Syria chemical weapons: finger pointed at jihadists

[cqo_000]

Source: The Telegraph

Alex Thomson, Chief Correspondent, Channel 4 News

6:18PM GMT 23 Mar 2013


...a senior source close to the Syrian Army has given Channel 4 News the first clear account of what he claims is believed to have occurred on Tuesday. He is a trusted and hitherto reliable source who does not wish to be identified.

The Syrian military is said to believe that a home-made locally-manufactured rocket was fired, containing a form of chlorine known as CL17, easily available as a swimming pool cleaner. They claim that the warhead contained a quantity of the gas, dissolved in saline solution.

The military source who spoke to Channel 4 News confirmed that artillery reports from the Syrian Army suggest a small rocket was fired from the vicinity of Al-Bab, a district close to Aleppo that is controlled by Jabhat al-Nusra - a jihadist group said to be linked with al-Qaeda and deemed a "terrorist organisation" by the US.

There has been extensive experimentation by insurgents in Iraq in the use of chlorine, which is harmful when mixed with water to form hydrochloric acid. It vapourises quickly, meaning that in a big explosion it will evaporate; in a small blast - for instance, one delivered by a home-made rocket - it will turn into airborne droplets before dispersing quickly.


Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9950036/Syria-chemical-weapons-finger-pointed-at-jihadists.html

[leveymg]

1. Whatever that thing was, it certainly wasn't a Scud-C tipped with a Sarin gas warhead.

It certainly wasn't any sort of organized military operation by the Syrian military. If it was, hundreds or thousands of people would have died almost instantly in a big area around a large crater near some militarily significant target.

More likely, this event was an attempt by the opposition to create some sort of Tonkin Gulf-type incident during Obama's ME trip, manipulated and telegraphed by opportunistic western intelligence and media. The other possibility is an unauthorized strike using a small quantity of some chemical stocks after someone, on one side or the other, got into an unsecured arms depot.

If you want to know who's been stoking the flames of this civil war and drive toward greater western intervention, look at the sources that continue to label this as an official Syrian military action and raise it as a "red line" violation. That, we know from the basic facts, it obviously wasn't.

[riderinthestorm]

4. I heard it speculated on Friday that this may be a vocabulary mistake

That the "weapon" used was tear gas - like we use in the west for crowd control.

But in the old Soviet block countries a tear gas canister is referred to as a chemical weapon. its more than plausible that's the way its referred to by some Syrians as well.

Have you heard that this "chemical weapons" assault may simply have been a tear gas canister?

It would fit the description of what the affected persons experienced too.

[dipsydoodle]

5. That wouldn't explain the smell of chlorine.

Mind you - nothing else was mentioned other than the smell of chlorine and a few respiratory problems as a result. I've made worse by accident mixing swtich cleaner, when it was carbon tetrachloride with Vim - an old fahioned powder bath cleaner.

[riderinthestorm]

6. I thought I remembered "old" tear gas used to be chlorine?

I may be misremembering....

But yeah, it certainly wasn't an epic event. I agree with leveymg that this was probably designed to be a Tonkin type event but that it was in all actuality a pretty pathetic attempt.

[leveymg]

7. There were reported fatalities. Not likely with CS or other "tear gas", except in a confined area

Seems most likely to have been a chlorine-based substance, which can be made from some disinfectants or water supply additives. The same sort of attack was made using this type of improvised chemical weapon in the civil war in Iraq.

[leveymg]

8. Here are several sources on the 2007 Chlorine bombings in Iraq

Note that Fallujah and Ramadi are strongholds within the "Sunni Triangle" where these attacks initially took place. If the details about Chlorine-based improvised chemical weapons are accurate, this attack in Syria may be by some of the same people:

Chlorine bombings in Iraq - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_bombings_in_Iraq
Chlorine bombings in Iraq began as early as October 2006, when insurgents in Al ... February 19, 2007: A suicide bombing in Ramadi involving chlorine killed ...

Iraq Insurgents Employ Chlorine in Bomb Attacks - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/world/middleeast/22iraq.html?...all
Feb 22, 2007 – At least three truck bombs in a month have used the gas, which burns the skin and can be fatal after only a few concentrated breaths.

Chlorine Blasts Kill 8; 6 Troops Also Die in Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com › World › Middle East › Iraq
Sunday, March 18, 2007 ... The chlorine bombs -- two near Fallujah and one near Ramadi -- left at least 350 people and seven U.S. soldiers ill from exposure to ...

Chlorine bombs pose new terror risk - USATODAY.com
htto://usatoday30.usatoday.com/.../2007-04-23-chlorine-truck-bomb_N.ht...
Apr 23, 2007 – Updated 4/24/2007 8:51 AM | Comment | Recommend, E-mail | Print ... At least five chlorine truck bombs have exploded in Iraq in recent ...

Iraq Insurgents Turn to Chlorine Bombs : NPR
http://www.npr.org › News › World › Iraq
Feb 22, 2007 – At least five people died in such an attack Wednesday, the third in a ... Iraq Insurgents Turn to Chlorine Bombs ... February 22, 2007

[Comrade Grumpy]

10. Now, this is pretty interesting. We know Al Qaeda in Iraq is in Syria...

[leveymg]

11. For some reason, I retain details like this. Strange how nobody in the mass media or USG seems to.

At least not what makes the front page.

Dots, dots, and more dots . . .

[Purveyor]

12. Thanks for posting this. I too remember this. eom

[bubbayugga]

2. hoping to incite a chemical weapon retaliation in order to draw NATO/UN/America in to the conflict?

[WilliamPitt]

3. "He is a trusted and hitherto reliable source who does not wish to be identified."

Uh huh.

[Comrade Grumpy]

9. You know, like the ones we hear from in the NY Times and the Washington Post all the time.

[kelliekat44]

13. This is the real reason for the resignation of the rebel leader. He is trying to blame

lack of support from the west but now that it is proven that the rebels were behind this atrocious attack he is stepping down. I thought he was the one who wanted to negotiate with Assad but after reading all the details about the chemical attack other thoughts come to mind. Also notice that once it was determined that the Assad regime was not behind the chemical attack, the attackers are now referred to as "jihadist" and not "rebels" that way the tag "rebel" will not likely be associated with the chemical attack.

[John2]

14. I read some article

claiming Assad and his wife was seen in a rare appearance out in public with some people. Wouldn't that be kinda strange for a hated dictator? It also stated, that he still insists on remaining firm against Terrorists trying to topple him. Assad and his wife seems very anti-Israel and pro PLO, as well as supporters of the people backing Hizbullah in Lebanon. The situation does not appear to be like Saddam's, where he had everyone against him. Iran seems to be backing him and also Russia. I don't trust the war for public opinion in the media at all, because it is hard to know which sides are telling the truth. And to tell you the truth, I don't really trust our Government given their past history on the Middle East. Some of the same people that lied about Iraq are still in the government. I don't trust what they say for one second. I know that is sad to say but I'm just being honest and true to my conscious.

[Franker65]

15. I wouldn't believe a single thing this regime says

Really, they seem to be specialists in deception. And they're the ones with the chemical munition stockpile. Perhaps a single low-key chemical strike could serve as a warning to the rebels and make them back down.