Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh urges youths to avoid Syria war.

Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh urges youths to avoid Syria war.(PressTV).

Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh has urged young Saudis not to join militant groups in Syria fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

According to al-Hayat newspaper, the Saudi mufti on Monday warned against the inflow of Saudi men into Syria, saying, “This is all wrong, it’s not obligatory.”

“These are feuding factions and one should not go there. I do not advise one to go there,” the mufti said.
Ash-Sheikh also criticized preachers who push Saudi young men into the war in Syria.
“Muslim should be fearful of God and not deceive young Muslims and exploit their weakness and lack of insight and push them to an abyss,” he said.

This is while Saudi Arabia has been supporting foreign-backed militants to change the balance of power on the ground since the beginning of unrest in Syria.

During a meeting in the Jordanian capital Amman in September, Riyadh guaranteed to continue its financial and logistic support for the militants, including al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front terrorists.
Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.
The United Nations says four million more Syrians will be forced out of their homes in 2014 by the escalating conflict in the country.

Two million Syrians are expected to take refuge outside the country while another 2.25 million are predicted to be internally displaced next year.

UN Inspectors: "Syrian rebels (Alqaeda & Al Nusra?) may have obtained small amounts of chemical weapons."

UN Inspectors: "Syrian rebels (Alqaeda and Al Nusra?) may have obtained small amounts of chemical weapons."(TOI).

UN inspectors revealed on Monday that the Bashar Assad regime admitted to possessing 1,230 missiles ready to be loaded with chemical weapons, according to a British report.

The regime also confidentially admitted to holding some 1,300 tons of chemical weapons in its arsenal, including mustard gas and the nerve agent sarin, according to a copy of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons report which was obtained by The Times of London.

The organization estimated, based on Syria’s declarations, that the regime actually possesses about 1,000 tons of Category 1 chemical weapons, which do not have peaceful uses, along with 290 tons of Category 2 substances, such as toxins with industrial uses, according to the London Times.

The UN report also suggests that Syrian rebels may have obtained small amounts of chemical weapons. It reveals that “Syrian authorities have reported finding two cylinders not belonging to them, which are believed to contain chemical weapons.”

Syria has sent the OPCW a plan for the full destruction of its chemical stockpile, but international inspectors overseeing that destruction have missed an early deadline in a brutally tight schedule after security concerns prevented them from visiting two sites linked to Damascus’ chemical program.

OPCW experts were to have checked all 23 of Syria’s declared chemical sites by Sunday, but the organization said Monday that inspectors have visited only 21 because of security issues. While there are no consequences for missing the deadline, the group’s failure to meet it underscores the ambitious timeline as well as the risks its inspectors face in carrying out their mission in the middle of Syria’s civil war.

The OPCW did not say who was responsible for the security problems, but the organizations’ director-general has said in the past that temporary cease-fires may have to be negotiated between rebels and forces loyal to Assad to reach some sites. The chemical weapons watchdog said it has not given up hope of gaining access to the two locations.

“Negotiations continue to try to get security guarantees so our inspectors can go in,” OPCW spokesman Michael Luhan said.Hmmm.....How long before these are used for a terrorist attack?

Syrian opposition: No Geneva peace talks after 'chemical attack'.

Syrian opposition: No Geneva peace talks after 'chemical attack'.(RT).

The Syrian National Coalition, the official opposition to President Bashar Assad, has called off the long-delayed peace summit in Geneva, following an alleged chemical attack last week.

“We refused to speak about Geneva after what's happened. We must punish this dictator, Bashar the Chemist we call him, and then we can discuss Geneva," coalition Secretary General Badr Jamous told Reuters, after a meeting with international opposition backers Friends of Syria in Istanbul.

China supports U.N. investigation in Syria, urges caution.

China supports U.N. investigation in Syria, urges caution.(Yahoo).

BEIJING (Reuters) - China supports an independent and objective investigation by U.N. experts into allegations of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, China's foreign minister said on Monday, while urging a cautious response and political resolution to the crisis.

"China has paid close attention to the reports of the use of chemical weapons inside Syria, and China resolutely opposes the use of chemical weapons no matter who uses them," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement on the ministry's website.

