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A Short History of Syria and its use of chemical weapons.The Leading from Behind Years: FORWARD. FROM BEHIND. h/t TOTUSAugust 20, 2012: Barack Obama warns Bashar al-Assad that the use of chemical or biological weapons in Syria is a "red line" that should not be crossed. “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.” [ed. Remind me again why is he known as the most articulate president ever?]December 23, 2012:...

While horrible photos (link 18+) of people allegedly killed in the April 7 Douma attack rapidly became widely known after they had been released by the White Helments, there was something ignored by the media. Besides the photos of the dead bodies, Douma “media activists” also released videos showing two compressed gas cylinders, which had allegedly been used by “the Assad regime” to conduct the chemical attack on Douma. These videos raise some questions.... ------------snip---------- So, the questions: Why the cylinder#1 is undamaged if it has been dropped by a helicopter? Why the cylinder#1 is closed? Why the bed under...

A military source details to Zaman al-Wasl the staggering arsenal provided to the Syrian regime Russia Stores Prohibited Weapons in Dumayr Airport Near Damascus Russia has supplied the Syrian regime with highly advanced weapons and ammunition, including toxic gases, during its deadly offensive on the Eastern Ghouta suburbs, a military source told Zaman al-Wasl Sunday. The weapons, which had been stored in Al-Dumayr and Al-Seen military air bases, east of the capital, in March included toxic gases, cluster bombs, white phosphorous and incendiary bombs.

WASHINGTON -- President Trump responded Sunday to reports of a suspected chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma, blaming Syrian President Bashar Assad and his international allies for the apparent attack that left dozens dead and hundreds injured. In some of his most critical comments directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin to date, Mr. Trump threatened that there's a "big price ... to pay" for those backing the Assad regime. Syrian opposition activists and rescuers said Sunday that a poison gas attack on the rebel-held town of Douma near the capital of Damascus killed at least 40 people. The...

"The US state department said it is monitoring the "very disturbing" reports, and that Russia - which is fighting alongside the Syrian government - should be held responsible if deadly chemicals had been used."

Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef commented on reports of the chemical weapons attack in Syria. "I have said before and I repeat, in Syria there is a brutal genocide of both women and children with weapons of mass destruction.” Rabbi Yosef said that “There is a moral obligation not to remain silent and to try to stop the massacre.”

British police have identified more than 200 witnesses and are looking at more than 240 pieces of evidence in their investigation into a nerve agent attack on a Russian ex-spy and his daughter, UK interior minister Amber Rudd said on Saturday. Ms Rudd told reporters after chairing a meeting of the government’s Cobra security committee that more than 250 counter-terrorism police were involved in the investigation, which was proceeding with “speed and professionalism”. Former double agent Sergei Skripal (66) and his daughter Yulia (33) have been in hospital in a critical condition since Sunday, when they were found unconscious on...

Amir draws a parallel with the story of Esther and the right that the Bible gives to Israel to employ a preemptive strike, which is what Israel will do if necessary. In Syria, Su-57s and other planes continue to bombard the people of Ghouta on the premise that there are rebels in the area. The recent report to the UN that North Korea has been involved in sending chemical weapons and the means to manufacture them to Syria is discussed. This report is not yet public but has been seen by the members of the Security Council and some of...

Britain would consider joining US military strikes against the Syrian government if there is evidence chemical weapons are being used against civilians, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. Johnson said he hoped Britain and other Western nations would not stand by in the event of a chemical attack, voicing support for limited strikes if there is "incontrovertible evidence" of the Syrian's government involvement. "If we know that it has happened, and we can demonstrate it, and if there is a proposal for action where the UK could be useful then I think we should seriously consider it," Johnson told...

In recent weeks, rescue workers, aid groups and the United States have accused Syria of repeatedly using chlorine gas, which it possesses legally for uses such as water purification, as a chemical weapon against civilians in Ghouta and Idlib. France, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has struggled to wield influence on Syria. Critics who accuse Macron of inaction say he has not given a clear definition of whether use of chlorine would for him constitute a chemical attack. On Tuesday, the vice-president of the Syria Civil Defence, or “White Helmets”, volunteer force said France should stop talking...

