Assad forces said to use poison gas in new Damascus attack

[Sand Wind]

Last edited Thu Sep 12, 2013, 08:14 PM - Edit history (4)

Source: Time of Israel

Rebel sources say Thursday strike occurred in Jobar neighborhood; ‘UN report to indicate Assad behind Aug. 21 chemical attacks’

The report was based on rebel sources, who said the attack took place in the Jobar neighborhood of the capital. The rebel sources said they could not tell what kind of chemical weaponry had been used, but that it was a poison gas of some kind, and was causing injuries, including breathing difficulties.

Footage posted to YouTube, and broadcast on Al Arabiya TV, showed a young man having trouble breathing, and receiving medical treatment. There were no immediate reports of fatalities.

The news broke amid word that a United Nations investigative team has amassed a “wealth” of evidence indicating that Syrian President Bashar Assad was responsible for the chemical attack that took place on August 21, killing as many 1,400 people.



Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=672308

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MORE INFO THAT SHOW THAT THERE IS SOME AMBIGUITY :

Assad forces dropped poisonous gas bombs near Jobar district’s police station about an hour ago, causing several non-life threatening injuries.

The bombs seem to contain a chlorine substance which caused suffocation, convulsions and extreme sweating.

Residents at first feared sarin had been released once again in the area, causing panic to ensue as a result of the last chemical weapons attack on the area by the Assad regime three weeks ago.

Regime forces continue to clash with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the area on the Southern Bypass near Zamalka city, Jobar district and the Abbasiyeen front line. Regime forces are also shelling the area with artillery.


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THAT'S WHY THEY SAY POISON GAS AND NOT CHEMICAL ATTACK...



http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/09/11/un_report_will_finger_assad_for_massive_chemical_attack

U.N. inspectors have collected a "wealth" of evidence on the use of nerve agents that points to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad using chemical weapons against his own people, according to a senior Western official.

The inspection team, which is expected on Monday to present U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon with a highly anticipated report on a suspected Aug. 21 nerve agent attack in the suburbs of Damascus, will not directly accuse the Syrian regime of gassing its own people, according to three U.N.-based diplomats familiar with the investigation. But it will provide a strong circumstantial case -- based on an examination of spent rocket casings, ammunition, and laboratory tests of soil, blood, and urine samples -- that points strongly in the direction of Syrian government culpability.

"I know they have gotten very rich samples -- biomedical and environmental -- and they have interviewed victims, doctors and nurses," said the Western official. "It seems they are very happy with the wealth of evidence they got." The official, who declined to speak on the record because of the secrecy surrounding the U.N. investigation, could not identify the specific agents detected by the inspector team, but said, "You can conclude from the type of evidence the [identity of the] author."

[another_liberal]

1. While under the cross hairs of an American air bombardment?

Is it really at all believable that the Assad government would stage yet another gas attack while currently under the cross hairs of an American air bombardment? This is simply ridiculous! No one is that stupid.

Either this is a pure false flag attack, intended to trigger an American response, or it is a non-event, dreamed up for the same purpose by rebel sources.

[Sand Wind]

2. You really don't know how the Assad regime work. These are chloride....not Sarin...nt

[another_liberal]

28. That's the oldest chemical weapon ever used.

Since they have tons of sarin, why would they use that in the first place?

[Sand Wind]

30. Well for the obvious reason that they can no more use Sarin...nt

[Mysterysouppe]

34. All your base are belong to us.

[azurnoir]

36. Chloride gas you're sure about that? :)

[Sand Wind]

37. I know where you are going with that, but to prove good faith I will send you more info when

Got them.

For now they are talking about chloride gas...

[azurnoir]

39. you know where I'm going ?

did you mean chlorine gas?

[Sand Wind]

40. Lol right...nt

[azurnoir]

41. Don't want answer why?

you said you'd provide more info on this 'chloride' attack let's see it

[Sand Wind]

44. here more info

&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Assad forces dropped poisonous gas bombs near Jobar district’s police station about an hour ago, causing several non-life threatening injuries.

The bombs seem to contain a chlorine substance which caused suffocation, convulsions and extreme sweating.

Residents at first feared sarin had been released once again in the area, causing panic to ensue as a result of the last chemical weapons attack on the area by the Assad regime three weeks ago.

Regime forces continue to clash with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the area on the Southern Bypass near Zamalka city, Jobar district and the Abbasiyeen front line. Regime forces are also shelling the area with artillery.

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Can you ask your question again, maybe i did not understand what you want...