"China supports the U.N.'s secretariat to, in accordance with relevant U.N. resolutions, open an independent, objective, fair and professional investigation, to find out what really happened as soon as possible," Wang said.

U.N. inspectors left central Damascus on Monday to investigate sites of an alleged chemical weapons strike on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, after calls from Western powers for military action to punish what may be the world's worst chemical attack in 25 years.

Wang did not directly refer to the threats of military action, but urged a careful handling of the matter.

"The only way out for the Syrian issue is a political resolution," he said. "All parties ought to cautiously handle the Syrian chemical weapons issue to avoid interfering in (efforts) to resolve the Syrian issue politically."

Videos: Alledged Live Footage Of UN Inspectors Meeting Wounded In Muadamiyyeh As-Sham.

Video streaming by Ustream


Video streaming by Ustream

Video streaming by Ustream


Videos: Claimed Live Footage Of UN Inspectors Meeting Wounded In Muadamiyyeh As-Sham.HT: EA WorldView.

Video - UN inspectors talk to victims of the attacks.

Video - UN inspectors talk to victims of the attacks.HT: EAWorldview.

Top 5 Reasons Not to Use Missile Strikes in Syria.

"le repos du guerrier''

Top 5 Reasons Not to Use Missile Strikes in Syria.HT: Heritage.

There are press reports that the White House is considering missile strikes on the Assad regime in Syria to punish it for the use of chemical weapons. That is a bad idea for five reasons.

1. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine is not adequate justification for direct military intervention. This dangerous doctrine, promoted at the United Nations, undermines U.S. sovereignty by arguing for an obligation of nations to intervene. As Heritage’s legal expert on sovereignty matters, Steve Groves, explains:

a doctrine that compels the United States to act to prevent atrocities occurring in other countries would be risky and imprudent. U.S. independence—hard won by the Founders and successive generations of Americans—would be compromised if the United States consented to be legally bound by the R2P doctrine. The United States needs to preserve its national sovereignty by maintaining a monopoly on the decision to deploy diplomatic pressure, economic sanctions, political coercion, and especially its military forces.

2. A vital U.S. interest is not at stake. The U.S. does have an interest in the resolution of the conflict, but military force should be reserved for areas where the U.S. has a compelling need to act in defense of its own interests. There are other and more prudent options for advancing U.S. interests to help resolve the conflict.

3. It would not be a wise use of military force. Military force should be used only if there is a clear, achievable, realistic purpose. Missile strikes are unlikely to deter the Assad regime and prevent further abuses. Rather, the U.S. risks escalating its involvement in the crisis.

4. Missile attacks would only make President Obama look weaker. Much like President Clinton’s ineffective cruise missile strikes on Osama bin Laden’s terrorist camps, strikes would only be seen as a sign that the U.S. is lacking a clear, decisive course of action. The Middle East would see this as another effort from the Obama Administration to look for an “easy button” and lead from behind rather than exercise real, constructive leadership.


5. It would distract from what the U.S. should be doing. Rather than attempting to intervene directly in the conflict, the U.S. should be working in a concerted manner with other countries in the region to hasten the end of the Assad regime and deal with the refugee crisis, the resurgence of al-Qaeda, and the destabilizing efforts of Iran and Hezbollah.

Video - Syrian Information Minister Omran Al-Zoabi: The Entire Middle East Will Burn If Syria Is Attacked by the U.S.

U.N. chemical inspectors suspend mission after 'unknown' sniper attack.

U.N. chemical inspectors suspend mission after 'unknown' sniper attack.HT: IsraelMatzav.

The United States is increasingly convinced that the Syrian regime was behind a major chemical weapons attack and the U.S. is considering military action, an official said Monday.

“There are strong signs pointing in the direction of chemical weapons use” by the Syrian regime, the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters travelling with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Unidentified snipers shot at U.N. experts on Monday, forcing them to suspend their attempt to investigate claims that chemical weapons had been used near Damascus, a U.N. spokesman said, according to AFP.

"The first vehicle of the chemical weapons investigation team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers," said U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky. No injuries were reported.

