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Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Was phosphine used in the Ghouta Chemical Massacre?

By Petri Krohn,
December 6, 2016

A barrel of Detia GAS-EX-B in an abandoned grain silo in Herford, Germany
I have always maintained that the alleged "sarin" attack of August 2013 never happened. Instead, hostages were gassed in cellars throughout eastern Ghouta. The chemical agent used has been a mystery. I have assumed it was mainly chlorine, but not all symptoms match.

Lizzie Phelan has now published photos and video from a school in eastern Aleppo that had been used as a rebel base. A storage room contained hundreds of liters of potassium permanganate in 10 or 20 liter plastic canisters. We have long suspected that Syrian rebels use potassium permanganate to generate chlorine gas for their gas chambers and for staging "regime gas attacks".



The chemical cache also contains barrels of aluminium phosphide under the brand name Detia GAS-EX-B. Aluminium phosphide produces phosphine upon contact with atmospheric water. The primary use of phosphine is as a fumigant in farms and grain silos. Was Detia GAS-EX-B also used to fumigate rebel prisoners?

Dead children in in the "Sun Morgue" in Kafr Batna in August 2013

Detia GAS-EX-B is delivered in bags that are packed in metal barrels like the ones seen in on the video.
A barrel of Detia GAS-EX-B similar to the one seen on the video.
A bag of Detia GAS-EX-B taken from the barrels. (Photo by Lizzie Phelan)
The immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) concentration for phosphine is stated as 69,5 mg/m3 where it is only 29 mg/m3 for chlorine. However, only 118,56 mg of precursor chemicals are needed to poison one cubic meter of air to the IDLH level with phosphine, whereas 159,09 mg of potassium permanganate and pure hydrochloric acid are needed for one cubic meter of chlorinated air. The chemicals however come as water solutions, so the total bulk is far greater.

A canister of  potassium permanganate poured on the stairs of the school in Hanano.
Phosphine gas is a cytotoxic compound that causes free radical mediated injury, inhibits vital cellular enzymes and is directly corrosive to tissues. Wikipedia covers the effects of phosphine under the topic of aluminium phosphide poisoning. Poisonings are seen as a problem in India and Saudi Arabia.

The school in Hanano in eastern Aleppo may have been a weapons factory. Chlorine and phosphine may have been produced for use in chemical weapons. It is also possible that the were used in situ for executions. As a fumigant aluminium phosphide is quite similar to Zyklon B. Both are solid compounds that release toxic gasses when exposed to water or humidity. It should not be a huge intellectual challenge for an aspiring terrorist to figure out that aluminium phosphide or Detia GAS-EX-B has uses in a gas chamber.

For some odd reason no one has ever before suggested phosphine as the chemical agent in the Ghouta massacre. Other organophosphorus compounds have been suggested without much proof. One vital clue may be the smell. Impure "technical grade" phosphine has a highly unpleasant odor like garlic or rotting fish or rotten eggs. Witnesses in Ghouta reported the smell as unpleasant, rotten like rotten eggs.

Did Ghouta rebels use Detia GAS-EX-B to gas their victims in cellars or other gas chambers?

20 comments:

  1. Interesting new idea. The fact that our 3rd suspect chemical (other than sarin to consider, chlorine, carbon monoxide or Hydrogen cyanide, and now phosphine) occurred so late shows how we both know fairly little, at least until we learn it. But still I think there are signs of chlorine in some segments and as Denis O'Brien noted, CO or HC in Kafr Batna at least, still no signs of sarin, and probably a major unidentified chemical. So, this is a good guess to consider.

    Absent a test, there's visual comparison. But this doesn't seem to help much. Looking at this list of symptoms, phosphine poisoning leaves little obvious outward signs we could see on dead people on video.

    There's irritation and damage to lungs and airways, as with chlorine, so coughing blood could be signs, but this is fairly uncommon in the Ghouta victims, and tends to come with cyanosis, which is a sign of chlorine but not phosphine.

    So nothing yet to clearly indicate it, but as far as I can tall looking just plain dead like most victims did is consistent with phosphine. No smoking gun yet but a good open question.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry, returning now to the smell issue - possibly relevant, but there's a big difference between fish rotting and egg rotting smell (but also between fish and garlic, so ???). Rotting egg smell could be sulfur-related?

    Either way, that described what people say they smelled at street level. It's almost surely not the poison actually used in the gas chambers. But for all we can tell, it could be the gas from wetted Detia Gas-ex-B.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sputnik has visited the site in late December:

    EXCLUSIVE: Sputnik Reports From Terrorist Chemical Factory in Aleppo (VIDEO) - 29.12.2016

    Recent search operations in eastern Aleppo have confirmed that chemical weapons were indeed used during the conflict – but by terrorists, not government forces

    Sputnik correspondents managed to explore makeshift factories in eastern Aleppo used by terrorists to build bombs laced with poisonous chemicals.

    A source in the Syrian military confirmed that this type of ordnance was used by the terrorists against the Syrian army; one such attack occurred in the southwestern area of the city in the vicinity of the al-Assad Military Academy.

    Analyses indicate that chemicals used by the terrorists were made in the US while the bombs were manufactured on site. Furthermore, the mark UN 3082 is clearly visible on the chemical canisters discovered at the terrorist factory.

