The Sarin Evidence

Idlib CW Massacre 4-4-17
The Sarin Evidence
or
From Khan al-Assal to Khan Sheikhoun: "Syria's (Other) Sarin"
April 16, 2017
edits April 20, 23/24, 26, 27, 30...

So Sarin Was Found?

Claims of sarin use in the recent Idlib chemical attack have been accepted from the start, first based on reports and videos describing consistent symptoms. Soon there were also said to be positive test results from samples sent to Turkey. This is presumably accurate and suggests at least some victims, if not all of them, were exposed to that deadly nerve gas.

As I explain below, there's a lot that this wouldn't explain; it's already been widely argued that sarin might have little or nothing to do with the videos shown or the dozens reported killed. I agree with that line of questioning, so all this below matters to the extent sarin actually does, which at the moment is uncertain. But if sarin  is involved, centrally or otherwise, it's best to acknowledge it.

It's of course possible there was sarin, and it was dropped by government forces as alleged. But we're watching for the nightmare scenario: it was slipped in to a terrorist false-flag event, pro-rebellion investigators and their bosses refuse to acknowledge that, and they insist on blaming the Syrian government, encouraging more such terrorist crimes.

Yes, terrorists in Syria - and not just ISIS - have sarin, besides other poisons and a whole lot of blank checks written by the "world community." Here are some ways they could work that into the evidence chain:

• Low-level exposure in survivors could be voluntary - people can be paid or persuaded to sip on a weak dilution, with pauses to metabolize, which would give positive results with minimal discomfort. These volunteers, selected for their pro-jihad stance, could also use their status as supposed survivors to describe the government attack in full detail, along the rebel script.
• Fatalities, obviously, would have to be expendable people, even enemies held hostage, poisoned with it at full concentration (these can't be trusted to tell the right story, so they wind up dead with others speaking for them.)
• Soil samples can be contaminated after the fact, or by sarin vapor actually dispersed by terrorists, using various special rockets and mortar shells they have on hand.

What Kind of Sarin?

Some important details, not widely noted, suggest any sarin that was used in the April 4 attack on Khan Sheikhoun is probably a terrorist-produced variety. There are two broad kinds of the agent to consider:

• Military grade sarin: professionally-produced, this appears and behaves just like water (it's dispersed as a vapor, not a gas). It has no color or smell, and no irritating properties, besides a long shelf-life and high killing power.
• Low grade "kitchen" sarin: less stable and perhaps less deadly, it usually has impurities not filtered out at each stage of production. Therefore, it can have a variety of colors and usually unpleasant odors (Wikipedia says “impure sarin can smell like mustard or burned rubber” and we'll consider other possible smell descriptions below),  and may also have contaminating irritants that can burn the lungs and eyes.

Now, we've heard physiological samples tested positive. But with the hyper-speed metabolic processes at work inside the human body, the actual agent is long-gone by testing time, just leaving secondary chemical after-effects. These cannot say which kind of sarin it is, military grade, Syria's, or some low-grade "kitchen" sort.

However soil samples don't have that problem - the molecules lay there, only breaking down slowly. If the samples are genuine and not tampered with, this could show the kind used. Soil samples were reportedly taken, and the UK's ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft stated something has "tested positive for the nerve agent Sarin, or a Sarin like substance." This ambiguous statement leaves it open that it might not even be sarin, just something chemically similar (maybe some other organophosphate poison). It definitely doesn't say whether it's a match or a mismatch with Syria's stocks (more at ACLOS).

So we don't yet know what the tests say, or even if the results are honest. And even if we did have a sure finding, considering the unknowns, it's important to mention this - neither kind is certain proof for who deployed the stuff. Naturally, the military-grade poison suggests it was used by the Syrian military. Even though they supposedly gave it all up years ago, that seems easy enough to get around by claiming they must have kept some. The other kind points to opposition forces.

Hypothetically, rebels could make or acquire the pro kind, possibly even from Syria's own seized stocks, with the right help from any of their powerful allies. And the government could, without too much hassle, synthesize or seize the cheap kind and have it to toss around and frame the rebels. But otherwise, we should tentatively presume the indicators point the normal way. Let's see what they are.

April 4 Sarin Reports
In the April 4 attack, in the absence of clear test results so far, we have reports. These we also can't trust, but they're worth considering.

Two AFP journalists in Syria, Mohamed Al-Bakour and Omar Haj-Kadour, spoke on their reporting in a special piece. Bakour, from Khan Sheikhoun, said "When I get to the hospital, a foul smell hangs over the place. I can’t quite put my finger on it." Haj-Kadour was in Binnish and headed south upon the news. "When I get to the main hospital in Khan Sheikhun, the first thing that strikes me is the smell. There is a strange smell. I can’t put my finger on it." They both note the lack of fingerability a little too clearly. Perhaps they talked with each other first, one said that, and the other one liked this English phrase and copied it. But they agree there was a smell that was strange in a bad way one calls "foul." 

