There is a growing volume of new evidence from numerous sources
in the Middle East — mostly affiliated with the Syrian opposition and
its sponsors and supporters — which makes a very strong case, based on
solid circumstantial evidence, that the August 21, 2013, chemical strike
in the Damascus suburbs was indeed a pre-meditated provocation by the
Syrian opposition.
The extent of US foreknowledge of this provocation needs further
investigation because available data puts the “horror” of the Barack
Obama White House in a different and disturbing light.
On August 13-14, 2013, Western-sponsored opposition forces in Turkey
started advance preparations for a major and irregular military surge.
Initial meetings between senior opposition military commanders and
representatives of Qatari, Turkish, and US Intelligence [“Mukhabarat
Amriki”] took place at the converted Turkish military garrison in
Antakya, Hatay Province, used as the command center and headquarters of
the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and their foreign sponsors. Very senior
opposition commanders who had arrived from Istanbul briefed the regional
commanders of an imminent escalation in the fighting due to “a
war-changing development” which would, in turn, lead to a US-led bombing
of Syria.
The opposition forces had to quickly prepare their forces for
exploiting the US-led bombing in order to march on Damascus and topple
the Bashar al-Assad Government, the senior commanders explained. The
Qatari and Turkish intelligence officials assured the Syrian regional
commanders that they would be provided with plenty of weapons for the
coming offensive.
Indeed, unprecedented weapons distribution started in all opposition
camps in Hatay Province on August 21-23, 2013. In the Reyhanli area
alone, opposition forces received well in excess of 400 tons of weapons,
mainly anti-aircraft weaponry from shoulder-fired missiles to
ammunition for light-guns and machineguns. The weapons were distributed
from store-houses controlled by Qatari and Turkish Intelligence under
the tight supervision of US Intelligence.
These weapons were loaded on more than 20 trailer-trucks which
crossed into northern Syria and distributed the weapons to several
depots. Follow-up weapon shipments, also several hundred tons, took
place over the weekend of August 24-25, 2013, and included mainly
sophisticated anti-tank guided missiles and rockets. Opposition
officials in Hatay said that these weapon shipments were “the biggest”
they had received “since the beginning of the turmoil more than two
years ago”. The deliveries from Hatay went to all the rebel forces
operating in the Idlib-to-Aleppo area, including the al-Qaida affiliated
jihadists (who constitute the largest rebel forces in the area).
Several senior officials from both the Syrian opposition and
sponsoring Arab states stressed that these weapon deliveries were
specifically in anticipation for exploiting the impact of imminent
bombing of Syria by the US and the Western allies. The latest strategy
formulation and coordination meetings took place on August 26, 2013. The
political coordination meeting took place in Istanbul and was attended
by US Amb. Robert Ford.
More important were the military and operational coordination
meetings at the Antakya garrison. Senior Turkish, Qatari, and US
Intelligence officials attended in addition to the Syrian senior
(opposition) commanders. The Syrians were informed that bombing would
start in a few days.
“The opposition was told in clear terms that action to deter further
use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime could come as early as in
the next few days,” a Syrian participant in the meeting said. Another
Syrian participant said that he was convinced US bombing was scheduled
to begin on Thursday, August 29, 2013. Several participants — both
Syrian and Arab — stressed that the assurances of forthcoming bombing
were most explicit even as formally Obama is still undecided.
The descriptions of these meetings raise the question of the extent
of foreknowledge of US Intelligence, and therefore, the Obama White
House. All the sources consulted — both Syrian and Arab — stressed that
officials of the “Mukhabarat Amriki” actively participated in the
meetings and briefings in Turkey. Therefore, at the very least, they
should have known that the opposition leaders were anticipating “a
war-changing development”: that is, a dramatic event which would provoke
a US-led military intervention.
The mere fact that weapon storage sites under the tight supervision
of US Intelligence were opened up and about a thousand tons of
high-quality weapons were distributed to the opposition indicates that
US Intelligence anticipated such a provocation and the opportunity for
the Syrian opposition to exploit the impact of the ensuing US and allied
bombing. Hence, even if the Obama White House did not know in advance
of the chemical provocation, they should have concluded, or at the very
least suspected, that the chemical attack was most likely the
“war-changing development” anticipated by the opposition leaders as
provocation of US-led bombing. Under such circumstances, the Obama White
House should have refrained from rushing head-on to accuse Assad’s
Damascus and threaten retaliation, thus making the Obama White House at
the very least complicit after the act.
Meanwhile, additional data from Damascus about the actual chemical
attack increases the doubts about Washington’s version of events.
Immediately after the attack, three hospitals of Doctors Without Borders
(MSF: médecins sans frontières) in the greater Damascus area treated
more than 3,600 Syrians affected by the chemical attack, and 355 of them
died. MSF performed tests on the vast majority of those treated.
