US sees signs Syrian government may be using chemical weapons

Al Arabiya ^ | 22 May 2019 | Al Arabiya English and agencies

[McGruff]

The United States sees signs the Syrian government may be using chemical weapons, including an alleged chlorine attack on May 19 in northwest Syria, the US State Department said on Tuesday.

"We are still gathering information on this incident, but we repeat our warning that if the Assad regime uses chemical weapons, the United States and our allies will respond quickly and appropriately," the department said in a statement.

“The May 19 alleged attack in northwest Syria is part of a violent campaign by the Assad regime that violates a ceasefire that has protected several million civilians in the greater Idlib area. This renewed Syrian regime offensive has targeted the communities of that area, which include a large number of Syrians who were already displaced from violence in others parts of Syria, and has destroyed known health facilities, schools, residences, and internally displaced person camps,” the statement added.

[McGruff]

"the US State Department said"

The Deep State Dept?

[Pearls Before Swine]

More red lines? Again?

[House Atreides]

Not this crap again. State Department is filled with Deep State Hoaxers.

[McGruff]

Now to be Fair and Balanced:

The Russian military says that militants in northwestern Syria have launched an attack on Syrian government forces.

Maj. Gen. Viktor Kupchishin, the head of the Russian military’s Reconciliation Center in Syria, said the al-Qaida-linked militants started the offensive, which included tanks, in the province of Idlib on Tuesday.

He said the Syrian army was fighting back.

Kupchishin said that militants captured by the Syrian army spoke of a plan to stage a fake chemical attack in the towns of Saraqib and Jarjanaz and blame them on government forces. He claimed that the militants had created a special so-called “Chemical Wing” to produce and stockpile toxic agents.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/russia-militants-in-syria-launch-attack-have-toxic-agents?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20foxnews%2Fworld%20%28Internal%20-%20World%20Latest%20-%20Text%29

Who to believe these days.

[TheTimeOfMan]

I have also read credibil reports that Assad has been hiring Martian mercs...

[oldasrocks]

They should only be allowed to kill people in friendly ways.

[zeestephen]

Chemical Weapons?

Right.

Because, even though Bashar Assad won the war, he just can't control his psychopathic tendencies?

[lee martell]

Sadly, I do not know who to believe anymore when this sort of accusation is raised. I am most surprised that Syria has anything left to be bombed at all. I cannot imagine living day to day in such surroundings. Everyday like ‘The Day After.

[Shadow44]

I don’t even care. Let Assad gas as many jihadis as he wants. Too bad it’s fake.

[plain talk]

How will they definitely know who launched the attack? Our intelligence on the middle east is limited to be kind. :-)

[Zhang Fei]

Because, even though Bashar Assad won the war, he just can't control his psychopathic tendencies?

He's no more psychopathic than the people who used chemical weapons during WWI or the folks who may end up pushing the button if we ever fight a nuclear war. For him, it's an existential war. Anyway, the war's not over yet:

I think he needs to push more Sunni Arabs out of the country. The pre-war Sunni Arab population made up 70% of the country. He needs to get that number down big time. Chemical weapons are a good psychological means to the end. Deir Yassin helped convince large numbers of Arabs to leave Israel, saving it from a lot of future demographic problems. Chem warfare may be Assad's way of convincing Sunni Arabs to leave, en masse, for good.

The reason he's needed Russians, Iranians, Hezbollah and Iranian mercenaries is because he can't trust Sunni Arabs to fight for him. In fact, the reason the revolt did so well originally was because so much of the goveernment's Sunni Arab force defected to the rebels. And these were the men who got a lot of perks to work for the Alawite-controlled government. If you count Sunni Arabs, the government should have a bottomless wealth of manpower to fight this civil war. The problem is that Sunni Arabs have chosen mostly to side with the rebels. Hence all the foreign units used to fight the rebels.

Sectarian allegiances that lead to countries breaking up into multiple pieces are foreign to the American experience. Around the world, they are the rule rather than the exception. The Soviet Union seemed monolithic, with Russification policies having been in place for over a century, in both the lands conquered by the tsars centuries ago as well as more recent acquisitions. And yet, when push came to shove, the empire broke up into over a dozen countries.

[The Toll]

Worms gotta eat.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Looks like Bolton just reclaimed his old bag of tricks from the pawnshop.

Sorry Johnnyboy, but that dog don't hunt.
 

[Zhang Fei]

[I don’t even care. Let Assad gas as many jihadis as he wants. Too bad it’s fake.]

---

It’s probably true. He needs to evict as many Sunni Arabs as he can from Syria. Imagine Israel with a majority Arab population. That’s what Bashar Assad’s Alawites in Syria faced pre-war - a Sunni Arab population 7x theirs. Menachem Begin got a lot of flak for having been part of Deir Yassin, which caused significant numbers of Arabs to flee Israel in fear. But without Deir Yassin, Israel would have an Arab majority population today, with serious consequences for its viability as the Jewish state.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_Yassin_massacre

Lebanon descended into chaos when a formerly majority Christian population became a majority Muslim population, speeded up in part by a large influx of (mostly Muslim) Palestinian Arabs.

[jimwatx]

Nobody is going to believe this.

[McGruff]

[zeestephen]

Thanks for your Comments and map - good information.

Just so we are clear, my Comment was sarcastic.

The sources who claim that Assad uses chemical weapons - the UN, American intelligence agencies, anti-Assad “observer” groups - have absolutely no credibility with me.

As far as I am concerned, Assad was just a standard issue Middle East tyrant, and he had not been aggressively hostile or provocative to Israel or the USA for many years, which was a good thing.

Then, thanks to Obama’s incitement of the “Arab Street,” the Muslim Brotherhood and other terrorist groups tried to seize power in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq.

Guess what - some tyrants fight back!

[jimwatx]

lol, good one

[taxpayerfatigue]

To paraphrase Sarah Palin, “let Allah sort it out” with all these Muslin fanatics. We’ve meddled enough all over the world for a multitude of lifetimes.

[afterhoursarmory]

so the MIC is back to this again??

Guess the bombing of Iran didn’t pan out for them..