    Earlier this year Samer Abbas, spokesman for the Syrian National Authority monitoring the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, contacted the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and presented documented proof of terrorists using sulfur mustard ordnance against civilians in Syria. OCPW declared that a special committee to confirm the veracity of these documents needs to be created, but so far have apparently refrained from pursuing this line of inquiry for reasons unknown.

    Meanwhile, Russian Defense Ministry experts collected evidence of terrorists using chemical weapons in Marana Um Hosh village located to the south of Aleppo.

    Video: Sputnik Journalists Visit The Chemical Weapons Factory in Aleppo

    ReplyDelete
  4. By the time of the second presidential directive, as Hillary and Chris Stevens were working on support for Syria, Summer 2012,
    the radical Syrian opposition was embedded inside the FSA. Arguably in hindsight they were the majority element.
    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2014/11/10/the-benghazi-brief-3/

    July 25 2012 Government forces launched strikes on Aleppo using attack helicopters for the first time yesterday in an attempt to reassert their control over Syria’s second city. They came amid claims from rebel forces that President Assad had moved chemical weapons to the country’s borders in anticipation of a possible attack from one of its neighbours.
    http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article3485722.ece

    On 20 August 2012, President Barack Obama used the phrase "red line"
    http://www.factcheck.org/2013/09/obamas-blurry-red-line/

    NATO warns Syria against chemical weapons use 04 December 2012  Al Jazeera

    Secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen says any use of such arms will draw 'immediate reaction' from world community.

    In December 2012, eleven syrian militant groups joined to form the syrian islamic front

    In December 2012, the chemical plant SYSACCO 29 kilometers (18 mi) east of Aleppo was taken by rebel fighters from the Al-Nusra Front. The factory produces chlorine among other chemicals.[8]
    http://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Use%20of%20chemical%20weapons%20in%20the%20Syrian%20civil%20war&uid=1575

    December 23, 2012: The first allegation of  chemical weapons use was reported.  Seven people were allegedly killed in Homs by a “poisonous gas” used by the Assad regime.
    The coverage included the report of side effects such as nausea, relaxed muscles, blurred vision, and breathing difficulties.
    https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Timeline-of-Syrian-Chemical-Weapons-Activity

    November 10, 2012 Moreno-Ocampo, an Argentine lawyer who was the ICC’s first prosecutor, said given “it was absolutely clear” that as Syria’s commander-in-chief Assad’s forces had killed civilians, NATO could execute such a warrant.
    http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/nato-could-arrest-assad-in-syria-ex-icc-prosecutor/

    Tuesday, December 20 was reportedly the “deadliest day of the nine-month [Syrian] uprising
    “with the “organized massacre” of a “mass defection” of army deserters widely reported by the international press in Idlib, northern Syria. Claiming that areas of Syria were now “exposed
    to large-scale genocide”, the SNC lamented the “250 fallen heroes during a 48-hour period”, citing figures provided by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. [54]

    http://www.conflictsforum.org/2012/a-mistaken-case-for-syrian-regime-change/

    In relation to an earlier purported “massacre” in Homs,
    a Stratfor investigation found “no signs of a massacre”, concluding that “opposition forces have an interest in portraying an impending massacre, hoping to mimic the conditions that propelled a foreign military intervention in Libya”. [61]
    http://www.conflictsforum.org/2012/a-mistaken-case-for-syrian-regime-change/

    In December, the mainstream US intelligence group Stratfor cautioned:
    Most of the [Syrian] opposition’s more serious claims have turned out to be grossly exaggerated
    or simply untrue … revealing more about the opposition’s weaknesses than the level of instability inside the Syrian regime. [25]

    ReplyDelete
  5. 19 March 2013 The Khan al-Assal chemical attack occurred on 19 March 2013, when a government-controlled area of Khan al-Asal, a district of Aleppo in northern Syria, was struck by a rocket containing the nerve agent sarin.

    https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Timeline-of-Syrian-Chemical-Weapons-Activity

    March 19, 2013: Alleged chemical weapons attacks were reported in Syria’s two main cities, the Khan al-Assel neighborhood of Aleppo and the Damascus suburb of al-Atebeh. About 25 people reportedly were killed and dozens more injured.

    The Assad regime claimed that Syrian opposition forces used chemical weapons in the fighting there.

    March 20, 2013: The Syrian government requested the United Nations conduct an investigation of the March 19 attack on Aleppo, claiming that opposition forces used chemical weapons and killed 25 people.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AdpqUeSxa0


    The U.N. investigated the 2013 chemical attacks, the first of which occurred 19 March in Khan Al-Assal near the Syrian village of Aleppo. The gas attack killed 19 civilians and one Syrian soldier. Multiple individuals were injured.

