Russia: Syrian rebels made, used sarin nerve gas

[David__77]

Source: Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS — Russia's U.N. ambassador says Russian experts have determined that Syrian rebels made sarin nerve gas and used it in a deadly attack outside Aleppo in March.

International analysts say a March 19 chemical weapon attack occurred in the Aleppo suburb of Khan al-Assal. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin blamed a Syrian rebel group linked to al-Qaida for the attack, but the rebels have blamed the government.

Churkin said Tuesday after delivering an 80-page report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that samples taken on site at the invitation of the Syrian government showed that the sarin gas was "not industrial" quality, but rather produced recently in "cottage industry" conditions.


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130709/un-un-syria-chemical-weapons/?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=green

[cosmicone]

1. This is far more likely than Bashar Assad using it.

The rebels may also have had outside help.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Far more likely.

.

[Purveyor]

2. Was just about to post this. Also see: Syrian Gov’t Claims Massive Seizure of Toxic Chemicals

UNITED NATIONS, July 8 (RIA Novosti) – The Syrian government’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday told reporters in New York that a cache of toxic chemicals, “enough to destroy a city” and presumably left by opposition forces, was discovered in northwestern Syria.

Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said the cache included about 280 containers filled with various toxic substances, such as ethylene glycol, ethanolamine, diethanolamine and triethanolamine.

“This is enough to destroy a whole city, if not the whole country,” Ja'afari said, without mentioning the date when the discovery was made. “At the moment, an investigation is underway with regard to this batch of chemical weapons.”

All the substances mentioned by Ja'afari are indeed harmful for humans, but are extensively used in various industrial and consumer products. None of them is considered a chemical weapon.

The Syrian ambassador said the cache was “controlled and supervised by armed anti-government groups.”

MORE...

http://en.rian.ru/world/20130708/182130716/Syrian-Govt-Claims-Massive-Seizure-of-Toxic-Chemicals.html

[RiverNoord]

5. That's fishy

An organization capable of building and assembling such a stockpile of chemicals is not going to let it simply fall into the hands of the opposition. The PR, if it was relatively well proven, would be a disaster for the rebels, and they know it. The primary claim of use of sarin is plausible, but this would be very surprising to me...

[John2]

11. You are

talking about Aleppo and also Homs, where the Syrian Army has tightened the noose of the opposition. They have cut a lot of supply routes and areas that the opposition use to control. It wasn't too long ago, they were sitting fat and happy, claiming the fall of the Assad regime. The situation has reversed now, and some of the main supporters of the opposition are in trouble themselves.


Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, and also the guy in Turkey has been having his own problems. The oppositions interim Prime Minister, supported by Qatar, resigned over the weekend. Their supply route was cut in Lebanon and also near the Iraq border. Whatever experts the Russians send in Aleppo, the UN would have to call them liars too. If they are going to send an expert team, then it should be a team of experts both sides trust. Ki Moon didn't offer that. It doesn't mean sending spies all over the country for intelligence gathering either.

[RiverNoord]

13. True - who can say...

The Syrian opposition is really in chaos right now - The FSA has been fighting the 'al-Nousra Front' in places after they committed some 'eye for an eye justice' atrocities against civilians they deemed criminals, and nobody seems to want to be in a leadership role.

I would argue that the situations in Egypt and Turkey are having very little impact on the ground in Syria. The weapons are coming from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and through Jordan.

Also, there is no way that the UN will expose chemical weapons experts to the level of fighting in Syria right now - there would be no way to guarantee their safety, and it takes a very long time to become an internationally respected expert on chemical weapons. Such people are not expendable.

So, who knows...

[dipsydoodle]

6. None of them is considered a chemical weapon .............

Oh yes - try mixing some them together. I remember back in the sixties knocking over a tin of switch cleaner, which in those days was carbon teraflouride , into a another tin containing a bleach based bath cleaning powder we used for getting scratches off glass . You would not have wanted to sniff the gas it produced for too long.

[RiverNoord]

8. You're right, but

any government with the slightest degree of chemical weapons experience would know what it's all about. If a position like that was being overrun, someone would have the vital task of disposing of or escaping with the chemicals. It's not the kind of task that you fail at...

[David__77]

12. There is a real desperation since the whole war has gone "off script."

A rebel commander wants to step up shelling of government-controlled civilian areas, while the Islamists are very busy trying to acquire or develop WMDs.

[RufusTFirefly]

3. Wait! But this is totally off message!!

Please consult the official script and post a correction.

[John2]

7. I know that I just read a recent article

about some Human Rights Group of the Syrian opposition,claiming they were presenting evidence of the Syrian Government using chemicals in those areas. I read this before these articles. So you know they will put out a counter claim to discredit these reports. It depends on which side you want to Believe. I've chosen to believe the Syrian Government and Russian side, because they have more to lose and the other groups want intervention.

The groups affiliated with the rebels are notorious liars also. I also know the Syrian Army is winning on the ground and taking a lot of prisoners. They are also freeing people claiming many of those rebel groups forced them to join by threatening the families in the areas they controled. The Syrian Government have been releasing those people without repercussions and getting statements about those atrocities. They have also been recruiting children, in the areas they controled, and not just killing them for blasphemy. I think the truth will come out more as the Syrian Army retake more areas. These are War Crimes too. Chemical weapons is just the tip of the iceberg.

[NoOneMan]

9. Where do they find the time?

Human heart gourmet chefs and connoisseurs, and now this?

[geek tragedy]

10. About as convincing as US claims. nt

[John2]

15. This report claims

Syrian sildiers were killed by chemicals in an area that was controled by them. It also claims a number of civilian deaths as part of the evidence. I remember when they claimed it happened. A Russian Journalist video taped it of site and sent iot to the U.N. at the time. I think it was when a female Swiss U.N. investigator claimed rebels used chemicals, and the Obama Administration rejected it.

Iraqs Government also made the claims, they confiscated sarin gas off the insurgents in Iraq. It is also alleged the U.S. CIA has this information about the Al Qaeda's capabilities of making crude chemical weapons or serum gas. So who do you think is lying? (Snowden)

[Ash_F]

14. I am as skeptical about this as the US claims

Where are the cell phone vids? Sarin gas bombing creates huge white plumes. Everything is on the internet but not yet this?

[pampango]

16. Easy to resolve. UN inspectors. Then we won't need "Russia says" and "US says". Both

say what, conveniently perhaps, fits their policy preference.

"Facts" can be pesky things that complicate the message you're trying to sell, which probably explains why UN inspectors are not there already.

[dipsydoodle]

17. Its a past event.

Would need a new one with them on the spot.

[Igel]

18. It's not the "US says."

It's a French lab that did the sarin analysis.

However, the French lab used samples provided by the opposition and couldn't confirm chain of custody or provenance. The opposition said it was used by the Syrian army, Assad's crew. The French just said, "Yes, it's sarin."

Now the Russian say, "Yes, it's sarin."

So okay. It's sarin.

But we have dueling claims. The Russians, based on their people on the ground, I think are slightly better witnesses than the opposition leaders who turned over the samples and said where/when the incidents happened. Not a lot better, mind you, but their stake in the fighting is both less direct and, should they be on the losing side, carries lower risk of death.

[Igel]

19. Interesting.

On the other hand, I don't suppose the US is immediately going to say that the opposition has crossed the line and so "we" have to start providing munitions and support to Assad.

That is something else I would object to.