Israel Matzav

Assad attacks his countrymen with chemical weapons

In an incredibly brazen attack (which the Syrian government is now denying), troops loyal to Bashar al-Assad shot a number of nerve gas-tipped missiles this morning at civilians in a suburb of Damascus. The reason why I call the attack Brazen? UN chemical weapons inspectors are currently in Syria....

15 missiles with nerve gas targeted Juber, Zamalka Ein Tarma, Duma and Mouadamiya #Damascus at 3:45 am led to 570 deaths - Sham Network
— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) August 21, 2013

570 is way too low for the death count....

#BreakingNews: #FSA spokesman says 1188 people killed in "Eastern Ghouta massacre." #Syria
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) August 21, 2013

You can find a series of videos of alleged victims of the attack here.

Reuters reports that this is by far the worst use of chemical weapons in Syria's two-year civil war. 

Reuters was not able to verify the accounts independently and they were denied by Syrian state television, which said they were disseminated deliberately to distract a team of United Nations chemical weapons experts which arrived three days ago.

The UN team is in Syria investigating allegations that both rebels and army forces used poison gas in the past, one of the main disputes in international diplomacy over Syria.

Activists said rockets with chemical agents hit the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar before dawn.

A nurse at Douma Emergency Collection facility, Bayan Baker, said the death toll, as collated from medical centers in the suburbs east of Damascus, was 213.

"Many of the casualties are women and children. They arrived with their pupil dilated, cold limbs and foam in their mouths. The doctors say these are typical symptoms of nerve gas victims," the nurse said.

Extensive amateur video and photographs purporting to show victims appeared on the Internet.

A video purportedly shot in the Kafr Batna neighborhood showed a room filled with more than 90 bodies, many of them children and a few women and elderly men. Most of the bodies appeared ashen or pale but with no visible injuries. About a dozen were wrapped in blankets.

What the west doesn't get is that this sort of behavior isn't shocking coming from the Arab world... That's how they fight.

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, chemical weapons, Damascus, Free Syrian Army, inspection, Nusra Front, Syrian army, Syrian uprising, weapons of mass destruction

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:36 PM