[azurnoir]

56. Chlorine bombs like the one Iraqi "insurgents" used

Iraq Insurgents Turn to Chlorine Bombs

For the third time in a month, Iraqi insurgents have set off a make-shift chemical bomb. All three have used chlorine, which can kill if inhaled and can burn the eyes and skin. The use of chemicals in attacks is a new tactic, reflecting the adaptibility of insurgent groups.

The U.S. military confirms that a pickup truck carrying canisters of chlorine exploded in southwestern Baghdad Wednesday, killing at least five and sending dozens more to hospitals. On Tuesday, a bomb destroyed a tanker truck filled with chlorine north of the capital, killing nine and spewing fumes that made more than 140 sick, including women and children.

There has been at least one other attack with chlorine. In late January, 16 were reportedly killed after a pickup truck with the gas blew up in Sunni-dominated Anbar province.

Killings and bombings have decreased in the center of Baghdad following the beginning of new security operations, but Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief American military spokesman, said surrounding areas have since seen an increase.

Meanwhile, another U.S. helicopter was brought down by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. The military says all nine people aboard were evaucted safely after making a hard landing north of the captial in Diyala province. The Mujahadeen Army, a Sunni insurgent group in the area, immediately claimed credit on the Internet.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7543049

sounds the the acorns aren't falling too far from their trees but at least in Iraq they didn't attempt to blame it on the other side

[Sand Wind]

57. That's why I said that I know where you are going with that....

It's not impossible if its Al Nusra that is There...i'm making verification about this point...

In Ghouta, that was clearly a regime attack, by his multitude of impacts and the fact that 99.9% of the FSA fighters there are people from this particular region and town, who have their family there...

But yes for this one, even if its fit the regime tendency to use everything he can, it maybe otherwise.

[azurnoir]

59. so you think Assad framed the rebels?

interesting if predictable

[Sand Wind]

64. I just don't understand how you come to the conclusion that this is what I think...

Sorry.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Assad is not as fully in control as you imagine. His brother is a loose cannon.

Listen closely to Assad's language and the nuance of his words. He will deny ordering a chemical attack in August, but he is ready to turn a blind eye when someone close to him orders it, perhaps letting Assad know with a wink and a nod. It's known as "plausible deniability".

[another_liberal]

29. And bring on American retaliation?

He would have been shot, brother or not.

[azurnoir]

42. I'll give you something interesting

Google chloride gas

[msanthrope]

11. Assad does not have the control of Syria he once had. It would not be surprising to me, at all, if

certain government factions have taken over the chems.

That said--the source used by the OP must be ingested with a tablespoon of salt....until there's better sourcing, count me a skeptic on this report.

[another_liberal]

31. If they are a faction opposed to govenment control . . .

Then they are, by definition, a part or the rebellion. We would still have no justification to attack forces loyal to Assad.

[Warpy]

52. You don't get it

This stuff is all tribal and sectarian and it's been going on for thousands of years.

Not waiting for official approval to use this stuff is SOP for a lot of guys in the field, I'm afraid, confronted again with ancient hatreds.

Gadaffi's way to get a military that was loyal to him rather than to family, then tribe, then sect, and then Gadaffi was to recruit them throughout Africa. Assad hasn't had that luxury.

[another_liberal]

55. Syria is not Libya.

Assad rules like his father did. Anyone who screws around is buried the next day.

[Warpy]

58. Do try to get the point

Please.

[another_liberal]

60. The point . . .

Assad is not still President of Syria because he has no control. That is the point.

[Cryptoad]

15. so people who gas their own people are not idiots? nt

[another_liberal]

32. Al Qaeda blows up crowded Mosques, just for publicity.

Do you really think al Qaeda affiliated factions within the rebel camp would stop short of killing a few Syrian civilians? I seriously doubt it.

[Cryptoad]

35. NO,,, of course not

and you really think that all the Rebels are al Queda?

Its a ugly world, but it is no reason to stop fighting for Justice.

[another_liberal]

50. All the rebels . . .?

All of the rebel factions are probably not directly linked to al Qaeda, no. However, it only takes one group with a few captured rocket launchers and some captured Syrian nerve gas munitions to do what was done in Damascus.

[avebury]

3. Call me skeptical

Knowing our penchant to rush in and bomb other countries and that we have been lied into war in the past, I don't care what a rebel group says. I would want a report from an independent third party source that has no personal investment in the outcome of what occurs in Syria (or any other place for that matter). Just the facts with no embellishments or slants.

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. I agree with you.