    The U.N. reportedly interviewed multiple eyewitnesses to the attacks – including the doctors who treated the injured – who claimed that the rebels were responsible.
    http://www.leksika.org/tacticalanalysis/2016/7/16/the-tsar-and-the-sultan-ii-verifying-putins-claims-about-turkey





    Zaher Al-Saket defected from the Syrian Army in March 2013.
    He had been an officer in Assad’s chemical weapons division and today heads both
    the Aleppo Military Council
    and the Chemical Weapons Documentation Center,
    which compiles evidence of chlorine gas attacks perpetrated by his former comrades on Syrian civilians.
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/31/key-rebels-ready-to-quit-u-s-fight-vs-isis.html

    “The Syrian-American community asked the Obama administration for airstrikes on ISIS near Marea many months ago,”
    complained Mohammed Alaa Ghanem, the senior political adviser for the Syrian American Council,
    a Washington, D.C.-based opposition group
    in constant contact with the Aleppo Military Council.
    http://www.thearabweekly.com/?id=1942

    April 2013
    American doctor gives ‘proof of chemical weapon use’ to U.S. On Monday, Syrian-American doctor Zaher Sahloul was near the Syrian border in Turkey, where he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that reports from physicians indicate there had just been another attack. Sahloul believes this is the sixth recent chemical weapons attack Syria. “We have medical proof,” Dr. Sahloul told Amanpour. “Patients had respiratory and neurological symptoms.”  Physicians working inside Syria are collecting samples and giving them
    to Dr. Sahloul ‘s organization,
    The Syrian American Medical Society.
    http://impunitywatch.com/syrian-revolution-digest-monday-29-april-2013/


    Israel says Syria used chemical weapons By William Booth and Craig Whitlock, the Washington Post23 April 2013

    TEL AVIV — Senior Israeli military officials on Tuesday stated that forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al- Assad have used chemical weapons against the country’s civilians,
    saying their evidence — including photographs of victims foaming at the mouth — made them “nearly 100 percent” certain.It was the most direct and public assertion by Israel to date that Syria has resorted to chemical weapons, which would be a troubling escalation of a brutal civil war that has stretched on for more than two years.

    Coming less than a week after France and Britain made similar allegations about Syria to the United Nations, the remarks could add to the mounting international pressure on the United States — which has repeatedly said it will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons – to intervene in the Syrian conflict.” (read more)


    Reuters 15 April 2013 Al- Qaida's branch in Iraq said it has merged with Syria's extremist Jabhat al-Nusra,

    ReplyDelete
  6. “We have tested physiological samples at Porton Down.
    These include samples from Utaybah on the 19th of March and from Sheikh Maqsood on the 13 April.”
    https://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2013/06/15/obama-cameron-syrian-chemical-weapon-scam/#more-2912



    May 29, 2013 UK alleges further Syrian chemical weapons use
    http://www.timesofisrael.com/uk-alleges-further-syrian-chemical-weapons-use/

    August 29, 2013: The British Parliament voted against supporting military action in Syria. Before the vote, a report from the Joint Intelligence Committee released a report which stated that chemical weapons were used in the August 21 attach, and that it was "highly likely" that the Assad regime was responsible.
    https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Timeline-of-Syrian-Chemical-Weapons-Activity



    A campaign page dated 10 June 2014 (since deleted) on
    Hand in Hand for Syria’s website stated
    that Atareb Hospital opened in May 2013

    https://bbcpanoramasavingsyriaschildren.wordpress.com/

    Atareb Hospital, Aleppo on 26 August 2013 , Napalm bomb on a school in Urm Al-Kubra

    FSA commander attests attack did not take place :
    a former commander of the Al-Tawhid Brigade who was based in Aleppo province in August 2013 and who was in close contact with events in Urm Al-Kubra attests that the “napalm bomb” story is untrue and that none of the events depicted by the BBC occurred.



    May 2013

    A group of Nusra militants (one of the main al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria) was caught in Turkey in May
    with sarin and sarin precursors. Somewhat comically, they all reportedly claimed
    they had no idea that the chemicals they had been mixing would produce a deadly chemical weapon. [3]

    http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-101213.html

    Even the famous UN investigator Carla del Ponte admitted in May,
    three months prior to the August attack, that there were strong indication rebels had used sarin in the field. [4]

    ReplyDelete
  7. sarin-filled rockets

    Israeli DEBKA file heard from “Western military sources” an educated guess that chlorine, phosphorous, and a nerve agent (BZ or Agent 15) were used in “the Scud B rocket
    which exploded in the Aleppo neighborhood of Khan al-Assal.” [11]
    http://www.globalresearch.ca/was-the-syria-chemical-weapons-probe-torpedoed-by-the-west/5333671



    the night between August 20th and 21st rockets with large sarin warheads (hereinafter “UMLACA”) landed
    in Zamalka,
    http://whoghouta.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-conclusion.html


    Almost all the journalists died from inhalation of the neurotoxins, except Murad Abu Bilal, who was the only Zamalka LCC media member to survive.[166][167] wikipedia
    http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2015/05/ghouta-massacre-victims-medical-and.html

    http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Talk:Alleged_Chemical_Attack,_August_21,_2013/Activist_reports


    Moadamiyah
    The first missile was 'a 140-mm M-14-series rocket projectile from an old Soviet-made BM-14-17
    'We know that the Syrians took the BM-14-17 out of service long ago and M-14-series projectiles for that weapon are long past their storage deadlines.' 
    http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/chemical-weapon-propulsion-unit-on-syrian-missile-made-in-siberia-says-russian-expert/

    http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/17107

    Although the highest rate of Sarin-exposure was found in Moadamiyah “survivors,” the UN team found no traces of Sarin on the 140mm rocket identified as the source of the alleged CW attack - or in its immediate environment.