U.N. weapons investigators were due on Monday to inspect the site of a suspected chemical attack which killed at least 1,300 people last week in Damascus suburbs.
The move follows Syria agreeing on Sunday to allow the inspectors to visit the site, although an American official told reporters the move was “too late to be credible.”
Earlier today, Washington was still weighing how to respond but there was very little doubt that the Syrian government had used a chemical weapon against civilians, the senior U.S. official said, Reuters news agency reported.

“Based on the reported number of victims, reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured, witness accounts and other facts gathered by open sources, the U.S. intelligence community, and international partners, there is very little doubt at this point that a chemical weapon was used by the Syrian regime against civilians in this incident,” the official added.

The team has been waiting in a Damascus luxury hotel a few miles from the site.
Meanwhile, U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon said Monday there was no time to waste in investigating the alleged chemical attack.
“Every hour counts. We cannot afford any more delays,” Ban told reporters in Seoul, AFP news agency reported.

“The world is watching Syria,” the secretary general said, stressing once again that the U.N. experts must be allowed to conduct a “full, thorough and unimpeded” investigation.

“We cannot allow impunity in what appears to be a grave crime against humanity,” said Ban who was wrapping up a five-day visit to his homeland, South Korea.

Britain, Turkey say Syria response possible without U.N. backing.

Britain, Turkey say Syria response possible without U.N. backing.(AA).

Both Britain and Turkey said on Monday that it would be possible to respond to chemical weapons use in Syria without the unanimous backing of the United Nations Security Council.
In an interview with BBC radio, British Foreign Secretary William Hague made the remarks on the possibility of his country’s response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria last week.

“Is it possible to respond to chemical weapons without complete unity on the U.N. Security Council? I would argue yes it is otherwise it might be impossible to respond to such outrages, such crimes, and I don’t think that’s an acceptable situation,” Hague said, in comments reported by Reuters news agency.

Meanwhile, Turkey said it would join any international coalition against Syria even if a wider consensus on action cannot be reached at the U.N. Security Council, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying on Monday.

“We always prioritize acting together with the international community, with United Nations decisions. If such a decision doesn’t emerge from the U.N. Security Council, other alternatives ... would come onto the agenda,” Davutoglu told the Milliyet daily, according to Reuters.

“Currently 36-37 countries are discussing these alternatives. If a coalition is formed against Syria in this process, Turkey would take its place in this coalition.”

Ankara denies increased arms shipments to Syria via Turkey.

Ankara denies increased arms shipments to Syria via Turkey.(HD).

A senior Turkish diplomat has strictly denied a news report that cited a Syrian rebel operative as saying that 400 tons of arms have been sent into Syria from Turkey.

“As has been the case with similar news reports in the past, this claim is definitely not true,” the diplomat, speaking under condition of anonymity, told the Hürriyet Daily news on Aug. 25, recalling Ankara’s earlier statements that Turkey was not involved in alleged arms deliveries to the Syrian rebels.

Earlier, opposition sources had claimed that 400 tons of arms had been sent into Syria from Turkey to boost insurgent capabilities against Syrian government forces, after a suspected chemical weapons strike on rebellious suburbs of Damascus.

The source said the Gulf-financed shipment, which crossed from the Turkish province of Hatay in the past 24 hours, was one of the single biggest shipments to reach rebel brigades since the uprising turned violent two years ago.

“20 trailers crossed from Turkey and are being distributed to arms depots for several brigades across the north,” Mohammad Salam, a rebel operative who witnessed the crossing from an undisclosed location in Hatay, told Reuters.

A senior officer in the Gulf and Western backed Supreme Military Council, an umbrella group for rebel units, confirmed the shipment, and said that weapons airlifts into Turkey have increased since rebel held Sunni Muslim neighbourhood and suburbs of Damascus were gassed last week.

Syrian opposition accounts that between 500 and well over 1,000 civilians were killed this week by gas in munitions fired by pro-government forces, and video footage of victims' bodies, have increased calls abroad for military intervention after 2 1/2 years of international inaction on Syria's conflict.

Syrian authorities sought to avert blame on Saturday by saying its soldiers had found chemical weapons in suburban Damascus tunnels used by rebels. But Western powers have cited preliminary evidence indicating that Syrian government forces were behind the chemical attack, and the United States is repositioning naval forces in the Mediterranean to give President Barack Obama the option of a military strike.

