Airlifted to Syria for Chemical Arms Removal.(RN).
Russia has handed over vehicles and supplies to assist Syria with destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday.

“Russia airlifted 75 vehicles, including 50 Kamaz trucks and 25 Ural armored vehicles to the airport in Latakia on December 18-20,” Shoigu said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

Shoigu said other supplies, including water tanks, field kitchens and tents for personnel involved in transportation and destruction of Syrian chemical stocks, were also delivered during the same period.
The equipment will help experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to safely transport the Syrian chemical stockpile to the port of Latakia to be later transferred to a US Navy ship for destruction, he said.
Russia is among several nations assisting the chemical disarmament effort in Syria.
The process was launched by a Russian-US joint initiative following an August 21 chemical weapons attack on a Damascus suburb that allegedly killed hundreds of civilians. The US and Western allies accused the Syrian government of responsibility for the attack, but Damascus blamed rebel groups.
The operation to destroy Syria’s arsenal of more than 1,000 metric tons of weapons-grade chemicals is due to take place in two stages. The most dangerous weapons have to be removed from Syria by the end of December and destroyed at sea by April, the rest is slated for destruction by mid-2014.

French & Belgian French-Speaking Jihad Fighters In Syria: "France, Soon It Will Be Your Turn"

French and Belgian French-Speaking Jihad Fighters In Syria: "France, Soon It Will Be Your Turn".HT: Memri.

Among the jihadis fighting in Syria are French-speaking Europeans, mostly from France and Belgium. Some of these individuals are active on social media, where they provide detailed information about their journey to Syria and about their experiences there: their daily lives, their training routine, and their experiences on the battlefield fighting not only the Syrian regime forces but also the Free Syrian Army and the Kurdish PKK.  They urge their fellow European Muslims to come fight in Syria, and answer questions by would-be recruits, often chatting with them in real time.

Posted on Facebook and Twitter rather than on password-protected Islamist forums, the messages are directly accessible to the general public and not just to a closed community, and are obviously aimed at recruitment. In casual and often jocular language typical of messages on social media, the authors paint a rosy picture of life on the front, stressing the pious atmosphere and the sense of brotherhood-in-arms shared by the fighters. They note that recruits may come with their wives and children, and stress the practical advantages of joining the jihad community in Syria, such as the prospect of finding a bride and the low cost of living.

At the same time, the messages also contain the usual tropes of jihadi discourse: the authors stress that they are fighting the "infidels" with the ultimate aim of establishing the Islamic Caliphate, rebuke fellow Muslims who fail to do their duty of fighting jihad, express their willingness and even desire to be martyred for the sake of Allah, and voice threats against those they perceive as their enemies, including Western countries.
The following are excerpts from messages by several French-speaking jihadis that are fighting in the ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Aba Souleyman To Muslims In France And Belgium: "Leave Before It's Too Late"

"Aba Souleyman"[1] is a French-speaking European (most likely Belgian) who has been in Syria since August 2013. The information he has divulged on his Facebook page suggests he his fighting for the ISIS in northern Syria, near the border town of A'zaz, and living with his wife in the Aleppo suburbs. On October 23, 2013, he posted a message urging Muslims in Europe to come to Syria to join the jihad. He wrote: "This message is for my Muslim brothers in France, Belgium and elsewhere who have not yet joined us here in Syria but are thinking about it. Those who are not even considering it have heart disease that only Allah can remove."[2]Read the full story here.

Is Turkey Supporting Al-Qaeda in Syria?

Is Turkey Supporting Al-Qaeda in Syria?(Aina).By Michael Rubin.

Perhaps the most dangerous group in Syria is Jabhat al-Nusra, the Nusra Front. The group does not hide its sympathy for al-Qaeda and targets more moderate Syrian opposition groups alongside the Syrian regime. 