I notice Foreign Policy Magazine is quoted in the article.
As I usually do with a source, I checked it out on Wiki:
Contributors for Foreign Policy include former US diplomat Peter Galbraith,
Pulitzer Prize-winning military reporter Tom Ricks,
international bestseller Stephen Walt, blogger Daniel Drezner,
former Los Angeles Times columnist Rosa Brooks,

Condoleezza Rice's longtime chief speechwriter Christian Brose,
9/11 Commission director Philip Zelikow,
ex-senior White House aide Peter Feaver,
top Pentagon official Dov Zakheim,
John McCain's foreign policy adviser Steve Biegun,
and Washington journalist Josh Rogin (who specializes in investigative reports on national security and foreign policy).

right wing hawks...Dov has been esp. involved in all the PNAC stuff, and Bush's war mongering.

Washington Post now owns the magazine.

[Myrina]

4. Cough cough ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=587372


I said it last week ...

[florida08]

5. call me skeptical too

http://www.hangthebankers.com/britain-sold-nerve-gas-chemicals-to-syria-10-months-after-war-began/

[shotten99]

7. False flag attack

but it's anyone's guess who's doing what there.

[Celefin]

9. CIA?

They are arming the rebels... might as well go the whole way?

[RC]

17. My guess, too.

[iamthebandfanman]

22. Paranoia Paranoia

Everybodys coming to get me!!!

[leveymg]

8. "The report was based on rebel sources . . ." Please, send bombs and extra underwear!

[Cryptoad]

16. Children of Syria thank you,,,,,,,, geeez

[leveymg]

21. This looks like another false report. Save your moral outrage

for when you have a full accounting of the facts.

Stay away from personal attacks.

[Cryptoad]

23. Nothing personal about it,,,,,

[sufrommich]

10. This is " rebel sources " propaganda ,it's not being reported by

any legitimate news source,and The Times Of Isreal has a side bar sponsored link for NewsMax. It's a sloppy source and shouldn't be in breaking news.

[John2]

13. This is another

spin by this guy. He claims anonymous sources claims all evidence points to Assad but the report will not directly accuse the Assad regime. Then he tells another poster, you don't how the Assad regime works, as if he has some knowledge and is an insider to what is going on in Syria. Then people carry on this conversation as if this guy has any credibility, which is amazing.

Unless you actually know who this guy is personally, then he has no credibility whatsoever. The only thing we know about this Poster is he is from Tunisia. Tunisia is a country with foreigners definitely fighting in Syria, that have been captured and killed. They even have disturbances with extremist in their own country which should cause a flag, when someone with that nationality makes certain claims about a war going on in another country.

Then there are the allegations from the Syrian side and now President Putin, about the rebels trying to give a pretense for Western intervention into Syria. They want one particular country to make this intervention which is the United States. President Obama has lost me as a supporter. I'm a veteran, African american and from that community in this country. We talk about this every day around the dinner table.

I will tell him to his face exactly why I have lost trust in him. I have a dislike now also for John Kerry. I serve in the U.S.military for years and was there during Vietnam and remember North Korea. I had classmates that entered the Vietnam War through a Draft and saw them come home in body bags. The only reason America should fight a War is for a very good reason and it should be just.

It should not be for fighting other people's causes or conflicts. They parade these pictures of dead children and women in the Western media to play on the emotions of American citizens yet the people crying the loudest, know this region and see death every day. The Western media have been selective when they do so, because they know what strings to pull on American citizens when they want to get something. They do not show all the atrocities by the rebels and whom these people actually are. They try to reject any other sources to discredit their claims by calling them liars and propagandists, with the hope the American people still have faith in their Government not lying to them.

President Obama makes these claims to back up his officials in these positions. These officials have manufactured and lied before, yet President nominated these same people to these positions. I have training in evidence collection also. There is even a group of investigators out with an article these people can't be trusted. Look at whom is pushing this War. Do the people on this Board trust David Petraeus? He was the guy Obama trusted in Benghazi. He is the guy, I blame for the deaths in Benghazi, because it was his CIA. I blamed him from the start, because I'm military. The blame always goes to the commander and the President should have blamed Petrateus from the beginning, yet the politicians treated this man like a hero. He seemed to be working with the opposite political Party in this country moreso than Obama. Any other soldier would have been court martialed with what Petraeus got away with.

President Obama needs to clean up his Administration, plain and simple, as far as I'm concerned, instead of being part of the gang.

[Nihil]

61. +1

Well said!

[fletchthedubs]

14. Give it a break

Every post you make is garbage propaganda, if assad is such a threat let Israel respond and leave us out of it.

[Vinnie From Indy]

18. What a ridiculous OP!

Come back when you have something of substance.

