Syrian rebel leader says Assad moving chemical weapons to Lebanon, Iraq

[Bosonic]

Source: Reuters

ISTANBUL, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces have started moving some of their chemical weapons to Lebanon and Iraq in the last few days to evade a possible U.N. inspection.

General Selim Idris said rebel brigades regard the proposed U.S.-Russian deal to eliminate Assad's chemical arsenal as a blow to their two-and-a-half-year uprising to remove Assad.

There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities.


Read more: http://www.trust.org/item/20130914115030-vyw8h

[hardcover]

1. I don't know,

before the Iraq war it was said that Iraq moved its chemical weapons to Syria. What are we to believe?

[7962]

2. I was thinking the same thing as I read the OP

[Sand Wind]

3. Hummmm, If the FSA know it, Israel know it, and they will never accept CW in Lebanon.

So if you see an attack from Israel, then it's confirm. If not, Idriss maybe just wrong.

[Thor_MN]

4. Has anyone seen Rumsfeld or Chenney this week?

[AnotherMcIntosh]

13. So far,

President Obama's schedule doesn't yet indicate that he is meeting with them.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/president/

[Junkdrawer]

5. Propagandized edit of ACTUAL Reuters Report from "Trust.ORG"

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The head of the opposition Syrian Supreme Military Council said on Saturday a U.S.-Russian agreement to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons was a blow to the two-and-a-half-year uprising to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power.

General Selim Idris said the deal would allow Assad to escape being held accountable for killing hundreds of civilians in a poison gas attack on Damascus on August 21. Assad has denied responsibility for the attack.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the agreement on removing Syria's chemical weapons on Saturday after nearly three days of talks in Geneva.

Idris said Assad's forces had started moving some of their chemical weapons to Lebanon and Iraq in the last few days to evade a possible U.N. inspection. The assertion could not be immediately verified.

...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/14/us-syria-crisis-idris-idUSBRE98D05K20130914

[NYC_SKP]

7. Trust.org was founded by Thomas Reuters.

I think it's perfectly legitimate.

[Junkdrawer]

10. Compare lead paragraph of OP to Reuters feed....

The Iraq part of the supplied YouTube clip only raises questions in my mind....

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. OP is word for word identical to the earlier Reuters report on the main Reuters website

ISTANBUL, Sept 14 | Sat Sep 14, 2013 7:58am EDT

(Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces have started moving some of their chemical weapons to Lebanon and Iraq in the last few days to evade a possible U.N. inspection.

General Selim Idris said rebel brigades regard the proposed U.S.-Russian deal to eliminate Assad's chemical arsenal as a blow to their two-and-a-half-year uprising to remove Assad.

There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/14/syria-crisis-idris-idUSL5N0HA08D20130914

Note that is 7:58am EDT; your link goes to a later 9:03am EDT Reuters report.

[Junkdrawer]

15. I see. Well, at least the later report is passable journalism....

et tu Reuters?

Thanks

[Wilms]

6. Which rebel leader?

[pinto]

8. General Idris. See also -

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/14/us-syria-crisis-idris-idUSBRE98D05K20130914

[Wilms]

17. What I was trying to say is..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023667218

[pinto]

21. Ah, yeah. Got it.

It's a convoluted situation, no? Multi-partied civil war. Removing chemical weapons from the picture won't solve the conflicts. I think all agree on that. Yet it sure would be one step in deescalating the death tolls.

[Wilms]

24. Agreed. And here's another one.

Turkish prosecutors indict Syrian rebels for seeking chemical weapons (10 tons of chemicals in May)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023666551

[HooptieWagon]

27. Is he a beheader rebel or a cannibal rebel?

Its getting hard to keep these moderate rebel groups straight.

[daleo]

28. He could be both.

[sulphurdunn]

9. No doubt American

intelligence assets, including satellite reconnaissance are in place over Syria. The Syrians couldn't move a camel into Iraq or Lebanon, let alone convoys of chemical weapons without the US knowing it, and the Syrians know it too.

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. Syrian rebel leader says lots of things. Some might even be true.

[another_liberal]

12. Just wishful thinking . . .

Surely our recon satellites would be able to pick up such suspicious transfers, and we wouldn't have to rely on Idris to tell us the news. Also, when such actions were attempted earlier, Israel was not slow to launch her own air strikes against them.

I hope, therefore, this is just wishful thinking on the part of a not exactly neutral observer.

[MrChaoticAttractor]

16. Hi Everyone ...

I need to respond to an existing thread as my first post according to DU rules. So thanks for having me, I hope I can provide some interesting opinions and will do my best try. Been lurking forever and finally signed up.

As to the topic, I am having a serious deja-vu. Wasn't the reason we couldn't find Iraq WMD because they moved them to Syria - according to Bush co. operatives? I am opposed to the whole Syria intervention, and simply can't understand how we can justify it as Democrats. I hate to imagine conspiracies, but this whole thing is playing out almost exactly like Iraq. Maybe the new development with Russia will prove me wrong - hope so.

[gopiscrap]

20. Welcome to DU

[pinto]

22. I hope so as well.

[hughee99]

18. I bet this will take about a week. n/t

[Alamuti Lotus]

19. Ten years ago, Chalabi said the same thing (well, reverse actually) *nt

[MrChaoticAttractor]

23. Yes! Been a while since I heard that name ...

What ever happened to that guy? Wasn't he on Fox News every night as the "expert" on Iraq's WMD program prior to invasion? And then set up to be our puppet in the new govt. there? I think the CIA later found out he was 100% full of it and the Iraqis hated him ... wonder where he slithered off to? Syria?

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. A common question:

And in January 2012, it was reported that Chalabi had been in contact with some members of the leading opposition group in Bahrain, Al Wefaq National Islamic Society. (Bahrain has been wracked by sometimes violent protests by the Shi’ite majority at the rule of the Sunni al-Khalifa family.) This was confirmed by Jawad Fairooz, secretary general of Wefaq and a former member of Parliament in Bahrain.

“Mr. Chalabi has helped us with contacts in Washington like other people have done and we thank them,” Fairooz told the New York Times, "but we are not allowing any person or party from outside to dictate us what to do in Bahrain.”

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/19/17374117-iraq-war-10-years-later-where-are-they-now-ahmed-chalabi-iraqi-exile-leader?lite

He's still in the Iraqi parliament: March 2010 - http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/05/world/meast/ahmed-chalabi-fast-facts/index.html

Working with the Bahraini opposition may be the most honest thing he's ever done.

[Alamuti Lotus]

26. Still a prominent wannabe in Iraq

When the tide was turning on being a blatant US puppet, he hung out his shingle for Iran instead. For a time he was acting as the conduit between the ruling al-Da'awa party and another quisling Iyad Alawi (saddam's former henchman and assassin in Yemen and Europe), during their brief alliance. Hes quietly bounced back and forth between Saudi and Iranian parties, spreading his legs for anyone who will pay him. As the poster above mentioned, he was also a consultant for certain Bahraini opposition parties, as something of a back channel for Iraqi/Iranian support for the opposition to the US/Saudi-backed dictatorship there.

[bhikkhu]

29. Somehow I doubt it; the whole region is perrenially adversarial

and I don't think Assad would give his "friends" chemical weapons any more than Saddam did. Its unlikely for all the same reasons.