While Syrians comprise most Syrian opposition groups, the Nusra Front counts Libyans, Saudis, Mauritanians, Chechens, Uighurs, Germans, and Turks among its fighters. Around Syria, it is an open secret that Turkey supports--or at least has supported--the Nusra Front.

Not only has Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan denied that the Nusra Front are terrorists--more like honorable jihadists, he suggested in the face of questions from an opposition leader--but Turkish forces have also apparently used al-Nusra as a proxy against the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Kurdish party linked to Turkey's own Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which remains overwhelmingly popular among Syria's Kurdish population. If it comes to a choice between an al-Qaeda affiliate and a secular Kurdish party controlling territory, Erdoğan sides with al-Qaeda.

When I asked Iraqi counterterrorism officials who monitor the transit of al-Qaeda last summer about the Turkish relationship with the Nusra Front, they were careful. "Let's just say that whenever the Nusra Front wants to have a meeting, they know they can do so inside Turkey and won't be bothered," one official told me. While diplomatic tension between Iraq and Turkey remains strong, the official was able to give very specific examples that suggest he was not simply trying to tar Turkey.

Erdoğan, himself, however has bristled at any suggestion Turkey provides safe haven or even free passage to the Nusra Front. Now, however, there is video evidence. CNN International has an excellent video report on the transit of jihadis through the Hatay airport in Turkey and into Syria. Perhaps it is time for officials to question the judgment of President Obama for his friendship with and personal endorsement of Erdoğan, who appears not only to sympathize with the most radical elements in Syria's civil war, but also to be a liar.Hmmmm.......Perhaps it's time to look up the definition of 'State sponsor of terrorism'?

Report: Hezbollah has chemical warheads .

Report: Hezbollah has chemical warheads.(CNR).

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Hezbollah has long-range missiles capable of carrying chemical warheads that are stored in underground sites in Lebanon, a Lebanese lawmaker said.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards supervised the construction of underground bunkers and other sites used to store the missiles, Lebanese Member of Parliament Khaled Daher told the Saudi Arabia newspaper al-Watan Saturday.
Daher, a member of the Lebanese Future Movement party that opposes Hezbollah, said that is why Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah recently warned Israel "will face what you have not seen before." Daher said the missiles are capable of reaching Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.

The missiles are stored in a number of locations in the country, he said.
"There are restricted areas no one can approach or enter, this indicates the seriousness of the contents of those sites , which are certain to be long-range missile bases," he said.

The Lebanese politician said SyrianPresident Bashar Assad is responsible for sending the missiles and chemicals to Hezbollah. Daher said Assad transferred some of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile to "its most prominent ally in the region (Hezbollah) ... in an attempt to retain as much of the chemical weapons arsenal as possible."

The missiles are "a threat to stability in the region... they serve the Iranians... and this led us more than once to request the international community put the (Hezbollah) party sites under its control," Daher told the newspaper.
Daher called on the international community to take similar steps against Hezbollah as it is doing in Syria, and put Hezbollah's stockpile of chemical weapons under international scrutiny

Assad Interview: 'West Is More Confident in Al-Qaida than Me'

Assad Interview: 'West Is More Confident in Al-Qaida than Me'. HT: Spiegel.

In an interview with SPIEGEL, Syrian President Assad continues to describe the rebels as terrorists, accuses the West of lies and maintains that he is only seeking to defend his country. The leader also admits mistakes.

In an interview to be published in the Monday issue of SPIEGEL, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks out about inspections of his country's chemical weapons, possible new elections and the role of Germany, the United States and Russia in his country's crisis. He also continues to vehemently deny any role in chemical weapons attacks on civilians and the armed opposition. "We did not use chemical weapons," he tells the magazine. "This is a misstatement. So is the picture you paint of me as a man who kills his own people."

He also expresses doubts about the United Nations report on the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack. "No one can say with certainty that rockets were used," he says. Instead, he accuses the rebels themselves of using Sarin gas.
Addressing the chemical weapons inspections now beginning in Syria, he says: "We're very transparent. The experts can go to every site. They are going to have all the data from our government." Until the weapons are destroyed, they will remain "under full control," he adds.

