industryterm:sarin gas

Now Mattis Admits There Was No Evidence Assad Used Poison Gas on His People
▻http://www.newsweek.com/now-mattis-admits-there-was-no-evidence-assad-using-poison-gas-his-people-

Lost in the hyper-politicized hullabaloo surrounding the Nunes Memorandum and the Steele Dossier was the striking statement by Secretary of Defense James Mattis that the U.S. has “no evidence” that the Syrian government used the banned nerve agent Sarin against its own people.

This assertion flies in the face of the White House (NSC) Memorandum which was rapidly produced and declassified to justify an American Tomahawk missile strike against the Shayrat airbase in Syria.

Mattis offered no temporal qualifications, which means that both the 2017 event in Khan Sheikhoun and the 2013 tragedy in Ghouta are unsolved cases in the eyes of the Defense Department and Defense Intelligence Agency.

US has no evidence of Syrian use of sarin gas, Mattis says
►https://apnews.com/bd533182b7f244a4b771c73a0b601ec5

The U.S. has no evidence to confirm reports from aid groups and others that the Syrian government has used the deadly chemical sarin on its citizens, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday.

“We have other reports from the battlefield from people who claim it’s been used,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon. “We do not have evidence of it.”

He said he was not rebutting the reports.

“We’re looking for evidence of it, since clearly we are dealing with the Assad regime that has used denial and deceit to hide their outlaw actions,” Mattis said.

#allons_bon

Le porte-parole de la maison blanche a parfaitement intégré le principe de l’argument « XY est pire qu’Hitler » :
▻http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/11/politics/sean-spicer-hitler-assad-gas-chemical-weapons/index.html

“You had someone who was despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons,” Spicer said during the briefing. “So you have to, if you are Russia, ask yourself is this a country and a regime that you want to align yourself with.”

The comment immediately reverberated online and audible gasps could be heard in the press briefing room after the Spicer made the comment.

Spicer, asked later in the briefing for a clarification by a reporter about the comments that Hitler did not use chemical weapons, said: “I think when you come to sarin gas, he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing.”

Syria blames France for nerve gas attack in Gouta that almost took Britain to war | Middle East | News | The Independent
▻http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-makes-absurd-claim-french-government-sarin-nerve-gas-ghouta-che

The Syrian regime has claimed that a chemical attack that killed hundreds of civilians and almost took Britain to war was orchestrated by French intelligence agencies, as Bashar al-Assad’s government continues to deny allegations of war crimes.

Appearing during a heated session of the UN Security Council on the Syrian civil war, Dr Bashar al-Jaafari hit out at several members of the US-led coalition.

Discussing the sarin gas attack that killed hundreds of people in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta on 21 August 2013, he inferred the atrocity was part of a plot to divert UN weapons inspectors from another incident blamed on rebels.

La justice turque vient de condamner par contumace un syrien, un certain Haytham Qassab, à 12 ans d’emprisonnement pour « appartenance à une organisation terroriste » (en l’occurrence al-Qaïda) et « tentative d’acquérir des armes pour une organisation terroriste » (en l’occurrence du gaz sarin). Celui-ci, arrêté, avait ensuite été relâché durant le procès et est désormais en fuite.
Tous les suspects turcs, arrêtés en mai 2013 (soit un peu avant l’attaque chimique dans la Ghouta orientale), pour avoir tenter d’aider à cette opération, ont été acquittés au motif que leur tentative n’en était qu’au stade préliminaire...
▻http://www.todayszaman.com/national_court-sentences-syrian-in-sarin-gas-case-to-12-years-acquits-t

A Turkish court on Tuesday sentenced in absentia a Syrian national accused of attempting to obtain chemicals used in the production of sarin gas to 12 years in jail and acquitted five Turkish suspects, bringing a two-and-a-half-year case that has stirred political controversy to a close.
The Adana 9th High Criminal Court convicted the Syrian man, Haytham Qassab, of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “attempting to obtain weapons for an armed terrorist organization.” The court ruled to acquit the Turkish suspects who were accused of helping Qassab to acquire the materials sought, saying their attempts to acquire the materials were in the preparatory stages and had not been completed.
The suspects were initially detained in an Adana police operation in May 2013 on suspicion of seeking to obtain materials used in the production of chemical weapons, reportedly for Syrian rebels linked to al-Qaeda. In July 2013, the suspects were released pending trial but when the court later established that the materials they were trying to obtain could in fact be used to produce sarin, a warrant for the arrest of Qassab, who is the main suspect in the case, was issued. But Qassab could not be arrested and he has remained at large since then.

Le jugement fait suite aux accusations récentes du député turc du CHP Eren Erdem à l’encontre d’Erdogan et du gouvernement turc d’avoir fait pression sur le magistrat pour enterrer l’affaire :

Eren Erdem has been accused of “treason” by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and pro-government media, and the lawmaker is also under legal investigation, again on treason charges.
Erdem has also accused the Turkish authorities of complicity, claiming that the government pressured the prosecutor of the case into toning down the accusations and ending the trial swiftly.