MSF director of operations Bart Janssens summed up the findings: “MSF
can neither scientifically confirm the cause of these symptoms nor
establish who is responsible for the attack. However, the reported
symptoms of the patients, in addition to the epidemiological pattern of
the events — characterized by the massive influx of patients in a short
period of time, the origin of the patients, and the contamination of
medical and first aid workers — strongly indicate mass exposure to a
neurotoxic agent.” Simply put, even after testing some 3,600 patients,
MSF failed to confirm that sarin was the cause of the injuries.
According to MSF, the cause could have been nerve agents like sarin,
concentrated riot control gas, or even high-concentration pesticides.
Moreover, opposition reports that there was distinct stench during the
attack suggest that it could have come from the “kitchen sarin” used by
jihadist groups (as distinct from the odorless military-type sarin) or
improvised agents like pesticides.
Some of the evidence touted by the Obama White House is questionable at best.
A small incident in Beirut raises big questions. A day after the
chemical attack, Lebanese fixers working for the “Mukhabarat Amriki”
succeeded to convince a Syrian male who claimed to have been injured in
the chemical attack to seek medical aid in Beirut in return for a hefty
sum that would effectively settle him for life. The man was put into an
ambulance and transferred overnight to the Farhat Hospital in Jib
Janine, Beirut. The Obama White House immediately leaked friendly media
that “the Lebanese Red Cross announced that test results found traces of
sarin gas in his blood.” However, this was news to Lebanese
intelligence and Red Cross officials.
According to senior intelligence officials, “Red Cross Operations
Director George Kettaneh told [them] that the injured Syrian fled the
hospital before doctors were able to test for traces of toxic gas in his
blood.” Apparently, the patient declared that he had recovered from his
nausea and no longer needed medical treatment. The Lebanese security
forces are still searching for the Syrian patient and his honorarium.
On August 24, 2013, Syrian Commando forces acted on intelligence
about the possible perpetrators of the chemical attack and raided a
cluster of rebel tunnels in the Damascus suburb of Jobar. Canisters of
toxic material were hit in the fierce fire-fight as several Syrian
soldiers suffered from suffocation and “some of the injured are in a
critical condition”.
The Commando eventually seized an opposition warehouse containing
barrels full of chemicals required for mixing “kitchen sarin”,
laboratory equipment, as well as a large number of protective masks. The
Syrian Commando also captured several improvised explosive devices, RPG
rounds, and mortar shells. The same day, at least four HizbAllah
fighters operating in Damascus near Ghouta were hit by chemical agents
at the very same time the Syrian Commando unit was hit while searching a
group of rebel tunnels in Jobar. Both the Syrian and the HizbAllah
forces were acting on intelligence information about the real
perpetrators of the chemical attack. Damascus told Moscow the Syrian
troops were hit by some form of a nerve agent and sent samples (blood,
tissues, and soil) and captured equipment to Russia.
Several Syrian leaders, many of whom are not Bashar al-Assad
supporters and are even his sworn enemies, are now convinced that the
Syrian opposition is responsible for the August 21, 2013, chemical
attack in the Damascus area in order to provoke the US and the allies
into bombing Assad’s Syria. Most explicit and eloquent is Saleh Muslim,
the head of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) which has been
fighting the Syrian Government. Muslim doubts Assad would have used
chemical weapons when he was winning the civil war.
“The regime in Syria … has chemical weapons, but they wouldn’t use
them around Damascus, five km from the [UN] committee which is
investigating chemical weapons. Of course they are not so stupid as to
do so,” Muslim told Reuters on August 27, 2013. He believes the attack
was “aimed at framing Assad and provoking an international reaction”.
Muslim is convinced that “some other sides who want to blame the Syrian
regime, who want to show them as guilty and then see action” is
responsible for the chemical attack. The US was exploiting the attack to
further its own anti-Assad policies and should the UN inspectors find
evidence that the rebels were behind the attack, then “everybody would
forget it”, Muslim shrugged. “Who is the side who would be punished? Are
they are going to punish the Emir of Qatar or the King of Saudi Arabia,
or Mr Erdo?an of Turkey?”
And there remain the questions: Given the extent of the involvement
of the “Mukhabarat Amriki” in opposition activities, how is that US
Intelligence did not know in advance about the opposition’s planned use
of chemical weapons in Damascus?
It is a colossal failure.
And if they did know and warned the Obama White House, why then the sanctimonious rush to blame the Assad Administration?
Moreover, how can the Obama Administration continue to support and
seek to empower the opposition which had just intentionally killed some
1,300 innocent civilians in order to provoke a US military intervention?