    The Assad regime again used chemical weapons against civilians in Moadamiyeh earlier today,
    with regime warplanes dropping tow Missile containing a so-far unidentified toxic gas on the south of the town.Ghouta Hospital (facebook.com) December 22, 2015
    https://www.facebook.com/Hspitalalghotah/photos/a.780177092040412.1073741827.778523135539141/979132845478168/?type=3

    The Turkish government-run Anadolu Agency published an unconfirmed report on 30 August 2013, pointing to the Syrian 155th Missile Brigade and the 4th Armored Division as the perpetrators of the two attacks. It said the attack had involved 15 to 20 missiles with chemical warheads at around 02:45 on 21 August, targeting residential areas between Douma and Zamalka in Eastern Ghouta. It claimed that the 155th Missile Brigade had used 9K52 Luna-M missiles, M600 missiles, or both, fired from Kufeyte, while other rockets with a 15- to 70-kilometer range were fired by the 4th Armored Division from Mount Qasioun. The agency did not explain its source.[203]

    But those sources don’t know for certain where the stockpiles of chemical weapons are today.
    https://greatriversofhope.wordpress.com/category/war-news/page/40/


    ReplyDelete
  8. The Thin Red Line

    There are reports that President Erdogan secretly supports Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qa’ida affiliate in Syria,
    and may have coordinated with the group to launch chemical attacks in 2013 that the U.S. publicly attributed to the Asad regime.
    According to a former senior U.S. intelligence official, “We knew there were some in the Turkish government who believed
    they could get Assad’s nuts in a vice by dabbling with a sarin attack inside Syria – and forcing Obama to make good on his red line threat.”

    http://www.leksika.org/tacticalanalysis/2016/7/16/the-tsar-and-the-sultan-ii-verifying-putins-claims-about-turkey

    On 20 June 2013 analysts for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) prepared a highly-classified briefing on a budding al-Nusra sarin program which the report called “the most advanced sarin plot since al-Qaida’s pre-9/11 effort.”
    The paper went on to state that because of the relative freedom it is has to operate in Syria, al-Nusra’s chemical weapons programs would be difficult to disrupt. The report also claimed that “Turkey and Saudi-based chemical facilitators were attempting to obtain sarin precursors in bulk, tens of kilograms, likely for the anticipated large scale production effort in Syria.” 
    http://www.leksika.org/tacticalanalysis/2016/7/16/the-tsar-and-the-sultan-ii-verifying-putins-claims-about-turkey

    The Syrian army has discovered a storehouse belonging to rebels in the Damascus area of Jobar, where toxic chemical substances – including chlorine – have been produced and kept, State TV reported.
    Military sources reported that the militants “were preparing to fire mortars in the suburbs of the capital and were going to pack missiles with chemical warheads.”
    Syrian Army officers found scores of canisters and bags laid on the floor and tables. According to a warning sign on the bags, the “corrosive” substance was made in Saudi Arabia
    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2b4_1377229631

    08/26/2013
    http://www.wnd.com/2013/08/video-shows-rebels-launching-gas-attack-in-syria/

    http://www.wnd.com/files/2013/08/syrian-rebels.jpg
    A separate YouTube video from Syrian television shows a government-captured arsenal of what appears to be nerve gas weapons seized from a rebel stronghold in Jobar, Syria.
    The image below shows canisters in the seized rebel arsenal from Jobar that appear to resemble the canister launched by rebel forces in the first image above.
    http://www.wnd.com/files/2013/08/syrian-rebels-2.jpg



    ..The al-Qaeda offshoot Al-Nusra Front stole 400 tons of liquid chlorine from an Aleppo-area factory in 2012, for example. [19]
    They and others have been receiving different toxic chemicals from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and elsewhere.
    Hundreds of barrels were uncovered on a rebel-held farm near Baniyas in July. [20]
    Some were found in the maybe-gassed Jobar on August 24, three days after the attacks under study. [21]
    http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2015/06/syria-ghouta-chemical-massacres-body.html






    12 September 2013
    John Kerry reveals Arab countries have offered to PAY America to carry out full-scale invasion of Syria

    Secretary of State John Kerry said during a hearing Wednesday in the House of Representatives that counties in the Arab world have offered to foot the entire bill for a U.S. military mission that destroys the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.
    'With respect to Arab countries offering to bear costs and to assist, the answer is profoundly yes,' Kerry said. 'They have. That offer is on the table.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2411806/Offer-table-Arab-countries-pay-scale-U-S-invasion-Syria-says-Secretary-State-John-Kerry.html#ixzz2eFie7d41


    OPCW-UN joint mission
    On Dec 12, the final 82 page report was released.[25]
    In all but two investigated incidents (Saraqeb and Bahhariyeh), evidence consistent with the use of chemical weapons was found.
    http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Alleged_Chemical_Attack,_August_21,_2013

    ReplyDelete

  9. 2014


    September 28 2013 Syria Spotlight: FSA Cooperate With Islamist Factions To Capture Old Customs Area, Daraa
    https://syrianfreepress.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/syria_golan-990x370.jpg?w=960&h=260&crop=1

    Insurgents from the Free Syrian Army and Islamist factions Jabhat Al Nusra and Ahrar Ash Sham on Saturday morning took control of the Old Customs Area in Daraa Al Balad, near the Ramtha border crossing with Jordan.
    http://eaworldview.com/2013/09/syria-spotlight-fsa-cooperate-islamist-factions-capture-old-customs-area-daraa/