Pour mémoire le député Erdem, allait même plus loin, en accusant sur Russia Today le gouvernement turc d’avoir permis l’acquisition d’armes chimiques à Da’ich, à partir de pièces de ce procès qu’il aurait obtenues.
Voir ici : ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/439692

#sarin #attaques_chimiques #Turquie #Syrie #al-Nusra #Daech #ISIS

EXCLUSIVE : Sarin materials brought via Turkey & mixed in Syrian ISIS camps – Turkish MP to RT — RT News
▻https://www.rt.com/news/325825-sarin-gas-syria-turkey

Où l’on reparle de l’éventuelle utilisation de gaz sarin par les mercenaires révolutionnaires syriens en août 2013. Cette fois, la source est un député turc.

Furthermore, Erdem argues that the West purposely blamed the regime of Bashar Assad for the August 2013 attacks and used it as part of the pretext to make US military intervention in Syria possible. The MP said that evidence in Adana’s case, according to his judgment, proves that ISIS was responsible.

“For example the chemical attack in Ghouta. Remember. It was claimed that the regime forces were behind it. This attack was conducted just days before the sarin operation in Turkey. It’s a high probability that this attack was carried out with those basic materials shipped through Turkey. It is said the regime forces are responsible but the indictment says it’s ISIS. UN inspectors went to the site but they couldn’t find any evidence. But in this indictment, we’ve found the evidence. We know who used the sarin gas, and our government knows it too,” he said.

At the same time, Erden also accused the West and Europe in particular for providing “basic materials” to create such a powerful chemical weapon.

Propaganda, Intelligence and MH-17 | Consortiumnews
▻https://consortiumnews.com/2015/08/17/propaganda-intelligence-and-mh-17

When the tragedy occurred U.S. intelligence collection assets were focused laser-like on the Ukraine-Russia border region where the passenger plane crashed. Besides collection from overhead imagery and sensors, U.S. intelligence presumably would have electronic intercepts of communications as well as information from human sources inside many of the various factions.

That would mean that hundreds of intelligence analysts are likely to have precise knowledge regarding how MH-17 was shot down and by whom. Though there may be some difference of opinion among analysts about how to read the evidence – as there often is – it is out of the question that the intelligence community would withhold this data from President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Kerry and other top officials.

Thus, it is a virtual certainty that the Obama administration has far more conclusive evidence than the “social media” cited by Kerry in casting suspicions on the rebels and Moscow when he made the rounds of Sunday talk shows just three days after the crash. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Kerry told David Gregory that “social media” is an “extraordinary tool.” The question is, a tool for what?

The DNI report two days later rehashed many of the “social media” references that Kerry cited and added some circumstantial evidence about Russia providing other forms of military equipment to the rebels. But the DNI report contains no mention of Russia supplying a Buk anti-aircraft missile system that Kerry and the DNI cited as the suspected weapon that downed the plane.

So, why does the administration continue refusing to go beyond such dubious sources and shaky information in attributing blame for the shoot-down? Why not fill in the many blanks with actual and hard U.S. intelligence data that would have been available and examined over the following days and weeks? Did the Russians supply a Buk or other missile battery that would be capable of hitting MH-17 flying at 33,000 feet? Yes or no.
[…]
To buttress Kerry’s shaky case, DNI Clapper arranged a flimsy “Government Assessment” – reprising many of Kerry’s references to “social media” – that was briefed to a few hand-picked Establishment reporters two days after Kerry starred on Sunday TV. The little-noticed distinction was that this report was not the customary “Intelligence Assessment” (the genre that has been de rigueur in such circumstances in the past).

The key difference between the traditional “Intelligence Assessment” and this relatively new creation, a “Government Assessment,” is that the latter genre is put together by senior White House bureaucrats or other political appointees, not senior intelligence analysts. Another significant difference is that an “Intelligence Assessment” often includes alternative views, either in the text or in footnotes, detailing disagreements among intelligence analysts, thus revealing where the case may be weak or in dispute.

The absence of an “Intelligence Assessment” suggested that honest intelligence analysts were resisting a knee-jerk indictment of Russia – just as they did after the first time Kerry pulled this “Government Assessment” arrow out of his quiver trying to stick the blame for an Aug. 21, 2013 sarin gas attack outside Damascus on the Syrian government.

Kerry cited this pseudo-intelligence product, which contained not a single verifiable fact, to take the United States to the brink of war against President Bashar al-Assad’s military, a fateful decision that was only headed off at the last minute after President Barack Obama was made aware of grave doubts among U.S. intelligence analysts about whodunit. Kerry’s sarin case has since collapsed.