'I Would Like to See Envoys from Germany'

Assad also criticizes the international community. "It seems to me that the West is more confident in al-Qaida than me," he says. As for US President Barack Obama, he says: "The only thing he has is lies." In contrast, he describes the Russians as "our real friends," adding that they "understand the reality here much better."
Assad also suggests that Germany could act as a mediator in the conflict. "I would like to see envoys from Germany come to Syria to discuss the reality," he says.

The Syrian president also admits that his army has cooperated with Hezbollah in fighting that has taken place in areas on the border with Lebanon.

Asked if he believes a solution to the Syrian crisis could still be negotiated, he counters, "With the militants? No. Because by its very definition, a political opposition doesn't have an army."

Assad also raises the prospect of early elections before his term as president expires in August 2014. "I'm not in a position to say right now whether I will run or not," he says. "If I no longer know that I have the will of the people behind me, then I will not run."


He also concedes, "There were personal mistakes made by individuals. Every human makes mistakes. A president also makes mistakes." One can't just say "they did everything and we did nothing, 100 percent and zero percent," he adds. Reality has "shades of gray."

Finally, addressing the potential outcome of the Syrian conflict, Assad says: "We don't have any other option than to believe in our victory." The Syrian leader says he also doesn't have any fears about his own well-being. "If I were afraid," he says, "I would have left Syria a long time ago."


SPIEGEL International will publish the full interview in English on Monday. 

Saudi black op team behind Damascus chem weapons attack – diplomatic sources

Who'd have thunk it?

Saudi black op team behind Damascus chem weapons attack – diplomatic sources.(RT).

“Based on data from a number of sources a picture can be pieced together. The criminal provocation in Eastern Ghouta was done by a black op team that the Saudi’s sent through Jordan and which acted with support of the Liwa Al-Islam group,” a source in the diplomatic circles told Interfax.

The attack and its consequences had a huge impact on the Syrian situation, another source said.
“Syrians of various political views, including some opposition fighters, are seeking to inform diplomats and members of international organizations working in Syria what they know about the crime and the forces which inspired it,” he told the agency.

Liwa Al-Islam is an Islamist armed group operating near Damascus headed by the son of a Saudi-based Salafi cleric. The group claimed responsibility for the bombing of a secret governmental meeting in Damascus in July 2012 that killed a number of top Syrian officials, including Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, his deputy Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani.

The allegations mirror a number of earlier reports, which pointed to Saudi Arabia as the mastermind behind the sarin gas attack, which almost led to US military action against Syrian government. Proponents of this scenario say intelligence services in Riyadh needed a false flag operation to provoke an American attack in Syria, which would tip the balance in favor of the armed opposition supported by Saudi Arabia.

While the majority of Western countries say they are certain that the Syrian government carries the blame for the attack, Damascus maintains that the rebel forces must be behind it. Russia shares this conviction too, calling the incident a provocation.

Back in March US President Barack Obama said the use of chemical weapons would be a ‘red line’ for the Syrian government, crossing which would prompt America’s intervention into the bloody Syrian conflict. After the August attack, which the US believes has claimed some 1,400 lives, the president was called on his words by many supporters of the Syrian opposition both at home and outside of the US.


The plan for military action was put on pause after a Russia-brokered deal with Damascus, which agreed to join the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons. Experts from OPCW are currently in Syria preparing for the disarmament.

Russia: Syria’s chemical weapons must be destroyed inside country, resolution would include a reference to Chapter 7.

Russia: Syria’s chemical weapons must be destroyed inside country, resolution would include a reference to Chapter 7.(RT).

"As Russia publicly stated previously, we will be ready to help in guarding those facilities where work is being carried out," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.

Russia hopes that Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) member states will “seriously consider the possibility of taking part in this process.”

However, Ryabkov stressed that there is no possibility that Syrian chemical weapons would be destroyed on Russia’s territory.