    24 April 2014 Chemical Weapon Attack on Syrian army regiment 74 Deraa Syria Tel el Jabya near Golan Heights

    Syria: Chemical Weapon Attack on Syrian Soldiers,
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOCqBAhYFWk

    24 April 2014 Chemical Weapon Attack on Syrian army regiment 74 Deraa Syria Tel el Jabya near Golan Heights
    The Islamist terrorists who took the videos, belong to Jabhat al-Nusra which is affiliated with al-Qaeda. Jabhat al-Nusra is openly armed and supported by the USA. Syrian army regiment 74 is only 15Km away from Israeli IDF artillery positions in the Syrian occupied Golan.
    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3b3_1398814285

    24 April 2014 Chemical Weapon Attack on Syrian army regiment 74 Deraa Syria Tel el Jabya near Golan Heights
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljXgLwXmZFM#t=612
    24/4/2014

    The Islamist terrorists who took the videos, belong to Jabhat al-Nusra which is affiliated with al-Qaeda. Jabhat al-Nusra is openly armed and supported by the USA. Syrian army regiment 74 is only 15Km away from Israeli IDF artillery positions in the Syrian occupied Golan.
    http://afkarmagazine.com/---Chemical-Weapon-Attack-by--moderate-rebels--on-Syrian-Soldiers--Deraa-Syria-near-Golan-Heights.htm

    ReplyDelete
  10. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-10/al-qaeda-militants-capture-us-blackhawk-helicopters-iraq
    Published June 17, 2014 A defense official warned that ISIL claims that they have captured advanced weaponry, such as Blackhawk helicopters, are suspect.
    “We do know that they made false claims last week, particularly with Blackhawk helicopters, which have never been sold to Iraq,” the official said.
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/17/isis-moving-seized-us-tanks-humvees-to-syria.html

    Sun Mar 15, 2015 Iraqi Kurds say Islamic State used chlorine gas against them
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-islamicstate-chlorine-idUSKBN0MA0OT20150315
    About a dozen peshmerga fighters experienced symptoms of nausea, vomiting, dizziness or weakness, the source said.

    Chemical Improvised Explosive Device. Chemical IEDs have been seen on many occasions in Iraq
    Binary Device. These require a little more chemistry but are still relatively simple to manufacturer; again they have been seen in Iraq, Afghanistan and also on terrorist and suicide websites from around the world. The most widely covered Binary Device is the Mubtaker (see below image), which utilises two separate containers to mix Potassium Cyanide (commonly used in the jewellery industry) and an acid together; this will produce Hydrogen Cyanide.
    Sprayer. The most effective method for delivering a dirty chemical (or biological) agent but generally considered unpopular due to its lack of “spectacular” effect. The system requires either a garden sprayer or crop-duster and a moving platform, ideally an aircraft.
    Indirect Fire. Technically the hardest to achieve; a mortar bomb, artillery shell or rocket requires a high degree of stability inflight to maintain accuracy. Chemical agents are typically liquid which will dramatically affect the stability of flight, causing the missile to at best fly erratically or at worst break up en route to the target. Furthermore, a burster charge and fuse would be required to ensure that the agent is effectively released over a wider area and doesn’t just generate a mucky puddle at point of impact (below picture). Consequently, it is assessed as the least likely method attack, owing to the technical hurdles that must be over come.
    http://brown-moses.blogspot.com/2014/04/securebio-report-improvised-chemical.html



    Many jihadis became accustomed to operating in Iraq despite the presence of U.S. drones.
    Yet the Super Heron, equipped with visible light and infrared cameras, radar and SIGINT receivers, will give the IDF a potent aerial-surveillance capability.
    http://nationalinterest.org/feature/five-israeli-weapons-war-isis-should-fear-11331?page=2
    Unit 8200 is the Israeli military's signals intelligence (SIGINT) unit,
    SIGINT may not confer a decisive advantage, but it will enable Israeli commanders to monitor jihadi movements and—like the United States—identify key leaders for targeted assassination by aircraft or drone.

    With the green light having been given by SAS, the Delta operators slipped across the border from Iraq into eastern Syria to capture or kill Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic State’s (IS) head of oil and gas operations.
    http://www.leksika.org/tacticalanalysis/2016/7/16/the-tsar-and-the-sultan-ii-verifying-putins-claims-about-turkey

    October 12, 2015 War News, US Delivery of TOW Missiles to ISIS Seized by Iraq
    http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/10/12/war-news-us-delivery-of-tow-missiles-to-isis-seized-by-iraq/

    Posted on November 10, 2015
    http://yournewswire.com/leaked-video-shows-us-apache-helicopter-escorting-isis-into-syria/
    A stunning video has emerged on Monday night which shows was appears to be a United States Apache Helicopter
    escorting a large convoy of ISIS terrorists across the border from Iraq into Syria. 



