 |
| credit: UK Guardian, Brown Moses |
After hundreds of people died in an attack on Wednesday in Damascus, the evidence for the use of nerve gas grows stronger. Victims exhibited
inhalation posioning, such as nasal and lung secretions. The United Nations wants its inspectors to visit the scene of an attack which eyewitnesses describe as coming from areas of Damascus controlled by the Assad regime: Mezze airbase and the October War military museum. Observers say the rockets used to deliver the suspected agent are similar to those used by the regime in Daraya earlier this year, and have a distinctive circular tail fin
[photo]. This rocket type has been implicated in several alleged gas attacks. The rocket's apparent "cottage industry" appearance may be an indication of deliberate camouflage used to give the Assad regime plausible deniability of their use. Syrian military chemical weapons have been monitored for decades. Russian experts have emphasized the appearance of the missiles and chemical content of the agent as indicating non-industrial weapons that do not come from a military stockpile; the implication being the rockets are quickly manufactured by the rebels. However, the latest attack on rebel-held Ghouta produced mass casualties and is the most significant since Sadam Hussein gassed the Kurds in Halabja twenty-five years ago. Biological samples will be passed to western intelligence for analysis.
The United States response to the alleged attack has been comparatively muted. Secretary of State Kerry said there is no conclusive proof of chemical weapons use yet. The response may be a reflection that the United States has no good options in the Syrian civil war without a moderate faction able to take control of the rebel cause and that the United States can support politically.
France and Turkey are prepared to support air strikes against the Syrian government if use of lethal gas by the Assad regime is established as a fact. There is a UN chemical weapons team on the ground in Damascus led by a Swedish expert, but it is unlikely to be granted quick access to the site. Video footage emerging from the scene show dozens of fatalities as well as survivors in obvious distress. A chemical weapons analyst who has seen the videos said, "It feels very authentic", but he
refused to say the agent producing the symptoms was a nerve agent like sarin since unprotected rescuers did not suffer any secondary contamination. Organophosphate insecticides such as TEPP have similar effects on humans as sarin and can cause death. Russia characterized the Wednesday attack as a deliberately staged provocation by rebel forces intended to trigger international intervention against the government it supports.
