Access to the European gas market. Gazprom has a virtual monopoly there, the Gulf States want a piece of that. As long as Assad is at the helm, the pipeline net won’t go through Syria. That’s why Kerry’s offhanded remark got pounced on by Putin and why it is such a laughable joke that it’s being trumpeted by the MSM as a diplomatic coup by Barack the Great. Take the bargain, the Americans don’t fly. Any chemical weapons that Assad has he really doesn’t need, he’s pretty much mostly won the war already. They’re a ‘gimme’.
All of that taken together to my eye casts even more suspicion on this gas attack incident. Assad may be evil, but he isn’t stupid. A chemical attack by Assad’s forces would’ve been monumentally stupid. It would only be useful to...the rebels, in order to draw us in and tip the scales with airstrikes.
Or at least, that’s my take.
The rebels, being jihadists and being Moslems, would have zero qualms and a lot of motivation to do the chem strike themselves to get it blamed on Assad and neatly get rid of some annoying civilians at the same time.