Russia has been playing games with innocent lives by undermining the ability to get at the truth regarding who is responsible for unleashing horrendous chemical attacks in Syria The mandate of an international expert panel investigating use of chemical weapons in Syria, known as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), has expired. JIM was established by the United Nations Security Council, unanimously, in 2015 to identify “to the greatest extent feasible” individuals, entities, groups or governments perpetrating, organizing, sponsoring or otherwise involved in the use of chemicals as weapons in Syria. With its...

Israeli jets have reportedly targeted a suspected chemical weapons factory in western Syria. The Syrian National Army said four IAF warplanes hit a military site in Hama province, near Masyaf, in the early hours of Thursday morning, killing two soldiers and causing massive damage. It is believed the site was linked to the sarin gas attack in April, which UN investigators said was the work of the Syrian government. The UN confirmed the chemical attacks in Khan Sheikhoun, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians and prompted a US missile attack, were perpetrated by Assad regime forces. Israel...

Syria confirms: Israel targeted military facility killing two-Opposition forces say four Israeli planes hit plant in Masyar-Incident comes amid massive Israeli drill, weeks after outgoing air force chief admits Israel targets Hezbollah convoys. The Israeli military struck Thursday a chemical arms plant in Syria, foreign media reports claimed. The Syrian army general command confirmed in a statement the attack on what they called a military facility, and said that two people were killed and extensive damage was caused. Israel refused to comment on the reports. A Syrian military statement said that at 2:40 A.M. Israeli warplanes struck the site from...

North Korea shipments to Syria chemical arms agency intercepted: U.N. report UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Two North Korean shipments to a Syrian government agency responsible for the country's chemical weapons program were intercepted in the past six months, according to a confidential United Nations report on North Korea sanctions violations. The report by a panel of independent U.N. experts, which was submitted to the U.N. Security Council earlier this month and seen by Reuters on Monday, gave no details on when or where the interdictions occurred or what the shipments contained. "The panel is investigating reported prohibited chemical, ballistic missile...

Said the President: "For some time I have been disturbed by the way CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and, at times, a policy-making arm of the Government. ... [T]his quiet intelligence arm of the President has been so removed from its intended role that it is being interpreted as a symbol of sinister and mysterious foreign intrigue."This dire warning about the propensity of the Central Intelligence Agency to go rogue came from Harry S. Truman.Truman's call to "limit the CIA role to intelligence" was published in December 22, 1963, by the Washington...

The international chemical weapons watchdog confirmed Friday that sarin gas was used in the deadly April attack on a Syria town that left more than 80 people dead. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it deployed a team within 24 hours to collect samples, attend autopsies and interview witnesses. Due to security risks, the team was not able to be on the ground in the Khan Shaykhun area where the attack took place, but traveled to a "neighboring country" to conduct its work.

The United Nations has been serving as an enabler of North Korea’s chemical program The United Nations finds itself in one embarrassing situation after the other. Here are just a handful of recent examples. The United Nations has been serving as an enabler of North Korea’s chemical program, according to a recent exclusive report by Fox News. “For more than a year,” Fox News reported, “a United Nations agency in Geneva has been helping North Korea prepare an international patent application for production of sodium cyanide—a chemical used to make the nerve gas Tabun—which has been on a list of...

<p>His friends call him Abu Amin, 'the father of honesty'. At 43, he is one of Iraq's most highly decorated intelligence officers: a special forces veteran who organised killings behind Iranian lines during the first Gulf war, who then went on to a senior post in the unit known as 'M8' - the department for 'special operations', such as sabotage, terrorism and murder. This is the man, Colonel Muhammed Khalil Ibrahim al-Ani, whom Mohamed Atta flew halfway across the world to meet in Prague last April, five months before piloting his hijacked aircraft into the World Trade Centre.</p>

Get ready for more red-lining from Bashar al-Assad. Despite claims from Russia and the Syrian dictator himself that he fully disarmed his chemical-weapons program, a high-ranking defector tells the UK Telegraph that Assad still has hundreds of tons of those munitions stockpiled for use by his military. General Zaher al-Sakat says that includes sarin gas, the munitions used against a village in Idlib province that provoked a military strike from the US in reprisal (via Guy Benson): President Bashar al-Assad continues to retain hundreds of tonnes of his country’s chemical stockpile after deceiving United Nations inspectors sent in to dismantle...

An Iraqi military officer says Islamic State militants have launched a gas attack in a newly-liberated area in western Mosul.