"Then they sent in the infantry:"

Would n't like to have been in front of that lot,
wildly firing from the mound !

As regards the MANPAD and what appears to be a successful engagement, and the good parachute with a pilot floating to earth ...

1. Allah is indeed akhbar, in that he guided the hands of the parariggers in the squadron to get that kit working correctly. :ok:

2. How do you say "welcome to the caterpiller club" in Arabic? :cool:

This looks bad
 

Seems to be the same allegation from months ago.

How credible?

Investigators are finally getting a chance to get more info. I wonder what they'll find.

Interesting looking at the photos.

Lots of kids as well and not much in the way of blood.

OK, anything could have been cleaned up but that number
at the one time ?

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons in Damascus today. A fairly credible confirmation.

Eye witness said chemical missiles were launched from the Qassioun mountain ridge. The positions of the government 4th division.

The word is that it was Sarin.

Jesus, if we have a Gov't throwing Sarin gas around like this
it does not look good.

Takes it to a whole new level.

How do you know it was a chem missile unless you were where it hit?
How do you know it was Sarin without a test kit?
How do you know it wasn't White Phosphorous and the eyewitness is an idiot?
How do you know ...

When an "eyewitness" is quoted, my question is "who is this eyewitness and does he or she actually know anything?" It really, really depends on the eyewitness in question.

Be skeptical.
Could be that a gas attack was launched. But leaping to conclusions has been done before ...

The other question is, what does Israel have to gain by
"confirming" that it was a chemical attack ?

I don't know the politics of the region well enough
to answer that.

False flag.

Russia suggests Syria ?chemical attack? was ?planned provocation? by rebels ? RT News

Dreadful pictures, both above and on Newsnight right now. What is wrong with this world of ours? :sad:

I just ask why, someone who has just said hello to a UN chemical weapons inspection team, would start lobbing such stuff about. Whatever Assad is, he is not an idiot and the opposition, so loved by our foreign secretary, have access to this kit as well. Unlike the west (us if you like) it seems that Muslim opposition type people place little value on the sanctity of human life, in fact they seem to glory in the martyrdom that they believe gives them some "special treatment". All in all finding out who lobbed the nasty stuff will take a lot of investigation, no doubt many (Hague for example) will use it to ramp up militant fervour for action. I just hope that, for once, we all stand back and wait for the truth to come out.

Smudge

Alleged gas warhead: https://twitter.com/TheMoeDee/status...427584/photo/1

Alleged video of chemical rocket:

Really dreadful news, showing the true horrors of chemical attack.

I was really angered and embarrased this morning to see Hague already blaming the Syrian government for the attack, without any conclusive proof. This guy is a total disaster and seems bent on bringing the UK into the conflict, to support the rebel extremists.

I suggest that rogue elements in the opposition have far more to gain by killing innocents in this manner than the Assad regime.

I thought the US were supposed to be "keeping an eye" on Syria's Chemical weapons to make sure no one used them ?

Fat lot of good that did.


I also see in the NY Times (might have been the Washington Post)
that someone in a column is calling for the US to retaliate if it is
found that Chemical weapons have been used :rolleyes:

Like the US really wants to get involved in another war that they would
not win ?

There is a lot of blaming Assad going on in all the news, though I have yet to see anything that actually 100% confirms he is the perpetrator.

Nasty nasty nasty, whoever is to blame one hopes they die a slow death.

It seems that everyone except those in various governments around the world are questioning why the Syrian government would condone the use of chemical weapons just as the UN team arrives. Do we really know who we're backing here? We really, really need to get this one right. :confused:

Tash

That is wishful thinking if ever I saw it after the clusters the UN / US / Coalition have made of things in the last 10+ years.

This is especially so when you have Russia on one side who will do what
they want to do and have far more at stake than everyone else.

500N,

True enough that our track record isn't fabulous. Even more reason why we need to know who we're backing in this one and why. I haven't heard a convincing argument from anyone yet.

Tash

I think the key words in your post below this on are

"and why"


Why should or do we need to back someone in this essentially
internal struggle ?


If Syria does something no one wants, Israel seems to sort it out with a
few bombs etc and with Russia on the other side, why get involved AT ALL ?