Did Assad use chemical weapons on his own people?

[Peter1469]

For every attack I said that nothing in the video and photo evidence showed a chemical attack. Not the victims, not the first responders wearing zero protective gear, etc. Chlorine may have been used, and that can hurt you are maybe kill you if you suck in enough of it, but that is not classified as a chemical weapon in the relevant treaties (unless they have been recently amended).

And the news was reporting sarin in some cases and a mix of sarin / chlorine in other cases.

I somehow got some very exclusive training with regards to chemical and biolgoicals. At the Army facility where we were at that time destroying our stockpiles. I saw demonstrations first hand.

So no- nothing that the press has put out indicates chemical weapons.

[bulletbob]

That is a false accusation that holds no water. Ridiculous, in fact, that you don't know why Bashar al-Assad is still in power. His people did not want him gone, majority wise, can you say the same for yours? Find someone else to toast for the hours.

yea sure sounds like they didnt want him gone that is if you can read or see



n March 2011 Syria’s government, led by Pres. Bashar al-Assad, faced an unprecedented challenge to its authority when pro-democracy protests erupted throughout the country. Protesters demanded an end to the authoritarian practices of the Assad regime, in place since Assad’s father, Ḥafiz al-Assad, became president in 1971. The Syrian government used violence to suppress demonstrations, making extensive use of police, military, and paramilitary forces. Opposition militias began to form in 2011, and by 2012 the conflict had expanded into a full-fledged civil war. In this special feature, Britannica provides a guide to the civil war and explores the historical context of the conflict. Uprising

In January 2011, Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad was asked in an interview with The Wall Street Journal if he expected the wave of popular protest then sweeping through the Arab world—which had already unseated authoritarian rulers in Tunisia and Egypt—to reach Syria. Assad acknowledged that there had been economic hardships for many Syrians and that progress toward political reform had been slow and halting, but he was confident that Syria would be spared because his administration’s stance of resistance to the United States and Israel aligned with the beliefs of the Syrian people, whereas the leaders who had already fallen had carried out pro-Western foreign policy in defiance of their people’s feelings.
The onset of antiregime protests, coming just a few weeks after the interview, made it clear that Assad’s situation had been much more precarious than he was willing to admit. In reality, a variety of long-standing political and economic problems were pushing the country toward instability. When Assad succeeded his father in 2000, he came to the presidency with a reputation as a modernizer and a reformer. The hopes that were raised by Assad’s presidency went largely unfulfilled, though. In politics, a brief turn toward greater participation was quickly reversed, and Assad revived the authoritarian tactics of his late father’s administration, including pervasive censorship and surveillance and brutal violence against suspected opponents of the regime. Assad also oversaw significant liberalization of Syria’s state-dominated economy, but those changes mostly served to enrich a network of crony capitalists with ties to the regime. On the eve of the uprising, then, Syrian society remained highly repressive, with increasingly conspicuous inequalities in wealth and privilege.

Environmental crisis also played a role in Syria’s uprising. Between 2006 and 2010, Syria experienced the worst drought in the country’s modern history. Hundreds of thousands of farming families were reduced to poverty, causing a mass migration of rural people to urban shantytowns.
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It was in the impoverished drought-stricken rural province of Darʿā, in southern Syria, that the first major protests occurred in March 2011. A group of children had been arrested and tortured by the authorities for writing antiregime graffiti; incensed local people took to the street to demonstrate for political and economic reforms. Security forces responded harshly, conducting mass arrests and sometimes firing on demonstrators. The violence of the regime’s response added visibility and momentum to the protesters’ cause, and within weeks similar nonviolent protests had begun to appear in cities around the country. Videos of security forces beating and firing at protesters—captured by witnesses on mobile phones—were circulated around the country and smuggled out to foreign media outlets.


