Statement by Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, At a St

[leveymg]

19. Only a relatively small number were military rockets observed to come from the direction of gov't

Last edited Mon Sep 16, 2013, 08:39 PM - Edit history (2)

bases in the western part of the city. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report that came out last week showed that the vast majority of those killed were located in a small area in the western part of the city, and that they killed by improvised rockets. Nobody has been able to pin down who made or fired the improvised munitions.

The State Dept initially claimed that all the rockets were fired from "regime-controlled territory" but the HRW and UN reports now make it clear that was not the case, and in fact they came from a contested area where both the rebels and Hezbollah militia were operating. Three Hezbollah fighters who were in that area were previously hospitalized in Beirut for sarin exposure. See, http://www.yalibnan.com/2013/09/04/hezbollah-admits-assad-behind-poison-gas-attack-in-syria/ In a separate report in July, the Syrian gov't claimed to have found a cache of corrosive chemicals stockpiled by the opposition in the same neighborhood. http://rt.com/news/damascus-syria-chemical-weapons-082/

There's more to this that indicates the Assad gov't alone isn't behind this, but I will post that later.