Iran's foreign minister said the Syrian government had told Tehran it would allow U.N. inspectors to visit areas reportedly affected by chemical weapons, Iran's Press TV said on Sunday.

Al-Nusra Front to target Alawite faith, Assad 'over chemical attacks'- recording

Al-Nusra Front to target Alawite faith, Assad 'over chemical attacks'- recording.HT: RussiaToday.

The head of the Syria-based and Al-Qaeda linked Al-Nusa front has vowed unrestrained rocket attacks on Alawite communities, alongside attacks on President Bashar Assad’s government in revenge for an alleged chemical strike, according to a new recording.

“For every chemical rocket that had [has] fallen on our people in Damascus, one of their villages will, by the will of God, pay for it,” said Jabhat al-Nusra leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani in the audio footage released on YouTube on Sunday. It was posted on a militant website which usually broadcasts the views of Al-Qaeda and similar extremist groups. 

It simultaneously appeared on the group’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, suggesting that it was authentic. However, it could not immediately be verified for its authenticity. 

“On top of that we will prepare a thousand rockets that will be fired on their towns in revenge for the Damascus Ghouta massacre,” al-Golani continued. 

Assad’s government is largely comprised of Alawite Muslims – a branch of Shi’ite Islam whose villages’ al-Golani swore he would target. Alawites make up roughly 12 percent of Syria’s population. 

The Al-Nusra front’s existing actions against minorities in northern Iraq have prompted concern after witness reports of kidnappings, rape and murder emerged in early August. The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) issued reports that “hundreds of Kurdish civilians have been kidnapped, tortured and their houses have been looted and burned down.”

The Al-Nusra Front’s Sunni Muslims have claimed to be behind some of the most lethal bombings in Syria’s two-and-a-half year conflicts and have led some effective rebel offensives over the period. In April it declared that it was joining with Al-Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq group. It is considered a terrorist organization by the US.

Al-Golani’s vengeful comments come in the wake of an alleged chemical attack on Wednesday in an eastern suburb of Damascus. Death tolls from the reported assault vary from 136 to as high as 1,300. A video voice recording has been set on the internet.

Related:  Erdogan blames Syria for deadly bombings, while Iran blames Al-Nusra Front.

Turkey finds sarin gas in homes of suspected Syrian Islamists – reports

Syrian FM: Government to cooperate with UN inspectors.

Syrian FM: Government to cooperate with UN inspectors.(Taz).

The Syrian government will cooperate with the UN`s investigation committee now in Syria and will create the conditions for visiting zones which have been attacked by terrorist groups with chemical weapons, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said during his initiated phone talk with Iranian FM Mohammad Javad Zarif, ISNA news agency reported.

He also has claimed that Syrian opposition is behind the chemical attack, the report said.
According to the report, Zarif in his turn has condemned use of chemical weapons by terrorists and called it contrary to human principles and international rules.
He also argued that any solution excluding peacefully solution is doomed to fail in Syria crisis, adding that, all parts should support just political process in the issue.
Iran has dismissed claims accusing the Syrian government of using chemical weapons against militant positions in the suburbs of Damascus.
On Wednesday, the head of the so-called opposition Syrian National Coalition, George Sabra, claimed that 1,300 people were killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar.
But the Syrian Army vehemently rejected allegations that it used chemical weapons against militants, saying the accusations were fabricated to distract the visiting team of the UN chemical weapons experts and to cover up militants' losses.

Poll - Americans oppose Syria intervention, as West mulls ‘serious response’.

Poll - Americans oppose Syria intervention, as West mulls ‘serious response’.HT: RussiaToday.

However, the American public shows no willingness to get involved in another costly conflict in the Middle East, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests.