[AtheistCrusader]

19. Sorry, not buying it.

[Fearless]

20. If it was true, an international response is necessary

Whereby the US may participate, but only in equal weight and in which they will not be paying for the whole damn thing again. Likewise, military action is not necessary. Get UN inspectors to dig around.

[iamthebandfanman]

24. Gotta love folks on DU

denile aint just a river in Egypt eh?


its okay guys, just close your eyes.. plug your eyes... and hum to yourself.. itll all go away, im sure!

liberal compassion is DEAD on DU.

all ME ME ME and AMEIRCA FIRST, FUCK OTHER PEOPLE

just like a right wing NATIONALIST.

SAD.

[Comrade Grumpy]

33. That's an odd notion of "liberal compassion."

Is "liberal compassion" painted on the side of those cruise missiles?

Is "liberal compassion" stenciled on those crates of weapons and ammunition?

Is "liberal compassion" intervening in an internal civil war in a sovereign nation?

Is "liberal compassion" making yourself de facto allies of radical Islamic terrorists?

Real "liberal compassion" would be addressing the humanitarian crisis we have helped create (and we are doing some of that) and not prolonging the agony of Syria, which has been our cynical policy.

And real "liberal compassion" would be asking just what is the end game?

[David__77]

25. Probably a common asthma attack.

For a while, every time that happens, it will be a "chemical attack."

[Alamuti Lotus]

26. Rebel sources quoted in a Saudi royal TV, passed on by Israelis... trifecta of utter bullshit!

[Earth_First]

47. You said it!

Can we just get the UN report already?

I don't need US-sponsored AQ rebels quotes by Israeli media proving anything.

[polichick]

51. Good thing there are no interested parties in that group.

[Xithras]

27. Or it may have just been CS gas

The Assad government has made no secret of the fact that it uses CS gas, which would be perfectly legal in this situation. The description of the effects, and the lack of fatalities, suggests that it's something a bit mellower than chemical weapons.

One of the great loopholes in the international chemical weapons treaties is that it's illegal to use CS gas against foreign armies in battle, but it's perfectly legal to use it against your own people and within your own borders. That's why every SWAT team in the US has cases of the stuff, and they don't hesitate to use it against nonviolent protesters. I've been bombed with the stuff right here in the good old US of A.

Concentrated CS gas can be debilitating and cause extreme breathing problems. It's horrendous, but legal.

[Sand Wind]

38. And sometime they mixed chlorides in them.nt

[Thor_MN]

48. Chlorides? As in Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium?

That's a claim to be taken with a grain of SALT.

[Sand Wind]

49. Lol, right...chlorine.nt

[azurnoir]

43. you mean like the Pittsburgh PA police used CS gas in in 2009 at the G-20 convention?

CS is used by many police forces within the United States. It was most famously used as one of a number of techniques by Federal Bureau of Investigation law enforcement officials in the 1993 Waco Siege.[60]

Riot police in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in September, 2009 used CS gas and riot control techniques to disperse assemblies in the vicinity of the 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit.

In Berkeley, California during the Bloody Thursday events in People's Park on Wednesday, May 21, 1969, a midday memorial was held for student James Rector, a non-protester shot to death by police, at Sproul Plaza on the University campus. In his honor, several thousand people peacefully assembled to listen to speakers remembering his life. Without warning, National Guard troops surrounded Sproul Plaza, donned their gas masks, and pointed their bayonets inward, while helicopters dropped CS gas directly on the trapped crowd. No escape was possible, and the gas caused acute respiratory distress, disorientation, temporary blindness and vomiting. Many people, including children and the elderly, were injured during the ensuing panic. The gas was so intense that breezes carried it into Cowell Memorial Hospital, endangering patients, interrupting operations ncapacitating nurses. Students at nearby Jefferson and Franklin elementary schools were also affected.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CS_gas

perhaps we should bomb them too

[Sand Wind]

46. Shit ! Nt

[Warpy]

53. Right, that's about how I looked after I'd been hit with CS gas

and I wasn't even the target, I was just in the neighborhood when the cops fired it inside a local thug's apartment.

It's horrible stuff. Governments that use it on their own citizens are demonstrating that they are no longer legitimate, IMO, and that includes ours.

[KamaAina]

45. "The report was based on rebel sources"

you can stop reading right there. Wake me up when there's independent confirmation.

[classysassy]

54. In order to stop the warmongers campaign for war

BRING BACK THE DRAFT.

[ellenrr]

62. I've been waiting to see how the rug would be pulled out from under the diplomatic stirrings--

this looks good for that...

"war snatched from the jaws of peace"

[andlor]

63. I don't believe any of this bullshit.

The players have changed but the song remains the same.