Syria: antigovernment protestersAntigovernment protesters wearing Syrian rebel flags during a demonstration in Homs, Syria, December 2011.AP
From early on, the uprising and the regime’s response had a sectarian dimension. Many of the protesters belonged to the country’s Sunni majority, while the ruling Assad family were members of the country’s ʿAlawite minority. ʿAlawites also dominated the security forces and the irregular militias that carried out some of the worst violence against protesters and suspected opponents of the regime. Sectarian divisions were initially not as rigid as is sometimes supposed, though; the political and economic elite with ties to the regime included members of all of Syria’s confessional groups—not just ʿAlawites—while many middle- and working-class ʿAlawites did not particularly benefit from belonging to the same community as the Assad family and may have shared some of the protesters’ socioeconomic grievances.
As the conflict progressed, however, sectarian divisions hardened. In his public statements, Assad sought to portray the opposition as Sunni Islamic extremists in the mold of al-Qaeda and as participants in foreign conspiracies against Syria. The regime also produced propaganda stoking minorities’ fears that the predominately Sunni opposition would carry out violent reprisals against non-Sunni communities.
As the protests increased in strength and size, the regime responded with heavier force. In some cases this meant encircling cities or neighbourhoods that had become hubs of protest, such as Bāniyās or Homs, with tanks, artillery, and attack helicopters and cutting off utilities and communications. In response, some groups of protesters began to take up arms against the security forces. In June, Syrian troops and tanks moved into the northern town of Jisr al-Shugūr, sending a stream of thousands of refugees fleeing into Turkey.
By the summer of 2011 Syria’s regional neighbours and the global powers had both begun to split into pro- and anti-Assad camps. The United States and the European Union were increasingly critical of Assad as his crackdown continued, and U.S. Pres. Barack Obama and several European heads of state called for him to step down in August 2011. An anti-Assad bloc consisting of Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia formed in the last half of 2011. The United States, the EU, and the Arab League soon introduced sanctions targeting senior members of the Assad regime.
Meanwhile, Syria’s long-standing allies Iran and Russia continued their support. An early indicator of the international divisions and rivalries that would prolong the conflict came in October 2011 when Russia and China cast the first of several vetoes blocking a UN Security Council Resolution that would have condemned Assad’s crackdown.

[bulletbob]

assad used posion gas at least 50 times


https://www.arabnews.com/node/1284206/middle-east

[bulletbob]

This article is more than 1 year old

US says it has proof Assad's regime carried out Douma gas attack

This article is more than 1 year old



White House and state department say with ‘very high confidence’ that government forces were responsible

• Syria latest – live updates

Patrick Wintour and Ewen MacAskill in London, Julian Borger in Washington and Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Fri 13 Apr 2018 16.15 EDT First published on Fri 13 Apr 2018 14.22 EDT

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A video released by the Syrian civil defence force White Helmets shows medical workers treating children after the attack on Douma Photograph: AP The US has said it has proof that the Syrian regime carried out a chemical weapon attack on the outskirts of Damascus on Saturday, rejecting a Russian claim that it had been staged by British intelligence.
Both the White House and state department announced on Friday that the US had “a high level of confidence” about the regime’s culpability for the use of poisonous gas in Douma.
The declaration marked a shift from a statement by the defence secretary, James Mattis, on Thursday, that the US was still looking at the evidence. But the US envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, told the security council that the Trump administration had still not decided on a military response.
The UK denounced as “a blatant lie” Russian claims that the country’s intelligence services were responsible for staging “the fake chemical weapons attack” in Douma, as a pretext for launching a wider military assault on the Syrian regime forces.

Moscow had previously said there was no traces of any chemical attack in Douma. Inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are due to visit the scene on Saturday. However, France, UK and the US have said their own evidence already points to Damascus.
Western diplomats would not rule out military action while the OPCW is on the ground, but said their capitals would try to avoid a situation in which inspectors could be vulnerable to harm or being taken hostage.
Asked about the Russian accusation against the UK, the White House spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders said: “Our intelligence tells us otherwise ... We have a very high confidence that Syria was responsible”.
The state department spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said: “We can say that the Syrian government was behind this attack... We know there are only certain countries, like Syria, that have delivery mechanisms and have those types of weapons.”
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said he had obtained documentary evidence showing that “special services of a country, which is now seeking to be in the first ranks of the Russophobic campaign, were involved in this staged event”. The UK Foreign Office said the claims were preposterous.
UK calls Russia's Syria chemical attack claim 'ludicrous' – as it happened






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Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador to London, told reporters the UK-funded Syrian civil defence forces, the White Helmets, were responsible for staging fake chemical attacks by the Syrian army in an attempt to mislead the world. Igor Konashenkov, a Russian defence ministry spokesman, went further saying: “We have … evidence that proves Britain was directly involved in organising this provocation.”