    ReplyDelete
  11. Chemical weapons can be delivered via a variety of mechanisms including but not limited to; ballistic missiles, air dropped gravity bombs, rockets, artillery shells, aerosol canisters, and mortars.[2]
    Artillery shells are conventional shells that have been converted to disperse chemical weapons. The most traditional delivery vehicle of chemical agents, dispersion occurs through an explosive charge that expels the chemical agent laterally.
    Air delivered systems can be deployed via gravity bombs, spray tank, or rockets. Ground detonated and airburst gravity bombs are generally delivered through fixed wing aircraft, while helicopters have been traditionally deployed with spray tanks and rockets.
    Ballistic missiles carrying chemical weapons – via a fill tank or sub munitions - utilize an airburst to disperse chemical agents over a broad area.  The use of sub munitions increases the area in which chemical agents can be dispersed. Compared to other delivery systems, ballistic missiles expand the range of targets that combatants can target with chemical weapons. However, the use of explosives to disperse the chemical agent reduces the potency of the weapon in combat situations.
    Cruise missiles. Unlike ballistic missiles, which utilize explosives to discharge the agent, cruise missiles can disperse chemical agents in a gradual and controlled fashion.
    Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs are another platform that combatants may utilize to disperse chemical agents. Like cruise missiles, UAVs are ideal platforms for slower dissemination due to controllable speeds, and dispersal over a wide area. UAVs can fly below radar detection and change directions, allowing them to be retargeted during flight.
    https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Chemical-Weapons-Frequently-Asked-Questions

    ReplyDelete
  12. 2015/ August 22nd Marea artillery shells were used instead of mortar bombs. “white fumes”

    Zaher al-Saket, a brigadier-gen­eral who defected from the Syrian army’s chemical division in 2013, said ISIS used mustard gas in Mari.

    The Mari resident said he saw “white fumes” in the air shortly after mortars hit densely populated areas on August 22nd.
    http://www.thearabweekly.com/?id=1942

    2015/09/11 ISIS launched two attacks on Mari around the end of August using gas in artillery shells, according to two Syrians — an activist who witnessed the second attack and a Mari resident who fled to Damascus after the earlier offensive.
    “The air was filled with a very strong, bad odour and many people were asphyxiated,” the activist said. The gas had a “distinct smell of rotten eggs”, he said.

    A peshmerga official, speaking on condition of anonymity, dismissed the US suggestion that the chemical agent was mustard gas. “It was chlorine,” he said, but declined to elaborate.


    The Conflict Armament Research group and Sahan Research group said in July that ISIS had targeted peshmerga with a projectile filled with an unknown chemical agent on June 21st or 22nd.

    The organisations said they had documented two such attacks against Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units in Syria’s north-eastern Hasakah province on June 28th.

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/592379/Islamic-State-chemical-weapon-attack-jihadi-terrorists-chlorine-rockets
    And in a further worrying development, the jihadi group is said to have obtained "industrial grade" gas masks, suggesting they are prepared and equipped for further acts of chemical warfare.


    artillery shells were used instead of mortar bombs.
    This black liquid is notable as similar liquid was found at not only the August 2016 attack on Marea,
    but also in an August 2015 attack on Marea, also blamed on ISIS, where artillery shells were used instead of mortar bombs.
    The image below shows the artillery shell from the August 2015 attack on the left, and the substance filmed at the site of the August 2016 attack on the right:
    https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2016/11/30/russias-chemical-weapon-attack-investigation-syria/

    ReplyDelete
  13. yellow phosphorous Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood Aleppo attacked with mortars / howitzers, hell cannons

    Mar 8, 2016
    Armed Islamist opposition fighters have used yellow phosphorous in a chemical attack on the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday, Kurdish militia group YPG said. Several soldiers were admitted to a hospital.
    The victims are suffering from itching skin and other symptoms of a chemical poisoning, RT’s Lizzie Phelan reports, citing sources in the YPG.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iicvo-zKpIs

    http://dckurd.org/2016/03/08/ypgs-statement-on-sheikh-maqsood-aleppo/

    Apr 7, 2016 A neighborhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo, which is held by Kurdish YPG militias, has been shelled with chemical agents from territory held by Islamist and FSA factions, a local journalist on the ground has told to RT.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkkSdGgmM_o

    Aleppo hit by chemical gas attack, yellow cloud seen rising
    In the attack of Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood, which was attacked with mortars containing chemical gas on Thursday, were killed 23 people and more than a 100 were injured, local journalist Nawrouz Uthman told RT.
    https://www.rt.com/news/338833-chemical-gas-aleppo-shelling/

    “Terrorist groups of Al-Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham, Sultan Murad Brigade (Liwa Sultan Murad), and their terrorist partners shelled Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood of Aleppo with howitzers, hell cannons, and some other heavy weaponry in the evening of March 6


    https://southfront.org/syrian-islamist-group-jaysh-al-islam-admits-using-forbidden-weapons-against-kurds-in-aleppo/
    04.15.16 6:13 PM ET

    For one Kurdish neighborhood of Syria’s biggest city, Syria’s nationwide cessation of hostilities never seemed to kick in. Now the violence that has torn the neighborhood apart—including new accusations of chemical weapons use—is straining the country’s ceasefire.
    Although it now looks increasingly shaky, the ceasefire brought a halt to much of Syria’s violence when it went into effect in February—except on the outskirts of Aleppo’s al-Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood.
    Syrian rebels say they’ve been repelling attempts by Kurdish forces inside the neighborhood to cut the last supply line to the rebel-held eastern half of Aleppo city.