“There’s no doubt, we won’t do it,” Raybkov said. He added that the chemical weapons should be destroyed in Syria, because the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Damascus has just signed, prohibits any export of such weapons.

Ryabkov says it was possible to “effectively organize” the process on Syrian territory without changing the convention.  
At the same time, Ryabkov stressed that the question of Russia’s assistance will “depend on the situation in Syria.”

Ryabkov declined to comment on whether NATO would take part."As to NATO’s involvement in this work, I do not presume to comment, because I’ve had no opportunity to find out their attitude on this issue,” Ryabkov said.

Ryabkov’s comments come amid discussions among UN Security Council members about a resolution on the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria.
The draft resolution to back Syria’s disarmament could be finalized “very soon,” possibly “within the next two days,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told AP earlier.
The five permanent members of the Security Council have yet to agree on a final text of the resolution.

One of the main points of disagreement between Russia and the West is whether the resolution should be written under Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which allows military and non-military actions to promote peace and security.

Gatilov said that the resolution would include a reference to Chapter 7, but there will be “no automaticity in engaging” in military or non-military actions without a separate discussion at the Security Council.

Video - Evidence Of The Syrian Army Using Munitions Linked To The August 21st Sarin Attack.

Video - Evidence Of The Syrian Army Using Munitions Linked To The August 21st Sarin Attack.HT: BrownMosesBlog.

Since the UN report into the August 21st sarin attack confirmed the use of a previously unknown munition in the attack, which I had previously named the UMLACA (more details here), there's been a lot of debate about whether or not the Syrian army has such a munition.  There's been multiple videos of the munitions posted online by the Syrian opposition, and they've been consistently described as being fired by Syrian government forces.  From those videos, I've been able to identify at least two types of these munitions, one type linked to the August 21st sarin attack and past alleged chemical attacks, and a second, high explosive, type.

The following video from Daraya, Damascus, published on Decemeber 29th 2012, was highlighted by @hesbol on a blog post attempting to discern the range of the UMLACA.  It shows what seems to be a high explosive version of the UMLACA being launched and detonating.
As the camera tracks the flight of the UMLACA it's very distinct outline can be clearly seen

In the video it's claimed that the munitions are fired from Mezzeh airbase, and it's actually possible to confirm they are coming from the direction of Mezzeh airbase.  At the start of the video we see the launch, and the outline of the hills behind it.

Using Google Earth we can position the virtual camera facing north from Daraya, looking towards Mezzeh airbase, and it's clear the topography matches what we see in the video

The structure at the top of the hill is the HQ of Maher al-Assad's 4th division, which can be seen here on Wikimapia. 

A report from the Institute for the Study of War examining the situation in Damascus in December 2012, shows that the area north of Daraya, including Mezzeh airbase, and the 4th division terrain to the north, were under the control of the Syrian army, and it seems, from what we can see in the above video, that the UMLACA was fired by Syrian government forces.  This not only shows the Syrian army have been using the munitions, but they've been using them since December 2012.

Update:  Launchers For Munitions Linked To The August 21st Sarin Attack Filmed At Mezzeh Airbase

130K militants from 49 states fighting in Syria: US agency.

130K militants from 49 states fighting in Syria: US agency.(IIT).

The American Pentapolis Agency of statistics has said in a report that the number of dead Arabs in the ranks of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) is increasing and cleared that a number of fighters of foreign nationalities in Syria are from 49 countries from the five continents of the world.

It added that there are at least 130 thousand non-Syrian militants in Syria, some are Arabs and others from non-Arab countries.

The statistic is as follows: Tunisia 1902 dead – Libya 1807 dead – Iraq 1432 dead – Palestine 1002 dead – Lebanon 828 dead – Egypt 821 dead – Saudi Arabia 714 dead – Yemen 571 dead – Morocco 412 dead – Algeria 273 dead – Kuwait 71 dead – Somalia, 42 dead – Oman 21 dead – Bahrain 19 people – 9 dead Emirates – Qatar 8 killed – Sudan 3 dead – Mauritania one dead.