#MH17

Syrian army foils chemical attack on #Damascus
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/20195

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/960859-01-08.jpg

Al-Nusra acquired 16 canisters of #sarin_gas with a spread radius of 500 meters. Photo taken on October 30, 2014. (Photo: AFP) Al-Nusra acquired 16 canisters of Sarin gas with a spread radius of 500 meters. Photo taken on October 30, 2014. (Photo: AFP)

On Saturday, the Syrian army and its allies foiled a plan by #Al-Nusra_Front in collaboration with Turkish intelligence, to stage a sarin gas attack in the Syrian capital during President Bashar al-Assad’s inauguration.

Racha Abi Haidar

read (...)

#Mideast_&_North_Africa #Articles #Bashar_al_Assad #chemical_weapons #East_Ghouta #syria #turkey

Poll finds low Western support for military intervention
▻http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Oct-10/234152-poll-finds-low-western-support-for-military-intervention.ashx

The poll, conducted in 15, mostly European countries, also found that only about a third of respondents held Syria’s government accountable for using chemical weapons despite Western efforts to blame Assad for an Aug. 21 sarin gas attack.

Security Council Begins Writing a Resolution on Syria
▻http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=61597

In early September there were also reports from unnamed sources in the region that a cylinder of sarin gas had been found in the home in Turkey of a Syrian Islamic fighter from the Al-Nusra front. The Los Angeles Times reported later, however, that according to Turkish media, Turkish officials had denied that, but said that prosecutors in southern Turkey have alleged that Syrian rebel groups were seeking to buy materials that could be used to produce sarin. Indictments were reportedly issued in the southern Turkish city of Adana that alleged that a Syrian was in Turkey trying to procure chemical materials for the Al Nusra Front and the Ahrar al-Sham Brigades, the LA Times said, sourcing its information again to Turkish media. The United States lists the Al Nusra Front as a terrorist group linked to Al Qaeda.

En janvier 2012, le gouvernement du Royaume-Uni a autorisé la livraison de composants susceptibles d’être utilisés pour la fabrication du gaz sarin.

Revealed : UK Government let British company export nerve gas chemicals to Syria - UK Politics - UK - The Independent
▻http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-uk-government-let-british-company-export-nerve-gas-chemicals

The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, will today be asked by MPs to explain why a British company was granted export licences for the dual-use substances for six months in 2012 while Syria’s civil war was raging and concern was rife that the regime could use chemical weapons on its own people. The disclosure of the licences for potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride, which can both be used as precursor chemicals in the manufacture of nerve gas, came as the US Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States had evidence that sarin gas was used in last month’s atrocity in Damascus.

Mais c’était pour des usages civils et d’ailleurs le temps a manqué pour les livrer.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “You see the system working, with materials not exported. The facts are that the licences were revoked and the exports did not take place. The Prime Minister’s view is that that demonstrates that the system is working. There is a sanctions regime, which is a very active part.”

Critics of the Business Secretary, whose department said it had accepted assurances from the exporting company that the chemicals would be used in the manufacture of metal window frames and shower enclosures, said it appeared the substances had only stayed out of Syria by chance.

Deux articles sur l’usage d’armes chimiques en Syrie.
Carla Del Ponte, en charge de la Commission des Nations Unies sur la Syrie, indique ne pas détenir de preuve de l’implication du régime d’Assad dans l’usage d’armes chimiques. En revanche, elle fait valoir que de fortes suspicions pèsent sur l’opposition qui pourrait avoir utilisé du gas sarin. Ali Akbar Salehi, Ministre des Affaires étrangères d’Iran, émet la même hypothèse.

Article 1
U.N. has testimony that Syrian rebels used sarin gas: investigator
Sun, May 05 (2013) 18:13 PM EDT

▻http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE94409Z20130505?irpc=932

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria’s civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday.

The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen evidence of government forces having used chemical weapons, which are banned under international law, said commission member Carla Del Ponte.

“Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated,” Del Ponte said in an interview with Swiss-Italian television.

“This was use on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities,” she added, speaking in Italian.

Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney-general who also served as prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, gave no details as to when or where sarin may have been used.

The Geneva-based inquiry into war crimes and other human rights violations is separate from an investigation of the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria instigated by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which has since stalled.

President Bashar al-Assad’s government and the rebels accuse each another of carrying out three chemical weapon attacks, one near Aleppo and another near Damascus, both in March, and another in Homs in December.

The civil war began with anti-government protests in March 2011. The conflict has now claimed an estimated 70,000 lives and forced 1.2 million Syrian refugees to flee.

The United States has said it has “varying degrees of confidence” that sarin has been used by Syria’s government on its people.

President Barack Obama last year declared that the use or deployment of chemical weapons by Assad would cross a “red line”.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

Article 2
Iran’s Salehi says chemical weapons ’red line’ in Syria
30 avril 2013

▻http://tehrantimes.com/politics/107297-irans-salehi-says-chemical-weapons-red-line-in-syria

TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi insisted on Tuesday that use of chemical weapons in Syria would also be a “red line” for Tehran, but suggests rebel forces should be investigated.

According to ISNA news agency, Salehi said the use of chemical weapons “by anybody is our red line.” But he said opposition groups could have used chemical agents and demanded a UN probe.