    But residents of al-Sheikh Maqsoud say rebels have been shelling the neighborhood indiscriminately, killing more than a hundred civilians in the past two months, and now they allege rebels have shelled them with chemical gases.
    The human toll has outraged Kurdish forces elsewhere in the country and tested their commitment to the ceasefire,
    and the fighting has proved impervious to attempts at mediation by the ceasefire’s international sponsors.
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/15/did-syrian-rebels-gas-kurds-in-aleppo.html

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ghouta: Chemical Attack!!Published on Jun 16, 2016
    According to reports, the rockets used in the assault were handmade and contained sarin.
    Syria - Damascus Countryside
    Toxic gas was used, many soldiers injured and first-aid provided
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGp8u0B89Dg



    This chemical attack, which took place Thursday in the Damascus suburb of East Ghouta, has gone almost totally unremarked upon by Western media. The only report I could find on it was a Reuters story, which includes a claim by one of the presumably “moderate” terrorists that the attack never happened, as well as a declaration from the discredited Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that it had “no information” about it. That’s it. That’s the only Western coverage I could find on it.

    https://richardedmondson.net/2016/06/18/war-crime-syrian-soldiers-attacked-with-chemical-weapons-western-media-silent/comment-page-1/

    "Terrorist organizations yesterday attacked a Syrian army position in Eastern Ghouta, in the Damascus countryside,
    using poisonous substances which had effects on the nervous system which harmed a number of the troops (causing) suffocation and respiratory problems," said SANA, reporting a military source.
    http://news.trust.org/item/20160616144138-q8x3l/?source=fiOtherNews2

    Published on Aug 3, 2016
    Two chemical attacks have reportedly taken place in northern Syria. One occurred in the government-controlled part
    of the city of Aleppo. The other in the rebel-held territory of Saraqib in the province of Idlib.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJncYIr-TSg
    Two chemical attacks have reportedly taken place in northern Syria. One occurred in the government-controlled part of the city of Aleppo. The other in the rebel-held territory of Saraqib in the province of Idlib.
    Saraqeb no fatalities , chlorine gas reportedly dumped from a helicopter

    2012 Saraqeb
    A recently released jihadist video produced by the Saraqeb Media Office features a group that calls itself
    the “Soldiers of the Omar Farouq Brigade in Syria” and urges Muslims to join the jihad against the army of embattled President Bashir al Assad.
    The group is named after a senior al Qaeda operative who was killed in Iraq in 2006.
    The video, which was obtained and translated by The Long War Journal, is titled “Turkish Mujahideen who are Conducting Jihad in Syria
    It is unclear whether the Omar Farouq Brigade mentioned in the video is the same as the Al Farouq Brigade, which is one
    of the most active battalion units of the Free Syria Army. The Al Farouq Brigade’s commander is Abdul-Razzaq Tlass,
    who is the nephew of the former Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass. The Tlass family was one of the first defectors from the Assad regime, according to Asharq Alaswat
    http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/07/omar_farouq_brigade.php


    2013 Sheikh Maqsoud  and Saraqeb
    http://brown-moses.blogspot.com/2013/05/jabhat-al-nusra-photographed-with.html
    You'll note it shares the features of the items recovered in Sheikh Maqsoud  and Saraqeb, including the offset holes on the body of the grenade, the distinctive ridge, and a matching fuze.  It's worth noting in the Sheikh Maqsoud photograph the fly-off levers have been attached back-to-front, causing them to stand out more than they should, instead of flush with the fuze.

    However, it does seem increasingly clear that the attacks in Sheikh Maqsoud and Saraqeb may not have involved the more powerful chemical weapons such as sarin or VX, but possibly some sort of as yet unidentified crowd control substance, which in the right circumstances can prove to be deadly.
    http://brown-moses.blogspot.com/2013/05/was-attack-in-saraqeb-chemical-weapons.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. 2016 Sheikh Maqsoud “Hell cannons”

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/15/did-syrian-rebels-gas-kurds-in-aleppo.html
    But al-Sheikh Maqsoud residents have posted videos of the chaotic aftermath of shelling on residential streets,
    and rebels have been filmed—before and after the beginning of the ceasefire—shelling al-Sheikh Maqsoud with locally manufactured weapons that are impossible to reliably aim. These include improvised “Hell cannons”
    that fire explosives-packed propane tanks, a weapon that has been employed previously against residential areas of regime-held west Aleppo.

    These brigades have been deploying the so-called “hell cannon,” which fires explosive gas cylinders at the Western neighborhoods adjacent to the areas they control, killing many civilians.
    http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/18130

    Fastaqem Kama Umirt is made up of the Aleppo City Battalion; Liwaa Halab al-Shahbaa; Liwaa al-Islam, and the Abu Amara Brigades, which refused to join the Army of the Mujahideen, and subsequently split from Fastaqem Kama Umirt.
    The militants with Fastaqem are concentrated in the districts of Salah al-Din, Seif al-Dawla, Sheikh Said, Bab al-Nairab, Jeb al-Jalabi, Jisr al-Haj, Ansari, and Mashhad of Aleppo.



    Photographs provided exclusively to INSURGE by Yayla, which he obtained directly from former ISIS members, depict ISIS members handling so-called “hell fireball bombs” made from liquid petroleum gas tanks, the parts for which are manufactured in Konya, an inner city in Turkey where hundreds of ISIS supporters reside.
    “The former ISIS member said that these supplies are coming from sources protected by Turkish security forces,” said Yayla.

    https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/former-turkish-counter-terror-chief-exposes-governments-support-for-isis-d12238698f52#.x00mewrpk

    A common hell cannon design utilizes depleted propane tanks as rounds and some sort of metal cylinder as a barrel.
    A diverse array of explosive substances can be used as a propellant. The same goes for the warhead, as any payload that fits in a propane tank can be delivered using a hell cannon.

