Israel Matzav

That Syrian chemical weapons plant

I've been saying almost from the beginning of this story that I believe that what the IAF allegedly destroyed in Syria on September 6 was not a nuclear plant or nuclear weapons material but a chemical weapons plant. A summary of the reasons why I believe this to be the case may be found here. I believe that my argument was strengthened by the disclosure last night that there was an accident at a Syrian - Iranian chemical weapons experiment in July in which 'dozens' of people were killed by nerve gas (presumably sarin). The experiment was designed to arm Scud missiles with nerve gas. At least some of the nerve gas may well have been produced at the Deir al-Zur facility that was allegedly destroyed by the IAF.

This view is starting to gain support from at least one important quarter in the blogsphere, and I'd like to point that out.

I don't subscribe to Jane's, so I can't access any of the paid content. But they have been reporting for some time on Syria's capabilities in the NBC area. (I can't find the article the J-Post is talking about, either, but it may not be up yet. If this accident did occur, there may be something else entirely going on in the recent Israeli raid.

Something else, that is, other than nuclear material.

There's also an important post by Jerry Gordon at Israpundit that deals with Syria's chemical weapons capability. Although they do not go on to connect that capability with the IAF's alleged raid, you don't have to be a rocket scientist - or a chemical or nuclear engineer - to recognize the possibility.

When my colleague at American Congress for Truth, Brigitte Gabriel and I presented at the Intelligence Summit in St. Petersburg this March, we sat through a terrifyting, yet fascinating briefing about the vast Syrian Chemical Biological Warfare (CBW) complex given by American ex-patriate living in Brussels and expert, Dr. Jill Dekker.

She warned us of the depth of commitments of the Assad regime in Damascus and close cooperation with the Iranians, especially the military who control the CBW establishment. Dekker noted contrbutions made by Saddam Hussein’s CBW experts and the delivery of virulent toxins during the collapse of his regime under the onslaught of Operation Enduring Freedom. Dekker noted Russian, West German and even U.S. suppliers like bio pharma company Baxter International to the Syrian CBW establishment under the guise of pharmaceutical processing equipment.

And regarding the 'accident' in July, Jerry notes:

The factory was created specifically for the purposes of altering ballistic missiles to carry chemical payloads, the magazine report claimed.

I wonder where that factory was located. Perhaps Deir al-Zur? If anyone has access to the full article in Jane's, please let me know if it says.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:47 AM