The statistic conducted by the US Agency was confined to the numbers of dead Arab militants without the any statistic on the number of foreign dead militants.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since March 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.
According to the UN, more than 100,000 people have been killed and a total of 7.8 million of others displaced due to the violence.

Rocket-head like object with suspicious liquid inside found in car in Turkey.

Rocket-head like object with  suspicious liquid inside  found in car in Turkey.(HD)

Turkish police have seized an object said to resemble a rocket warhead and liquid likely to be chemical that were found in a car they had stopped on a highway in the central province of Kayseri, and detained three people including a Syrian national.

The car, heading to Istanbul from the southeastern province of Mardin, was stopped by police in Kayseri on Sept 21. Officers seized a device wrapped in tinfoil under the front passenger seat, which was thought to be a rocket warhead and taken under examination.

Following the discovery, police detained three people, Turkish citizens A.Ç. (59), F.T. (54) and Syrian citizen A.S. (30), who were all in the car and asked for an expert team to identify the object.

Crime scene investigators and a team from the Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) were sent to the scene.

The 19-centimeter-long device had a suspicious liquid inside and had Russian writing and numbers on it, surrounding a picture of a skull, the reports said.

A special expertise team working under the General Staff was charged with fully examining the device.

Kayseri Governor Orhan Düzgün issued a statement on Sept. 21 saying AFAD members and a team from Erciyes University Medical School carried out the initial investigation. He added that the three suspects were still in custody.

Hmmm.....Related: Syrian detained as Turkish police seize suspected chemical substance, warhead.

Russia will not use its right of veto in UN Security Council on Syria.

Russia will not use its right of veto in UN Security Council on Syria.(RBTH).

Russia is not going to keep using its right of veto in the UN Security Council "on principle," Sergei Ivanov, the head of the presidential administration, told reporters at a security conference in Stockholm on Saturday.

Ivanov recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about it in the meeting of the discussion club in Valdai.

Ivanov said that, if it becomes clear who used chemical weapons in Syria, "it will be a totally different issue."

"However, it needs to be proved. Until it hasn't been proven our stance remains as it is," Ivanov said. More here.

Syrian detained as Turkish police seize suspected chemical substance, warhead.

Syrian detained as Turkish police seize suspected chemical substance, warhead.(TZ).

Turkish police on Saturday seized some amount of suspected chemical substance and a rocket warhead from a suspicious car stopped in central province of Kayseri and detained three people, including a Syrian national.
According to the Kayseri Police Department, counterterrorism teams stopped a suspicious car along the Kayseri-Malatya Highway early on Saturday. Police found a rocket warhead as well as some amount of suspected liquid chemicals in the car and detained three people, including a Syrian national.Police stepped up security around the area and the teams from the General Staff are still examining the seized materials.

Confirmed - Al-Nusra Producing Chemical Weapons in Turkey.

In the rabbit video it's stated at 6:44 that the name of the group is the "Reeh Sarsar" (Cold Wind) Chemical Battalion, with the flag on the wall showing the same name.Source.

Confirmed - Al-Nusra Producing Chemical Weapons in Turkey.(Aydinlikdaily).

The investigation into chemical weapon production in Turkey continues. Haitham Kassab, the number one suspect in the indictment, has given details of his contacts in Turkey and work that they have carried out in his statement to the prosecutor's office. Kassab's expressions have revealed how Syrian terrorist groups have made Antakya into a center for exporting terrorism. According to the chemical weapons investigation conducted by the Adana Public Prosecutor's Office, Syrian terrorist groups set up a camp in the Antakya district of Hatay. Haitham Kassab has openly admitted operations they have carried out, and the network that terrorists established in Turkey.

