Christof Lehmann (nsnbc),- The renewed diplomatic raw about the use of chemical weapons in Syria, with bellicose threats from the US- Administration, has taken a surprising turn, as it transpires, that the most likely perpetrator are Turkish military officers in Syria.Turkish troops and pilots have over the last week been involved in pitched battles, alongside al-Nusra terrorist or mercenary corps, in the attempt to secure the Ming airfield near Aleppo, leading to suspicions that the anti-Syrian alliance is preparing the political and military pretext for yet another Iraq or Libya – style “intervention”.
According to Syrian military sources and the Al-Watan newspaper, Turkish ground troops and pilots are directly involved in pitched battles for the Ming airfield, North of the Syrian city Aleppo. The Turkish troops are, according to the Syrian military, fighting alongside terrorist mercenary corps of the al-Qaeda associated al-Nusrah, as well as other predominantly foreign mercenary corps from countries like Tunisia, Libya.
The presence of the Turkish troops in the battle for the Ming airfield is not the first incidence in which Turkish troops have been operating in Syria. Journalists have repeatedly documented Turkish military officers presence in Syria, distributing large weapons shipments among the terrorist or mercenary brigades.
At the Ming airfield, near Aleppo however, Turkish troops are reported to be actively taking part in pitched battles with the Syrian military. According to reports from the so-called “Free Syrian Army” the battle to conquer and secure the airfield near Aleppo has been given the highest priority.
While the pitched battles between Syrian military forces and the mercenary corps and Turkish troops, who are trying to secure the Ming airfield “at any cost” have been raging for days, the worlds media attention has predominantly focused on the new diplomatic raw about chemical weapons.
US-President Obama has previously stated, that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian military would be a “game changer”. During the last Friends of Syria meeting in Rome, US Secretary of State stated, that there would be need for a “game changer”, and the latest information suggests, that the US-led anti-Syrian alliance is directly involved in bringing about the “game changer”, or the pretext for increasing military pressure against Syria, by causing an incident with chemical weapons.
Read Full Article Here
**********************************************************************************************
Prelude to intervention? Damascus claims Al-Qaeda used chemical rocket in Aleppo attack
RT
Published time: April 26, 2013 16:06
Damascus has claimed that Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists used a chemical rocket – possibly smuggled from Turkey – to attack Aleppo last month. But Western nations accused Damascus of using chemical weapons, and are mulling a military intervention.
Turkey, a nation openly hostile to the Syrian government, has joined the chorus of voices saying that the Aleppo incident crosses the so-called ‘red line.’
“We have been hearing allegations of the use of chemical weapons for quite some time now and these new findings take things to another level. They are very alarming,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Levent Gumrukcu said on Friday.
Military experts and officials said a military-grade chemical agent, most likely sarin, killed 26 people in the war-torn city in northwestern Syria on March 19. Several countries, including Israel, the UK, France and the US – all vocal critics of Syrian President Bashar Assad – all claimed they had evidence that chemical weapons were used in Syria.
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is the latest top official to allege with “some degree of varying confidence” that chemical weapons were used by the Syrian army, citing an intelligence assessment The White House was more cautious, saying it sought more evidence.
Damascus denied that a chemical attack was carried out by the Syrian army, blaming the rebels and Turkey for the incident: “The rocket came from a placed controlled by the terrorist and which is located close to the Turkish territory. One can assume that the weapon came from Turkey,” Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi alleged in an interview with Interfax news agency.
“We hear from Washington: You use chemical weapons. The American administration is deaf. It has only one ear and one eye,” al-Zoabi said, adding that Al-Qaeda-linked forces threatened to use chemical weapons in Syria and may have done so.
Read Full Article Here
*************************************************************************************************
MOSCOW — The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused the UN Secretariat of taking a politicized approach toward investigating reports on the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a commentary that the UN Secretariat demanded that Damascus agree to the establishment of a permanent inspection mechanism on the entire Syrian territory with unlimited access.
“The inspection system proposed is analogous to that used at the end of the previous century in Iraq, which, unlike Syria, was under UN Security Council sanctions.”
“This turnaround in the UN Secretariat’s position is nothing but a demonstration of a politicized approach,” Lukashevich said.
As a result, the investigation into the March 19 incident near Aleppo has been blocked, Lukashevich said.
“It is difficult to understand why the UN Secretariat prefers to take its cue from those who care not about concrete steps to prevent attempts to use chemical weapons in the Syrian crisis but to change the regime of a sovereign state,” it said.
Voice of Russia, Interfax
************************************************************************************************
Strike Did Not Involve Proper Chemical Weapon
by Jason Ditz, March 24, 2013
Anti-War.com
Last week’s report of a chemical weapon attack in Syria’s Aleppo Province sparked an array of calls to action, with most nations and politicians insisting it vindicated whatever position they had before, despite many points of uncertainty about it. The incident is coming into sharper focus now, however.
The attack, intelligence sources appear to agree, was launched by rebel fighters and not government forces. Since the victims were overwhelmingly the Syrian military, this was not a huge shock, but is important to reiterate.
The other interesting aspect is that it was not a “proper” chemical weapon, at least from preliminary investigations. The evidence suggests that the strike used a lachrymatory agent, not a nerve agent, and that the deaths were caused by suffocating on chlorine-based gas that was injected into a warhead.
In some ways, this is a distinction without a difference, as the use of suffocating gas, regardless of how it kills people, is a serious war crime under international law. The important factor, however, is that it is not the sort of weapon Syria has in its arsenal, rather it is a lower-tech solution.
Read Full Article Here
Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu points to a red line he has drawn on the graphic of a bomb to describe Iran’s nuclear threat as he addresses the United Nations General Assembly last year. (Reuter)
