'War crime': U.N. finds sarin used in Syria chemical weapons attack

[leveymg]

35. That amount appears about right. The rest of your assertions are not well established.

Last edited Mon Sep 16, 2013, 06:17 PM - Edit history (3)

The larger 333mm improvised munitions that killed the vast majority of people in eastern Damascus are cannibalized rocket motors with no guidance or stabilization and what appear to be truck mufflers bolted on top. They are not significantly more sophisticated than the improvised rocket assisted munitions (IRAMs) that various opposition groups and al-Qaeda has been observed using in several countries in the region.

Where did you get this? "Also, they were made in Russia." The larger 330mm IRAMs were most definitely not made in Russia. They are locally or regionally manufactured in workshops, not Russian munitions. The smaller, 140 mm artillery rockets are standard Soviet era munitions and the Syrian military has them in large numbers - but, they only carry about 2 liters of Sarin and only accounted for about one-in-seven of the fatalities, according to the HRW report.

The fact that two different types of munitions -- one improvised, the other standard military -- were used on different areas with very different effects is potentially significant. It's been established to a reasonable certitude that the smaller, more accurate, but less deadly military rockets were launched from either the military airfield or one of several nearby bases in the southwestern part of town near the suburb of Moadamiyeh that suffered relatively light casualties (about 100 killed.)

We now know based upon the UN report that larger improvised rockets, the ones that had a capacity of approximately 50 liters each, that killed most were launched from a location almost due west from Zamalka/Ein Tarma. Since these IRAMs have very short range, it is now clear that they were launched from the adjacent area known as Jobar, which is a contested area - not "regime-controlled territory" as the State Dept. report initially claimed. The UN study also contradicts the initial published reports that quoted opposition witnesses that the eastern launch site was likely the October Military Museum grounds. That is located about 2 kilometers to the north of the flight path determined for the larger rockets. So, we still don't know who launched the improvised rockets, and it appears that there is yet another party that has been using virtually identical rockets since that group reportedly introduced them to Syria late last year - Hezbollah, three of the members of which reportedly succumbed to Sarin gas exposure in Jobar that night.

Finally, the UN report says nothing about the quality or origins of the Sarin used, merely that the samples taken showed traces of Serin. While there variation is not great, about 10-20%, the percentage of victims who tested positive for Sarin poisoning was somewhat less for those from the eastern area where the improvised munitions were used. It is not known what accounts for this variation, but we might speculate that potentially this could be due to a Sarin of a different concentration or origin being used. If that were found to be the case, it would be further indication that potentially a militia or other third-party group was responsible for rocketing that area.