Chemical Weapons Attack “Suspicious” | Impartial analysts cast doubt on timing of story | by Paul Joseph Watson

Experts: #Syria Chemical Weapons Attack “Suspicious” | Impartial analysts cast doubt on timing of story | by Paul Joseph Watson

Impartial experts are casting doubt of the veracity of today’s alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria, with numerous observers labeling the timing of the story “suspicious”.

Up to 1,300 victims are alleged to have been killed in what opposition sources are calling a “gas attack” on the towns of Zamalka and Ein Tarma as UN inspectors visit nearby Damascus for a pre-planned investigation into allegations of chemical weapons used by both rebels and the Syrian Army.

Video clips show dozens of dead bodies with no apparent wounds. The opposition National Coalition has seized on the footage to insist there is no “political solution” to the crisis in Syria, a not so subtle call for NATO military intervention. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague called the alleged attack a “shocking escalation.”

However, several impartial experts have cast doubt on the narrative behind the footage, noting its all too convenient emergence just as UN inspectors enter the country.

“Firstly, the timing is odd, bordering on suspicious,” writes BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner. “Why would the Assad government, which has recently been retaking ground from the rebels, carry out a chemical attack while UN weapons inspectors are in the country?”

His suspicions are shared by Swedish diplomat and former UN weapons inspector Rolf Ekeus, who told Reuters, “It would be very peculiar if it was the government to do this at the exact moment the international inspectors come into the country….at the least, it wouldn't be very clever.”

Swedish chemical weapons expert Ake Sellstrom, who is leading the current UN inspection in Syria, told Swedish broadcaster SVT that the high number of those killed and wounded sounded “suspicious.”

Charles Lister, an analyst at IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center, told the Jerusalem Post that the timing of such an attack is confusing. “Logically, it would make little sense for the Syrian government to employ chemical agents at such a time, particularly given the relatively close proximity of the targeted towns (to the UN team),” he said.

It is important to stress that none of the individuals casting doubt on the alleged “gas attack” are Bashar Al-Assad supporters. Indeed, the BBC has been quite rigorous in pushing the narrative that FSA rebels are grass roots freedom fighters, largely downplaying the huge numbers of foreign jihadists that have entered the country under the banner of Al-Qaeda.

As we reported earlier today, evidence strongly suggests that previous chemical weapons attacks in Syria were carried out by FSA rebels and then blamed on Assad, in an attempt to fulfil Barack Obama’s “red line” for US military intervention.

21 Aug 2013

Source: Hands Off Syria