Free Syrian Army fighters escort a convoy of U.N. vehicles carrying a team of chemical weapons experts to one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Damascus' suburb of Zamalka on Wednesday. -- Bassam Khabieh / Reuters
Posted on 08/31/2013 10:38:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Salim Idris, commander of the Free Syrian Army... said the attack on the rebel enclaves around the capital on Aug. 21 was ordered as pressure mounted on Assad -- even from his own supporters -- for a reprisal to the Aug. 8 attack, in which rebels fired rockets at his motorcade as it rolled through the Malki neighborhood of Damascus, headed to a local mosque for prayers marking the end of Ramadan.
Assad is not believed to have been in the motorcade at the time of the rocket attack, but the brazen assault on the president's own doorstep had a chilling effect on Assad and senior military officials...
Idris also indicated that pressure also has been growing on Assad to respond to a series of rebel advances.
One of the biggest gains for the rebels was the capture in July of large stockpiles of weapons from government depots near Qalamoun north of the capital, including 600 Concourse anti-tank rockets, according to Idris...
An equally important reason for taking drastic action may have been recent fighting in what Syrians call the "Sahel," the coastline around Latakiya that is the stronghold of Assad's regime and his religious base of support, Idris said.
The Assad family is Alawite, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The rebels, like the population in general, are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims. Since the war began, the Sahel has been a stable rock of Assad support -- safe and seemingly immune to the war. But fighting has intensified there recently in government protected Alawite villages. Rebels even captured the Alawite religious leader Sheikh Badr Grazel, and according to some reports have killed him. The fighting in the Sahel shook the confidence of some in the Alawite community who complained that Assad had lost his ability to protect them, Idris said.
(Excerpt) Read more at investigations.nbcnews.com ...
Free Syrian Army fighters escort a convoy of U.N. vehicles carrying a team of chemical weapons experts to one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Damascus' suburb of Zamalka on Wednesday. -- Bassam Khabieh / Reuters
FWIW
Assad’s Brother Seen Linked to Syria Chemical Attack
By Terry Atlas & Sangwon Yoon - 2013-08-28T12:32:51Z
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-27/assad-s-brother-seen-linked-to-syria-chemical-attack.html
Assad’s brother suspected in gas attack: UN official Provided by Bloomberg
By Bloomberg | Aug 28, 2013 9:11 am | iPolitics
http://www.ipolitics.ca/2013/08/28/assads-brother-suspected-in-gas-attack-un-official/
Maher al-Assad accused of orchestrating deadly chemical weapon attack
Harriet Alexander and Philip Sherwell, The Telegraph | 13/08/25 | Last Updated: 13/08/25 9:08 PM ET
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/25/maher-al-assad-accused-of-orchestrating-deadly-chemical-weapon-attack/
Bashar Al Assad’s Brother May Have Ordered Last Week’s Chemical Weapons Attack
Brian Jones Aug. 28, 2013, 10:20 AM
http://www.businessinsider.com/maher-al-assad-ordered-weapons-attack-2013-8
Assad assassination attempt may have prompted chemical weapons strike
Assad assassination attempt may not have prompted chemical weapons strike
Well, that pretty well covers it.
Monkeys may fly out of my butt.
Monkeys may not fly out of my butt.
There you go. Another fine observation. LOL
It is still just as likely that the rebels set off the chemical weapons... they did it before (Chlorine Gas)
Look, this was the NBC Blogs, so you know there’s some juju sauce behind it. /s
a tragic event.
whoever did it.
but when those in power amass huge quantities of deadly weapons or ammo.......
far beyond what is needed for their border police or any other legitimate purpose....
then....
???
This guy will probably end up like Qaddaffi & Syria will be ruled by the very extremists we were supposed to be fighting.
No, in fact, they did not, this most recent time, or the supposed earlier incidents.
So far, this mass-murder with poison gas by the Assad gov’t was denied (”those people in the pictures aren’t really dead, they’re faking it”); then the lying Russians claimed that the news story about the attack was released a day before it happened (it wasn’t, but that didn’t stop support for that ridiculous lie); then the inevitable “they did it, not us” started in earnest; the various adamant (and completely baseless) false flag claims began on day one by the look of it, but those false flag claims on behalf of the Assad dictatorship are themselves false flags by people who support the Assad dynasty, Putin and the NeoSoviet empire, the Iranians, and/or Lew Rockwell.
I don’t support or trust either side.
I am definitely not going to side with the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda. EVER.
Assad can’t regain control of Syria without killing the majority of Syrians. Whereas he is just the guy to do that, he doesn’t have the means, hence, there will be no military resolution to his problems.
He has consistently refused to negotiate on the same kinds of flimsy pretexts used by the PLO and its spinoffs, and the Russians and Chinese will veto any kind of UN Security Council resolution, so there will be no negotiated settlement to this.
The various paramilitaries don’t have the means to control the entire country either, but the fighting will go on for years, and will continue even if Assad is bumped off at some point.
None of the militia groups (there are many) will ever exert control over more than some little fiefdom, so the eventual disposition is partition, and probably after the fashion of Lebanon, which was dismantled with the connivance of the PLO and Syria, and the active participation of Iran and its proxies.
Meanwhile, the Russians will continue to dig themselves in deeper, and similarly, the Iranians will continue to pour manpower and treasure into keeping Assad propped on his horse.
Rand Slams Congress for Funding Egypt’s Generals:
‘How Does Your Conscience Feel Now?’
Foreign Policy | 15 Aug 2013 | John Hudson
Posted on 08/15/2013 5:44:10 PM PDT by Hoodat
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3055253/posts
Sen. Rand Paul is hammering his fellow senators for keeping billions in financial aid flowing to Egypt’s military — even as Cairo’s security forces massacre anti-government activists.
[by “anti-government activists” is meant church-burning jihadists]
Sen. Cruz Statement on Egypt (Suspend aid over anti-Muslim Brotherhood ‘coup’)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3055492/posts
Ted Cruz blames Egyptian violence on Obama’s disregard for foreign aid law
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3055589/posts
I wonder why the media doesn’t just declare this “Yellow Rain” from honeybees, like they used to?
Interesting. Worth keeping a watch on for more info.
Because the POTUS isn’t Republican, duh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_rain
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/26/science/bees-and-yellow-rain-a-new-explanation.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1359850/yellow-rain
Just as convincing as the Tehran Times “story” and other agitprop you’ve been posting.
That is not a video of chemical weapons being used.
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