‘Chemical’ attack by Assad regime in Syria kills 1300 in ‘massacre’, the opposition says
Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed in an apparent gas attack on rebel-held parts of eastern Damascus that is thought to be the most significant use of chemical weapons since thousands of Kurds were gassed by Saddam Hussein in Halabja 25 years ago. Death toll claimed to be as high as 1,400 as Syrian government admits launching major offensive in rebel-held districts in the east of the capital but denies using chemical weapons.
Link to video: Syria’s darkest day: Footage shows horrific aftermath of alleged gas attack. Scenes of men women and children in respiratory distress, breathing problems, limb stiffness and were in comas. [Warning: Contains graphic content]
Rescuers and victims said the shelling of eastern Ghouta started shortly after 2am and targeted three districts, Ein Tarma, Zermalka and Jobar, all rebel strongholds for the past year. “It was around 2.30am Wednesday when we received calls from Zemalka and Jobar,” said a Free Syria Army (FSA) officer, Captain Alla’a al-Basha, who has documented previous alleged chemical attacks in the area. “The FSA members were asking for more forces to evacuate the civilians as the shells were coming in at around five per minute. As soon as I and my team arrived at the scene, I saw bodies scattered in the streets. I saw whole houses – none of their residents were alive. When I got there, I could smell what seemed to be burning sulphur and something like cooked eggs. The smoke was not pure white. “Most of the victims were shivering and they turned yellow. I saw a woman who was tearing at her clothes as she could not breathe. The number of the casualties that we were able to document so far is 1,228 martyrs. The doctors think that more than 20 shells were fired with fatal gases. “Most of the victims did not appear to be injured but died out of suffocation. I held a young boy whose body was like a piece of wood and his colour was very blue. He did not have any wound.”
Doctors at makeshift clinics said they were working without oxygen and had been overrun by the number of victims, many of whom needed lifesaving treatment that they could not provide. Treatment of victims appeared rudimentary, with water and vinegar among the means of trying to dilute the effects. “We know when we have an area targeted by fatal gases we would take plastic masks and put wet cloths on our noses and mouths,” said Basha. “But most of the civilians do not know that they have to do that.”
George Sabra, the head of the main Syrian opposition group, laid the blame squarely at the Assad regime, saying the scenes “constitute a turning point in the regime’s operations”. “This time it was for annihilation, rather than terror,” he said. International reaction intensified throughout the day. The UN Security council called an emergency session and the White House formally requested the UN to investigate the attack. William Hague, the foreign secretary, said the UK was “deeply concerned”. One witness told Reuters: “We would go into a house and everything was in its place, every person was in their place. They were lying where they had been. They looked like they were asleep. But they were dead.”
Ralf Trapp, a consultant on chemical and biological weapons, said getting access to the scenes of the attacks was paramount for inspectors. “The logical thing to do would be to go in and start interviewing doctors and getting blood and urine samples. “This is the ideal moment to collect samples because it is so shortly after the attack. They may get intact agent – in the first day or so you would still find intact sarin, for example. “Within a few days, you would find degradation products. If you link those to clinical examinations and testimony, you can build up a very precise picture of what happened. “They need to try to get to the site where it happened, talk to people who were on the spot when it happened, to victims and observers, to create as complete a picture of the actual attack. They want to discriminate against other types of weapons that might cause similar effects or release something by chance.”
Charles Duelfer, a former US chief weapons inspector, said: “[Video] reports of doctors treating these people, that’s real data.” Duelfer said the scale of the attack could probably be proved by the intelligence community. “It will be pretty clear pretty quickly because various countries’ intelligence apparatus will have noticed something on this scale, whether it’s artillery, rockets, or shells. These are knowable things.”The White House is going to be hard pressed to construct an answer to this one. It was easy to waffle a bit so long as alleged use was minor and didn’t happen again, but this is really putting the administration in a corner.”"
RESOURCES:
Syria conflict: chemical weapons blamed as hundreds reported killed. Death toll claimed to be as high as 1,400 as Syrian government admits launching offensive but denies using chemical weapons … Syria conflict: chemical weapons blamed as hundreds reported killed
DailyMail: Pictures of dead children are graphic, disturbing and undoubtedly the worst so far to have emerged from the conflict, MailOnline has made the decision to publish them in order to raise awareness of the plight of innocent people in a war that shows no sign of ending. View Pictures
Syria’s darkest day: Hundreds of children’s bodies piled high after nerve gas attack near Damascus leaves up to 1,300 dead … Syria’s darkest day [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yGzasDawuI]
Syria Threatens Chemical Attack on Foreign Force:
Published on Jul 23, 2012 – The warning appeared intended to ward off an attack by Western nations while also apparently confirming that Syria had chemical weapons. …Over the past four decades, Syria has amassed huge supplies of mustard gas, sarin nerve agent and cyanide, according to unclassified reports by the Central Intelligence Agency. In a report to Congress covering last year, the C.I.A., referring to chemical weapons, said, “Syria has had a C.W. program for many years and has a stockpile of C.W. agents, which can be delivered by aerial bombs, ballistic missiles, and artillery rockets. We assess that Syria remains dependent on foreign sources for key elements of its C.W. program, including precursor chemicals.” In a similar report for 2006, the C.I.A. said Syria’s arsenal included “the nerve agent sarin, which can be delivered by aircraft or ballistic missile.” The report also said that Syria “is developing the more toxic and persistent nerve agent VX.” Syria Threatens Chemical Attack on Foreign Force – The New York Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/world/middleeast/chemical-weapons-wont-be-used-in-rebellion-syria-says.html?pagewanted=all]
Evil prospers when good men do nothing
‘Tolerating evil leads only to more evil. And when good people stand by and do nothing while wickedness reigns, their communities will be consumed’. Evil prospers when good men do nothing. Evil prospers when good men do nothing
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