He said Russia had proof that London put pressure on the White Helmets to stage the attack. The White Helmets is a humanitarian organisation made up of 3,400 volunteers who rescue civilians from the rubble after airstrikes.

Karen Pierce, Britain’s ambassador to the UN, described the claims as “grotesque, bizarre and a blatant lie”. She added: “I want to state categorically … that Britain has no involvement and would never have any involvement in the use of a chemical weapon.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “Russia has wielded its UN security council veto six times since February 2017 to shield the Assad regime from scrutiny for its use of chemical weapons. These accusations from Moscow are just the latest in a number of ludicrous allegations from Russia, who have also said that no attack ever happened.
The allegations plunged the two countries’ intelligence agencies into yet more conflict, and came as the first members of a UN weapons inspectors fact-finding mission arrived in Damascus to see whether evidence remained to prove a chemical weapons attack had occurred, as photographs, blood samples and accounts from witnesses have shown. The inspectors are expected to be given access to Douma on Saturday.
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, insisted the inspectors from the OPCW must be given full and unfettered access to witnesses and buildings.

There’s no good option in Syria. But there’s a way to make Assad pay

Jonathan Freedland





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Russia, in conjunction with the forces of the Syrian president, Bashar-al Assad, is in charge of the Douma area.
At another highly charged session of the UN security council on Friday, Russia’s Vassily Nebenzia repeated the claim that the attack was staged. Hayley, his US counterpart, said she was “in awe” that Nebenzia could make such claims “with a straight face”.

[Peter1469]

assad used posion gas at least 50 times


https://www.arabnews.com/node/1284206/middle-east

The video and pictures from the actual events suggest that is not true.

I have first hand knowledge of what several types of chemical weapons do to people. Also the pics and videos showed the first responders with no protective gear.

So what's up?

[PJL]

So much effort and money has been wiasted on trying to convince the world that Assaad used chemical weapons . It has all amounted to nothing.....no proof , no evidence , nothing........in fact , the evidence has shown quite clearly that it was nothing more than a media campaign , set up to justify another attempted regime operation . It has failed miserably , and it's time to let it go and get back to reality . Years ago , it was an easy task to fool the world - these days , it's almost impossible and those who keep using these outdated propaganda methods just look like fools living in the past.

[bulletbob]

The video and pictures from the actual events suggest that is not true.

I have first hand knowledge of what several types of chemical weapons do to people. Also the pics and videos showed the first responders with no protective gear.

So what's up?

whats up is assad used gas like saddam

[bulletbob]

ashar al-Assad just gassed his own people, then bombed the clinic treating victims

A poison gas attack in Syria has killed at least 74 — including 16 women and 23 children — and wounded over 350.
By Jennifer Williams@jenn_ruthjennifer@vox.com Updated Apr 5, 2017, 12:46pm EDT
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Turkish experts evacuate a victim of a suspected chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian city of Idlib, at a local hospital in Reyhanli, Turkey, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. DHA-Depo Photos via AP A suspected poison gas attack by the Syrian regime on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun has killed at least 74 people — including 16 women and 23 children — and wounded over 350, according to the Syrian American Medical Society. Videos and photos taken by activists and medics on the scene showed victims choking and fainting, some with foam coming out of their mouths. These videos and photos have not been independently verified.
A few hours later, Syrian warplanes launched another airstrike on one of the medical clinics where victims of the first attack were being treated, the New York Times reports. Let that sink in for a moment: Bashar al-Assad gassed his own people, then bombed those desperately trying to save the lives of those suffering and dying from the chemicals.
The European Union and President Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan of Turkey have condemned the attack and blamed the Syrian government. European Union diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said the Assad regime bears "primary responsibility" for the attack. France has called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, and the UN office responsible for chemical weapons is reportedly investigating the attack.
The White House condemned the attack as "heinous" and "reprehensible" and blamed the Obama administration for failing to be tougher on Assad.
"These heinous actions by the Bashar Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration’s weakness and irresolution," press secretary Sean Spicer said. "President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a ‘red line’ against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing."
Rep. Eliot Engel, ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, issued a statement saying he was "horrified by the Assad regime's attack," and accused the Trump administration of emboldening Assad:

Sadly, the Assad regime is likely feeling empowered right now. This week, the Trump Administration moved toward appeasing the butcher in Damascus and accepting how Moscow and Tehran have enabled and protected him. Now that Donald Trump has put the world's superpower firmly on the sidelines, I fear what may come next for the Syrian people.

[Peter1469]

whats up is assad used gas like saddam

We have video proof that Saddam used sarin. I have seen the footage from after Desert Storm. There is no such evidence that Assad did. I saw that footage too which was not sarin. I think it was chlorine.

I don't know what anyone here's agenda is. But I have been in and to exposed to these agents. I know what they do, and the "media" is lying to you.

Give me sarin gas in several quart size bottles and you will see terror.


You have yet to see that.

[bulletbob]

Arms Control NOW

Authored by Alicia Sanders-Zakre on September 23, 2018Updated March 14, 2019
Why are chemical weapons attacks in Syria of so much concern to the international community?
Over the course of the horrific five and a half years of the Syrian civil war, the government of Bashar al-Assad, his Russian allies, and extremist fighters, have committed numerous war crimes. Some 500,000 people have died, and more than 10 million have been displaced. There is no military solution to the conflict, yet the killing continues.
Among the most heinous aspects of the war has been the repeated use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime since late 2012, including the massive August 2013 sarin gas attack that killed more than 1,400 civilians in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta.
Chemical weapons are uniquely terrifying weapons of mass destruction. Exposure to sarin gas, a colorless, odorless nerve agent used repeatedly in Syria, leads to muscle twitches, unconsciousness, paralysis of respiratory organs and eventually a horrifying, death through asphyxiation. It is because of their inhumane effects, as well as the fact that chemical weapons do not discriminate between combatants and civilians, that chemical weapons are internationally outlawed.
A UN inspector at one of the sites of the Aug. 21, 2013 chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs.
The Geneva Protocol of 1925 first limited the use of chemical weapons following their widespread use during the trench warfare of World War I. In 1980, the international community started negotiations on a comprehensive ban, which were concluded in 1993. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force in 1997, has put in place a comprehensive prohibition on chemical weapons development, production and deployment, and mandates the destruction of legacy chemical weapons. The CWC’s corresponding organization, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), oversees the destruction of all states-parties’ declared stockpiles. Today, there are 193 states-parties to the CWC, including Syria. Almost all states-parties are in good standing with the agreement.
Holding the line against further chemical weapons use and holding violators of the taboo against chemical weapons accountable, is in the interest of international security. Chemical weapons produce horrible effects, especially against unprotected civilians, and the erosion of the taboo against chemical weapons use can lead to further, more significant use of these or other weapons of mass destruction in the future.
Which types of chemical weapons have been used during the Syrian conflict?
Nerve agents, such as sarin, choking agents, such as weaponized chlorine, and blister agents, such as sulphur mustard, have been used in Syria over the course of the civil war.
Weaponized chlorine attacks have been among the most common. The OPCW Fact-Finding Mission recently documented chlorine use in March 2017 and February 2018. Chlorine attacks have been attributed to both the Syrian regime and the Islamic State.
The Syrian government has also used sarin, a highly lethal nerve agent, on multiple instances, including in August 2013 and April 2017, according to national and international investigations.





https://www.armscontrol.org/blog/201...pons-use-syria