Only 9 percent of the surveyed believe President Barack Obama should take action on Syria, while some 60 percent of Americans said the United States should not intervene in Syria's bloody civil war.
According to the poll taken on August 19-23, 25 percent of Americans would back intervention if it is proven that the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against civilians, while almost double that number – 46 percent – would still oppose such a move.
Obama discussed the latest developments in Syria with British PM David Cameron on Saturday and both expressed grave concern over the alleged Wednesday attack. "They reiterated that significant use of chemical weapons would merit a serious response from the international community and both have tasked officials to examine all the options," said a spokesperson for Cameron.
On Saturday, Obama received a "detailed review of a range of potential options" he requested his advisers to prepare for the US and the international community to respond to the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria. The statement from the White House did not provide any details about the options presented. “In coordination with international partners and mindful of the dozens of contemporaneous witness accounts and records of the symptoms of those killed, the US intelligence community continues to gather facts to ascertain what occurred,” the statement read.

Speaking at a press conference in Malaysia on Sunday, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel indicated that the US military is ready to exercise options on Syria, should Obama choose military action. “President Obama has asked the Defense Department to prepare options for all contingencies. We have done that and we are prepared to exercise whatever option - if he decides to employ one of those options," Hagel told reporters.

Earlier on Friday he suggested that the Pentagon is moving naval forces closer to Syria in preparation for a possible decision by Obama. Reports say that among the military options under consideration are missile strikes on Syrian units believed to be responsible for chemical attacks, or on Assad's air force and ballistic missile sites.
Obama himself, however, has been cautious about intervention in Syria. In Friday's interview with CNN, the president said the United States should be wary of “being drawn into very expensive, difficult, costly interventions that actually breed more resentment in the region.”
The Syrian government, which blames rebel forces for the alleged attack, has warned against any military action against Damascus, saying such a move would set the Middle East ablaze. Meanwhile on Saturday, Syrian state media reported that rebels have used chemical weapons against regime forces in the Damascus suburb of Jobar, where soldiers discovered stockpiles of toxic poisoning antidotes.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said that nearly 3,600 patients with neurotoxic symptoms were treated in three Damascus hospitals on the day a toxic gas attack was reported, while 355 patients were reportedly pronounced dead.
The international medical humanitarian organization said it received information from hospitals it has been supporting in Syria.  At the same time, MSF director of operations, Dr. Bart Janssens said in a press-release published on the organization’s webpage that they are unable to “establish who is responsible for the attack”. 
Professor of International Law at Georgetown University, Daoud Khairallah, told RT that the US would not act without verifiable evidence.
“The US can’t take any action without verifiable evidence about who is the party who is responsible. If it turns out that it was the rebels that used this poisonous material, the US will be embarrassed because it will be the allies of US, the opposition the US has been supporting and claiming that these are people who are seeking democracy and rule of law in Syria.”

“The US would like to prove that it was the regime who has done this, but it has not been independently proved or verified and without independent verification I doubt that Obama will act. Obama did say that ‘we need to be sure who has used these weapons, evaluate the costs to the US both financially and morally, we need international approval.’”
Hmmmmm........ Isaiah 17:1 "An oracle concerning Damascus: "See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins."

Syria - Victims of Chemical Weapons Attack Smuggled to Jordan for Tests.

Russia Today presents the propaganda, which amounts to an admission from the Syrian regime — after its initial denials — that there was a chemical weapons attack on Wednesday. The report, rather than referring to tunnels, talks about an insurgent “laboratory” where “poison”, manufactured in Saudi Arabia, was discovered; the amount was enough “to destroy a small city”:



Syria - Victims of Chemical Weapons Attack Smuggled to Jordan for Tests. HT: EA Worldview.

The Guardian reports that at least three victims of the chemical weapons attack near Damascus on Wednesday have been smuggled to Jordan, where samples of their blood and urine will help determine which agent was used. Sources in insurgent-held area said a network of defectors, some of whom had fled the Syrian military’s chemical warfare division, were helping to smuggle biological samples from the scenes of the attack to Jordan. The samples include biopsies of livers and spleens from fatalities, as well as blood and urine from survivors.

Syria: Chemical Attack in Ghouta 'an Accident Caused by Free Syrian Army' .

Syria: Chemical Attack in Ghouta 'an Accident Caused by Free Syrian Army'.(Ibtimes).HT: TundraTabloids.

The attack that killed over 200 people in the Damascus suburbs could be an accident caused by a riot control agent, and those responsible may be a faction of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and not the Assad regime, according to a chemical weapons specialist.

