Syria chemical weapons: finger pointed at jihadists

A Syrian Army source gives the first account of what is believed to have been a chemical attack - and it could mean that one of the West's biggest fears is about to come true.

Whatever happened last week in the town of Khan al-Assal, west of Aleppo, it achieved something extraordinary in the Syrian civil war: unity among Washington, Moscow and Damascus.

All welcomed the rapid decision by Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, to investigate an alleged chemical attack that reportedly killed 26, including Syrian soldiers.

Unusually, the request for that investigation came from the Syrian regime, which claimed that Islamic jihadist rebels launched a chemical weapons attack. Since then, precious little evidence in any way has come from the area despite an awful lot of diplomatic noise around the world.

However 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 CIA, using Ambassador Stevens as facilitator and Benghazi as a logistics hub, was supplying the New Syrian Army (rebels) with weapons from Gaddafi's depots. The arms were funneled to Turkey and the Turks flowed them to the NSA. These arms exports also included chemical weapons.

Russian spy satellites captured U.S. advisers showing NSA soldiers how to install the chemical warheads on Scud missiles and to deploy them for firing at training areas inside Turkey. The Russians may have used the attack on Benghazi as a shot across the bows of the Obama administration not to deploy these same weapons. It appears Obama and his administration learned nothing from Benghazi. Now the NSA appears to have used chemical weapons on a limited scale. Things do not bode well and no good will come of this.

Tear gas was the common gas at that time; howeve chlorine was used, especially for officers. The difference was the trainees actually had to take their gas masks off in the CS chamber and breathe it for a while. OTOH, with the chlorine chamber, we went in with our masks off while holding our breath, put the masks on, purged them, and then started breathing. As long as one didn’t actually inhale any of it, the chlorine exercise was easier than the CS exercise.

[The Russians may have used the attack on Benghazi as a shot across the bows of the Obama administration not to deploy these same weapons.]

You’re describing the 21st century version of Watergate. I’ve wondered for some time if the Russians or the Iranians were behind Benghazi. It might explain the panic, denial and subterfuge of the White House. Al-Qaeda, in all its manifestations, seems to exercise some discrimination in who it targets. If Ambassador Stevens and CIA contractors in Benghazi were shipping weapons to the Syrian rebels, who benefits from the disruption of this project? Not al-Qaeda and not the rebels.

Not al-Qaeda and not the rebel.

Which is why the US can never admit to running weapons through Benghazi. It blows the entire Al Qeada story out of the water. Basically, whatever McCain/Graham say in this manner, is the false cover stuff. He is playing the rebel RINO against the establishment DINO right now. All fake of course. They are one in the same. Big government dupes.

The problem with chemical weapons is they are at the mercy of the weather, especially wind. Chlorine was the first toxic war gas used in World War I.

“According to the field post letter of Major Karl von Zingler, the first chlorine gas attack by German forces took place before 2 January 1915: ‘In other war theaters it does not go better and it has been said that our Chlorine is very effective. 140 English officers have been killed. This is a horrible weapon’...”.

By 22 April 1915, the German Army had 168 tons of chlorine deployed in 5,730 cylinders opposite Langemark-Poelkapelle, north of Ypres. At 17:30, in a slight easterly breeze, the gas was released, forming a gray-green cloud that drifted across positions held by French Colonial troops from Martinique who broke ranks, abandoning their trenches and creating an 8,000-yard (7 km) gap in the Allied line. However, the German infantry were also wary of the gas and, lacking reinforcements, failed to exploit the break before the 1st Canadian Division and assorted French troops reformed the line in scattered, hastily prepared positions 1,000 to 3,000 yards apart. The Entente governments quickly claimed the attack was a flagrant violation of international law, but Germany argued that the Hague treaty had only banned chemical shells, rather than the use of gas projectors.”

The problem is the rocket was only one and had limited casualties. We haven't been told the size of the rocket or its chemical warhead. Against an unprotected population, any concentration of chlorine is deadly. Civilians don't have gas masks and neither did the few Syrian troops killed.

The really nasty killer is liquid mustard has. Mustard gas can be absorbed through the skin and requires a full chemical warfare suit. Whether the rebels have mustard gas is unknown, but if that devil is unleashed, the game in Syria will have escalated by major numbers.

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