Haitham Kassab, who was charged with a 25-year prison sentence for being a member of and supplying weapons to a terrorist organization, explained to prosecutors the activities that he conducted in Turkey on behalf of Syrian terrorist groups. Kassab's confessions showed that Antakya has become the operations center for Syrian terrorists.

Events started when Haitham Kassab rented a home in Antakya on the instructions of Abul Hassan and Tammam, officials of the Syrian terrorist group Ahrar ash-Sham. Following the settling of Kassab in Antakya, the representatives of Syrian terrorist groups began to knock on his door and give him tasks. Kassab supplied electronic circuits for the integrated explosive systems used against armored vehicles in Syria, from the instruction of a terrorist named Abu Ukhba.

Syrian terrorists are quite comfortable in Antakya. In fact, deliveries are being made to a place next to the Antakya State Hospital in the city center. The terrorist group Al Haq Battalion which fights in Homs found Haitham Kassab through a man called Abu Mohammed. The Al Haq Battalion requested chrome pipes from Kassab to be used in the production of mortars. The mortar is the most widely used weapon type against civilians in Syria. Kassab's tasks that he completed included providing "time fuses", "chrome pipes used in the production of mortars" and most importantly providing "raw material for the production of chemical weapons."

'Alahu Akhbar' - Islamist blitzkrieg in Syria: Jihadists wiping out moderate rebels.

'Alahu Akhbar' - Islamist blitzkrieg in Syria: Jihadists wiping out moderate rebels.(RT).

'If Washington really wants to topple President Assad, it would have to make a choice between either officially declaring its support for Al-Qaeda and its global expansion agenda, or joining Moscow and battle Islamic extremists in the Middle East.'

The latest news coming from the north of Syria suggests that a series of clashes between the former allies have already left a number of casualties and a change of the operational situation in the Syrian civil war.
The FSA leaders have recently acknowledged that clashes between their brigades and Islamist rivals haves reached boiling point.
Last weekend, the very same day Russia’s FM Sergey Lavrov and the US Secretary of State John Kerry hammered out an agreement on Syria’s chemical weapons disarmament, the clashes between FSA associates and the most notorious jihadist groups operating in Syria, the al-Nusra front and the ISIL, were reported by the Daily Beast. 
Islamists attacked first, by blowing up the brother of a commander of the Allahu Akbar Brigades, a local FSA group. In retaliation the group launched a counter offensive, killing four jihadists.
On Wednesday militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized the town of Azaz controlled by the anti-Assad Storm of the North Brigade, affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, some five kilometers from the Syrian-Turkish border. Five FSA fighters reportedly died in clashes, with over 100 people taken hostage.
“The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has seized complete control of Azaz. They are in control of the town's entrances,” Abu Ahmad, an activist inside Azaz, told the AFP news agency. 
The shootout in Azaz began after ISIL gunmen attempted to detain a German doctor who has been working as a volunteer at a private hospital in Azaz, accusing him of taking photos of their positions. The doctor managed to escape and is safe now, Rami Abdul-Rahman told the Associated Press, the head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. But as a result of the clashes FSA’s Northern Storm Brigade has had to withdraw from Azaz.
The ultimate goal of the jihadists must be a crossing at Bab Al Salama on the Syrian-Turkish border, currently controlled by the FSA. The Bab Al Salama is one of the few still operable crossings used by the Syrian opposition to deliver weapons, fighters and humanitarian aid from neighboring Turkey.
Local activist Abu Louay al-Halabi told Al Jazeera that “By taking Azaz, the Islamic State is a step closer to controlling the crossing. Its objective seems to be taking over the whole countryside north of Aleppo.”
In yet another shootout, fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group clashed with FSA’s Rasoul group rebels and drove them out of the town of Raqqah in Syria’s north last Wednesday, reported Lebanon’s Daily Start last week. In this town that fell out of Assad’s control last March, the jihadists stick to the same modus operandi – they detonated a car bomb killing two FSA commanders.