Syrian opposition activists claim that rockets with toxic agents were launched towards the suburbs of the Ghouta region at 3am killing more than 570 people, mostly women and children. Horrific footage of people being treated in makeshift hospitals and many children suffocating, having convulsions or laying immobile emerged on social media.
But Gwyn Winfield, editorial director at CBRNe World, a magazine specialising in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive weapons, told IBTimes UK that it is difficult to identify an agent by the signs and symptoms alone.
"We can say there is some form of chemical used. But until we take blood samples, samples of the soil and the water in the area we can't say that a chemical agent has been used," he said.
"It can be a riot control agent, like in the recent Egyptian case of the tear gas used in the back of a van that killed 36 prisoners. We have the same symptoms in the children and casualties."
Winfield said he finds it "suspicious" that in the week UN inspectors enter the country with the acquiescence of Assad, the Government welcomes them with a chemical weapons missile barrage.
"It is not impossible that some faction in the Free Syrian Army did it to get attention or maybe it was an accident by an inexperienced operator who may have not realised what he was doing."
The security expert said there are numerous cases of riot agent used in a lethal way, for example in confined spaces and not to disperse a crowd.
He added that the idea that the FSA is single and unified is "a myth," because "there are different factions and something like that could be a win/win for them: launch the attack and raise amount of profile of their cause by the UN."
Winfield said that more than 570 victims, if confirmed, are a lot of people in a not densely populated area. "It means the attack targeted a large area and it is not an isolated incident. If there are 570 fatalities it would suggest that evidence of what it is will not be hard to find."

Related: Syrian troops find chemical agents in tunnels used by rebels: state TV .By Oliver Holmes

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian state television said soldiers found chemical materials on Saturday in tunnels that had been used by rebels, rejecting blame for a nerve gas attack that killed hundreds this week and heightened Western calls for foreign intervention.

The United States said it was realigning naval forces in the Mediterranean to give President Barack Obama the option for an armed strike on Syria and a senior U.N. official arrived in Damascus to seek access for inspectors to the gas attack site.

Syrian opposition accounts that between 500 and well over 1,000 civilians were killed by gas in munitions fired by pro-government forces, and video footage of victims’ bodies, have stoked demands abroad for a robust, U.S.-led response after 2-1/2 years of international inaction on Syria’s conflict.

In an attempt to strengthen the government’s denials of responsibility for the chemical assault in Damascus’s embattled suburbs, Syrian TV said soldiers came across chemical agents in rebel tunnels during an advance into the Jobar district.

“Army heroes are entering the tunnels of the terrorists and saw chemical agents,” it quoted a “news source” as saying. “In some cases, soldiers are suffocating while entering Jobar. Ambulances came to rescue the people suffocating.”

Soldiers discovered a cache of gas masks and imported pills used to ward off exposure to chemical attacks, it said, promising to air footage of “material and drums” later. The report could not be independently confirmed.

FSA_NBC_Troops_Aleppo_July_27_2012

Israel TV: Chemical weapons were fired by Assad’s brother’s unit.

Israel TV: Chemical weapons were fired by Assad’s brother’s unit.(TOI).


The chemical weapons allegedly used to kill an estimated 1,000 or more Syrian civilians by the regime of President Bashar Assad last Wednesday were fired by the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Army, an Israel TV report said.

This division is under the command of the president’s brother, Maher Assad.

The nerve gas shells were fired from a military base in a mountain range to the west of Damascus, the Channel 2 news report said. It said the base was in the Mount Kalmun area.

The embattled regime has concentrated its vast stocks of chemical weaponry in just two or three locations, the report said, under the control of Syrian Air Force Intelligence, itself reporting to the president.

The TV report further added that “the assessment in Israel” is that the attack was intended to serve as the possible start of a wider operation.

It said Israel was increasingly concerned about the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and their possibility of these weapons falling into still more dangerous hands than those of Assad. Israel was “privately” making clear its concerns to the United States, the report said.

In his first response Thursday to the alleged attack, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran was closely watching how the world would deal with the attack.

“Syria has become Iran’s testing ground, and Iran is closely watching whether and how the world responds to the atrocities committed there by its client state Syria and its proxy Hezbollah against innocent civilians in Syria,” he said.

