Syria/Chemical Weapons Attack – On the 4 Apr 17 at least 58 people were killed and dozens wounded in a suspected chemical attack on a rebel-held town in north-western Syria. Khan Sheikhoun was thought to have been attacked by either Russian aircraft or by the Syrian government. Later that day reports of other aircraft attacks against local clinics emerged. It is believed that if the attack is genuine then it is possibly the worst attack in Syria since the six year old civil war began. Khan Sheikhoun is about 50km south of Idlib the attack occurred at approximately 0645 hrs local when many were sleeping. Medics who arrived at the scene after the attack found many people in the street choking. Other signs and symptoms of the chemical attack emerged such as fainting, vomiting and foaming at the mouth. The recent toll by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) was 58 people dead, including eleven children, with 160 others injured but this could change as more of the injured succumb to their injuries and the depth of the exposure to the chemical agent. Reports that sarin nerve agent was put forward as a possible cause of the chemical used but the SOHR were unable to state clearly which type of chemical agent was used. In past chemical attacks the use of chlorine and mustard agents were used. It was unsure what type of delivery method was used in this attack but aircraft is the most likely cause. Syria/Russia has in the past denied the use of any type of chemical attack stating that rebel forces were responsible. 361 COMMENT: In the past there was talk of a red line whereby chemical weapons were stored but never used if they were used then they would have crossed the red line and expect some sort of military action. However, in Syria this line has been crossed several times. Syria agreed to surrender its chemical arsenal after the 21 Aug 13 Ghouta chemical attack which was the worst attack since the Iran/Iraq war of Sep 80 to Aug 88. The Ghouta attack was supposed to be the ‘red-line’ that the former United States President Barak Obama stated in 2012 that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be that red-line and some sort of military action would be used. Syria stated that those types of weapons would not be used against internal fighting but reserved the right to use them against external forces. The Americans stated after the Ghouta attack that it would consider military action which prompted the Assad regime to begin surrendering its chemical arsenal in 2013. Since the surrender there have been numerous reports of chemical weapons being used to which Russia and Syria deny. No matter what excuses the two countries use they still continue to attack the Assad opposition with chemical weapons. It is not sure which agent was used in this latest attack as sarin and other nerve agents do not take long to work and as sarin is a nerve agent it is expressively designed to stop the nervous system working which results in spasms and eventually death. Those signs and symptoms are not stated in this latest attack only of choking, coughing and vomiting which would imply a choking agent. Syria has either given up its chemical arsenal as it said it would do, to which it may have done, or; it has started to develop other chemical weapons inside Syria. The other possibility is that Syria as being supplied with the chemical agent(s). Either way the country is firstly using chemical weapons; secondly they are getting the weapons from somewhere. After the American government backed down after the Ghouta attack when Syria gave up its weapons Assad and his allies have become more brazen. As mentioned, since the so-called surrender of chemical weapons, there have been numerous accounts of other attacks which strangely the Russians and the Syrians deny. But with the Obama administration now gone it will be interesting to hear what the new Trump administration has to say on the subject. Even the Syrians and the Russians have no idea so could this be a test of what the Americans are thinking now? If they are goaded into military action they will have to think about what the repercussions are likely to be from either of the guilty parties. COMMENT ENDS
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