    Oftentimes, the projectiles will be packed with explosives and metal shrapnel (to increase fragmentation lethality.)

     Payloads may also include weaponized chemical gas, as rebels have allegedly used hell cannons to carry out gas attacks.

    http://whitefleet.net/2016/05/24/in-the-syrian-civil-war-improvised-weaponry-proliferates/





    ReplyDelete
  16. 30/10/2016 Aleppo Update: Rebels use poisonous gas as battles intensify
    https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/aleppo-update-rebels-use-poisonous-gas-battles-intensify/
    Published time: 30 Oct, 2016 Syrian rebels fire ‘shells with poison gas’ in Aleppo – state media
    The symptoms among the injured point to the use of highly toxic chlorine gas, a local doctor told RT. 
    https://www.rt.com/news/364737-syria-aleppo-poison-gas/

    Published on Nov 14, 2016
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wrz5WqX4wbU
    Militants have used missiles with poison gas in Aleppo


    Russian experts uncovered a chemical weapons lab used by 'moderate rebels' in an area liberated by the SAA + allies in Western Aleppo
    http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?501986-W-Aleppo-A-Glimpse-at-the-1-3M-Syrians-Waiting-for-their-City-Back


    4 dec. 2016 Aleppo school stored arms & chemical weapons for al Qaeda groups

    06 Dec 2016Chemical Weapons Alert: Aluminum Phosphide Discovered in Terrorist Arms Factory ~
    Chemical Weapon Use Implicated
    https://syrianfreepress.wordpress.com/2016/12/06/aluminum-phosphide/

    4 Dec 2016
    Flag : FSA Jahbat Al Shamiyah Liwa Al Tawhid
    https://twitter.com/LizziePhelan/status/805453347499163648


    School in Hanano, liberated area of Aleppo
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDln4giSqew
    Aleppo school stored arms & chemical weapons for al Qaeda groups
    @0.48 pink liquid

    Permanganate :Just remember, as long as it is pink – it’s probably ok to drink.

    http://www.intherabbithole.com/potassium-permanganate-the-most-useful-survival-chemical/

    Ideally, Potassium permanganate should be stored in a nonreactive plastic bottle with a Teflon coated cap. Most plastic bottles and non-coated caps should be fine.

    Control method: Fumigation of rabbit warrens with phosphine
    http://www.pestsmart.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/rabbit_fumigation_phosphine.pdf

    Symptoms of phosphine poisoning by inhalation in humans include headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, cough and shortness of breath. There is often central nervous system, gastrointestinal and respiratory system involvement and in some cases there is also damage to the liver, urinary tract, heart and peripheral muscles6.
    https://www.nap.edu/read/12018/chapter/14#273
    HUMAN TOXICITY DATA


    ReplyDelete
  17. http://opcw.unmissions.org/ContactUs.aspx

     11/21/2016 RT International enquiry Do you have any representative in Syria that I could contact to ask about recent allegations of chemical weapons attacks on the 1070 apartments area in Aleppo?

    1070 Apartment Project in Southwestern Aleppo
    17.10.2016 By now, the government forces have reportedly took control of a number of building blocks in Salah Addeen and, according to pro-government forces,
    liberated the whole 1070 Apartment Project (1070 AP)
    https://southfront.org/syrian-army-and-hezbollah-liberates-1070-apartment-project-in-southwestern-aleppo/



    Wednesday, January 11 A Syrian army unit discovered chemical substances of a Saudi source left behind by the terrorist group in the Old City of Aleppo, SANA reported.
    During the Syrian army's continued cleanup operations in eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo city after terrorists group evacuation, an army unit discovered Saudi-made chemical materials in a depot in Old Aleppo.
    Chemical material are included sulfur, chlorine and raw materials for plastic granules.
    Chemical substances were used by the terrorists in manufacturing chemical explosives for the purpose of targeting residential areas in Aleppo.
    http://en.alalam.ir/news/1909856


    https://southfront.org/us-declares-new-sanctions-against-syrian-military-officials-tech-firm/

    15.01.2017 15.01.2017 Just several days before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, the US has announced new sanctions against 18 government officials, Syrian military and a tech company.

    As the AP news agency reported on Saturday, citing a statement of the US State Department, the fresh sanctions were imposed “in response to the use of chemical weapons” by the Syrian government.

    However, the statement even did not specify cases and years, when the Syrian side allegedly used chemical weapons.


    Intelligence official killed in bomb blast, Kafr Sousa, S.W. Damascus, Thursday, possibly on US sanctions list published the same day (12th).

    ..These new sanctions look like another last-minute positive action in Syria by the Obama team, to dress up his exit from the stage as a man of action ...

    https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/intelligence-official-killed-in-bomb-blast-kafr-sousa-s-w-damascus-thursday-possibly-on-us-sanctions-list-published-the-same-day-12th/

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for mentioning this again. More recently I've learned this nasty smell, or range of smells, with impure or "technical grade" forms of things is common. I hear "amines" cause the smell, and it happens with impure sarin, malathion, phosphine, and I would guess a number of other things that have no smell when pure. So it's a pretty general clue.

    ReplyDelete

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