A Telegraph sourced wire story at SMH.au Some interesting detail e.g."The smell reached us here in the centre; it smelled like rotten food. We've received victims of chlorine before – this was completely different."

Foul, strange, rotten food, vs. mustard, burned rubber - all have organic elements that might be from one organophosphate poison (like sarin), with a central smell or cluster of smells that's somehow between these, hard to "put your finger on" and easy to describe differently from the next guy.  Some other cases of different descriptions are listed below: "pungent," perhaps like sulfur, like rotten eggs, "like burning nylon," and "very foul."

That same SMH.au article also notes "victims had vomit from the nose and mouth, a dark yellow colour, sometimes turning to brown." Vomiting is a sign of sarin poisoning, among other things. An extra yellow color could be from yellow-brown-colored impurities, or just yellow, with the brown from added blood, if corrosive irritants were involved....

A 14-year-old girl "saw an aircraft drop a bomb on a one-story building a few dozen yards away. In a telephone interview Tuesday night, she described an explosion like a yellow mushroom cloud that stung her eyes. “It was like a winter fog,” she said. (New York Times)

Why it didn't kill her at such a short distance is unclear. And even if she's a legitimate witness, there may be visual confusion here - the actual "fog" is shown on video and appears just white, possibly like military grade sarin (though it's not certain this is the same thing referred to), while the attack plumes (seemingly caused by conventional high explosives) are sort of gray and beige, or arguably yellow. (though sunrise has a similar color of light tinting it - see Graphics at ACLOS, this section and the one below)

Mohammad Nejdat Yousuf, a farmer mildly poisoned, spoke to the New York Times from Turkey with his pregnant wife and nephew, alive but seriously affected. It's said "ran headlong into what he described as “a winter fog — not quite yellow and not quite white.” He started to lose his balance, he said. His eyes began to sting. His nose started to stream. Finally, Yousuf said, he started to foam at the mouth." 

A Zuhair Abu Abdo spoke to the media saying he heard a "very loud" explosion, which was followed by "yellow dust" and a "really disgusting odor," smelled from far away. Still,  "we thought it was a normal airstrike" but he saw may people just laying on the ground, and driven off in cars. He describes later symptoms: light-headed, tight chest, and later burning eyes.

An al-Yousef son, aged 23, says in this video "it was a strange smell," people vomited, foamed at the mouth, and fainted. A cola-dipped rag over his nose kept him safe.

In another video, survivors in a hospital (where is unclear - not Khan Sheikhoun, not Turkey) a man, older woman, and doctor all add bits:
* Man (not credible): massive bomb, dust covered the place, 50 people laying outside his house, he treated some before the second strike. He had no clue it was chemical, he got dizzy but kept helping, and then the third strike, and a 4th, and he felt dizzy, fell down. Miracle he survived 4 delayed strikes all around him... No mention of smell.
* older woman: a barrel bomb landed, the stench covered the place, we were fast asleep, "all of us altogether" lost consciousness, woke up here.
* medic: mentions the usual symptoms: miosis, "constant shivering," and "yellowish foam coming out of the mouth."
* (add 4/30) White Helmets/"civil defense" worker, says on Orient News video he came home (around here on Wikimapia, south of the White House crater), found everyone unconscious inside, wife, children, brother and his wife, nieces and nephews, most or all died. A yellowish foam was coming out of their mouths, as they shook uncontrollably.

These are just verbal accounts, and of course I'm not one to just accept these as obviously true. But I won't just dismiss every little detail as a probable lie, even if some parts are proven to be lies, tru details can still be included. </end add 4/30>

But clearly - if this is the sarin they're talking about - it's the "kitchen" variety with irritating impurities that, as I explain next, terrorists have used in the past.  And if it's not, then ... what is it, and who released it?

Add 4-27: The Visual Case for A Caustic Fog
While witness accounts are never to be taken as obvious truth, it's likely that a noxious gas like they describe was released in Khan Sheikhoun that day. not only plausible but seemingly supported by visual evidence.

Below are two panoramic composite views from two videos associated with the attack, taken from north of the city. They both seem to share the same exact point of view (features line up the same in both), so we can make a direct reading - if this is all the same day.  I'm presuming so, but noting it might not be.

Video 1: Left to right: (off-frame, unseen) the space above the White house crater cited as "the" sarin release point - smoke plume from a high explosives blast southwest of that - another the same way - a strange white cloud, apparently originating just NE of the tel (big flat hill) - the tel, continuing ... - blurry minaret in the middle - another standard explosives blast from a bomb or rocket, roughly geolocated to the southwest of the tel (new graphic upcoming) - (off-frame) a smaller black plume rising from a located spot in the town's southwest.