After a fierce fight at Rasoul group headquarters, the FSA militants had to withdraw to Turkish territory.
While last weekend Russia and the United States reached a deal on a framework that will see the removal and destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons by mid- 2014, Islamic extremists in Syria made it clear they are not interested in soothing the conflict.
In fact, extremists have taken the Lavrov-Kerry deal to strip Damascus of chemical weapons as a clear signal to act.

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri announced that Islamist militants must avoid any alliances with other rebel forces supported by the west and the Gulf Arab states.

“I warn my brothers and people in Syria of unity and jihad and against coming close to any of these groups,” said Zawahri as quoted by Reuters.


The news came as no surprise, particularly after the publication last week of the defense consultancy IHS Jane's report about almost half of the rebel forces fighting against the Syrian government being either hardline Islamists or open jihadists with strong Al-Qaeda links.

IHS Jane's report insists there are 100,000 fighters opposing President Bashar Assad’s forces at the moment, of which no less than 45,000 are Islamic extremists that are actually the spearhead of the anti-Assad forces. 
Al-Qaeda associates might really succeed in squeezing FSA moderates out of Syria which would automatically put Russia in an awkward position of conducting useless negotiations, with a Syrian opposition swiftly losing its remaining political clout. 

But that would also mean that the US could only supply weapons directly to Al-Qaeda jihadists as the only remaining force capable of opposing President Bashar Assad.

In that case Moscow would be left with only one imperative: to support the legitimate government of democratically elected President Bashar Assad in order to prevent the Middle East from sliding into the uncontrollable chaos of total jihad. 

In turn, if Washington really wants to topple President Assad, it would have to make a choice between either officially declaring its support for Al-Qaeda and its global expansion agenda, or joining Moscow and battle Islamic extremists in the Middle East.

A Full Extremist-To-Moderate Spectrum Of The 100,000 Syrian Rebels .

A Full Extremist-To-Moderate Spectrum Of The 100,000 Syrian Rebels.HT: BusinessInsider.

Who are the approximately 100,000 rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al Assad?

Assad claims that “80 to 90% of those [the Syrian government is] fighting belong to al Qaeda."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry claims that 15% to 25% of the opposition is "bad guys" who belong to an extremist groups.
Neither is accurate.

The complex reality is that there are as many as 1,000 individual armed rebel groups, each of which fall somewhere on the spectrum from al-Qaeda ideologue to secular Syrian Arab Army defector.

Charles Lister of IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center recently published a fantastic article detailing "specific nature and composition of the insurgency itself." According to Lister, nearly half of the rebel forces are jihadist or hardline Islamists.

We've drawn on Lister's insights and other estimates to establish a rough breakdown of the rebels fighting Assad, Read and see the full story here.

Grounds to believe Syria chemical attack was smart provocation – Putin.

Grounds to believe Syria chemical attack was smart provocation – Putin.(RT).

Russia has every reason to believe that the use of chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb in August was an adroit and smart provocation, President Vladimir Putin has said.

“We have every grounds to believe that it was a provocation. Of course, it was adroit and smart, but, at the same time, primitive in terms of technical performance. They took an old Soviet-made missile, which was taken out of service in the Syrian army long ago. It was most important to have ‘made in the USSR’ written [on the missile],” Putin said at the Valdai discussion forum on Thursday. 
The Russian president pointed out that the August 21st attack in Damascus was not the first time chemical weapons had been used in Syria. 

“But why other cases have not been investigated?” he asked. 

The chemical weapon attack must be thoroughly investigated and those behind it must be identified, Putin told the Valdai Club meeting in Russia’s Novgorod Region.  

“No matter how difficult it might be, but if in the end we manage to answer the question… as to who committed that crime – and that was certainly a crime – the next step will follow. Then, together with our colleagues from the United Nations Security Council we will have to define the level of responsibility of those who committed the crime,” Putin said.

He stressed that measures like military strikes cannot solve every international issue, while should also be brought to the UNSC rather than discussed in the US Congress.

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