The alleged use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians on Wednesday “proves yet again that we cannot permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to acquire the world’s most dangerous weapons,” Netanyahu added.

On Wednesday, rebel groups in Syria claimed that as many as 1,300 people were killed in a chemical attack in the eastern suburbs of the capital Damascus. The reports were accompanied by a string of grisly photos and videos depicting scores of dead civilians, including children.

The reports “raise the possibility that an extremely grievous crime has been committed by the Syrian regime against its citizens,” Netanyahu said.

“This act adds to the roster of crimes committed by the Syrian regime, with the aid of Iran and Hezbollah, against the Syrian people,” he said.

Netanyahu added that it was “absurd that UN investigators, who are in Damascus right now to investigate the possibility that chemical weapons have been used, are being prevented by the Syrian regime from reaching the affected areas.”

Iran warns against Western intervention in Syrian conflict.

Iran warns against Western intervention in Syrian conflict.(AA).

Iran on Saturday against any Western military intervention in the Syrian conflict, after the United States suggested it was weighing up such a possibility.

Iran, the chief regional ally of Damascus, said on Saturday there is “proof” Syrian rebels used chemical weapons in their conflict with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

“We are very concerned about information regarding the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and we strongly condemn the use of such weapons,” foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said, quoted by ISNA news agency.

“There is proof terrorist groups carried out this action,” Araqchi said in reference to Wednesday’s allegedly deadly attacks in the Damascus area, without elaborating.
“Many of the innocent people of Syria have been injured and martyred by chemical agents and this is unfortunate,” recently elected Iranian President Rowhani was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency, according to Reuters.

“We completely and strongly condemn the use of chemical weapons,” he said, according to the agency.

“The Islamic Republic gives notice to the international community to use all its might to prevent the use of these weapons anywhere in the world, especially in Syria,” he added.
Rowhani added that Iran, itself a victim of chemical attacks in its 1980-1988 war with Iraq, “totally and vigorously condemned the use of chemical weapon.”

During the conflict, chemical strikes by the Iraqi armed forces killed thousands of Iranians, particularly in civilian areas, according to AFP news agency.

“The Islamic republic of Iran, which was the victim of chemical weapons, asks the international community to do everything to stop the use of these weapons anywhere in the world,” Rowhani said.

On Wednesday, the Syrian opposition reported that forces loyal to the Syrian regime killed at least 1,300 civilians with poison gas in suburbs of Damascus.

Experts Doubt Syrian Chemical Weapons Claims.

Experts Doubt Syrian Chemical Weapons Claims.HT: Washington’s Blog

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.

Sarin gas seized in Turkey.

Sarin gas seized in Turkey. Cumhuriyet (GoogleTranslate).

Prime Minister Erdogan, U.S. President Obama tried to persuade the Syrian army uses chemical weapons. Assad has used chemical weapons has never been proven yet. However, in Adana, in an operation against the Syrian al Qaeda-linked al Nusra organization seized two kilograms deadly sarin gas.

Republican - linked to al-Qaeda and gloat and an alleged member of Al Nusra Front 12 people were detained in Adana. Addresses, as well as a large number of calls made ​​from the suspects sarin gas in the information, documents and digital data were seized.

Department of the General Directorate of Police Intelligence and Anti-Terrorism teams after bomb attacks killed 52 people in urban areas, especially Reyhanlı'da step was followed by some of the suspects, whom they were in contact was recorded.

Allegedly linked to al-Qaeda and possible action plans to reach members of the security forces in El Nusra Adana connected organization that addresses the 12 people earlier in the morning, "Operation Dawn" by editing the suspects were detained. Addresses staying in a large number of suspects searches of information, documents and digital data are put into hand guns and bullets are still some of the accused is alleged to belong to the Adana Security Directorate, was brought for examination. Calls, the addresses of suspects seized two kilograms of sarin also specified.Hmmmm.........May 30, 2013.

Related:

Erdogan blames Syria for deadly bombings, while Iran blames Al-Nusra Front.

Turkey finds sarin gas in homes of suspected Syrian Islamists – reports