Bellingcat did a good line-of-sight analysis for this scene, which I copied (roughly) to make a rough map (ACLOS) of where these 3 plumes and a white cloud might be. Better map based on my own findings forthcoming. 

Wind: seems to be blowing to the left and towards the camera, so north and east, ratio not decided (see video, and just the shape of the plumes).

Video 2: Something like a winter fog, white, or maybe not-quite, almost yellow, or yellow seen up close. seems to spread from the location of that white cloud, and a spot southwest of town, perhaps other spot. That's a lot to pour out of perhaps just 2 spots. What it is, we don't know. Wind direction: arguably still, or slightly to the left (east)

Time note: I tried reading solar azimuth (direction to the sun) from how it wraps around circular things (minarets, dome). I could only say it's between 82 and 113 degrees, so anywhere from sunrise to 9:30. I cannot even see a time difference between the views, unless mmmaybe ... the fog scene is a bit earlier. It should be later. But visually, it seems to all be the same basic time, so - if this is really all from the same day - those blast plumes disappeared and that fog spread out - or vice-versa? - very quickly. A strong wind could help, maybe the one seen. The direction seems about right for that.

For contrast, the White House has jets overhead at 6:37 and 6:46 at the latest, early reports said 6:30 attack, most now say 6:55 or so. Initial confusion which pass they had lined this event up with, corrected to second pass (perhaps) That could line up well enough: blast timed with jet's pass at 6:46, reports of casualties and toxic gas 5-7 minutes later, group getting reports notes it 2-3 minutes later as "6:55." (for example)

First time-able visual of victims is at the White Helmets cave hospital, in scenes I time visually by sunlight angles (several cases, consistent) as starting around 8 am or shortly before, and continuing to 8:30 and beyond (I only looked at the longest-shadow scenes - not sure how long it runs past 8, but not far before). Anyway, there seems an odd delay here. I'm pretty certain I have all the time zone and DST issues correct - it is about an hour off from what it should be. It doesn't just seem that way. Or, since reaction can't be instant, it just seems a bit slow, and a bit late for people to still be struggling at death's door.
<end add 4-27>

Prior Cases
Adding notes on the sarin findings and the victims, four examples of prior incidents involving sarin with smell and color issues:
 
* An apparent opposition sarin attack on the Shia-majority village of Khan al-Assal, Aleppo, on March 19, 2013, targeted Syrian soldiers and civilians, killing at least 20 (ACLOS). People reported, in a December UN report, that the chemical released from the rocket formed "a yellowish-green mist in the air," and had "a strong pungent smell, possibly resembling sulfur." They mention it caused itching, besides breathing and heart problems, foaming at the mouth, confusion, pupil constriction and vision problems, and loss of consciousness. (UN report) Death or paralysis tended to be instant, as with sarin. Later tests by Russian scientists showed sarin - an impure, improvised sort - was the main poison, delivered with a locally-made rebel rocket (ACLOS). The UN report credited rebels with the attack, but was unable to confirm sarin, while the poison was confirmed by the OPCW and the United States, both of which attempted to blame the government for what they presume to be a mistaken regime strike on its own forces. (ACLOS)

* The same day as Khan al-Assal, rebels reported a regime CW attack in Otaybah, Damascus suburbs: apparent rebel fighters described a rocket impact that dispersed “something like water, but it was dark. It emitted a very foul smell,” and killed 7 people who mostly seem to be hostages. Symptoms are not a clear match with sarin, but possibly. Yellow vomit appears, as reported in this latest incident. Within a few weeks, samples were said to test positive for some kind of sarin, or at least an organophosphate (the class of chemicals sarin, some common pesticides, and other chemicals belong to). Questions remained: were the tested samples from Aleppo, or Damascus, or neither? Were they soil or blood samples? Stories differ. (Monitor)

* August 21, 2013: Witnesses to the Ghouta incident reported varying smells: "something like vinegar and rotten eggs" or "like cooking gas," along with "redness and itching of the eyes." (Guardian) As we've found, the hundreds of victims largely seem to be hostages (Monitor). Initial claims trying to prove government guilt fell apart (Lloyd and Postol). Circumstantial evidence and claims lodged to investigative reporter Seymour Hersh suggest Western tests showed the sarin found did not match Syria's stocks. (LRB) In general, sarin doesn't seem to be responsible for the hundreds of dead anyway, and many at least are clear in dying from something else; the found sarin may have just been planted in the soil that was taken, and at low-levels (likely by sipping, as described above) in the survivors who were tested (none of the dead were tested).  (Monitor). But still, sarin may have been released, and affected and killed some, and that may or may not be what people smelled.

* A smell "like burning nylon" was reported by gassed soldiers in Daraya, February, 2015, who tested positive for sarin, though none died. (OPCW report) It was clear that the rebels, who had the soldiers pinned down under gunfire, launched that against them.

In these cases the victims are either government soldiers and the civilians they protect, or it's in a rebel area and the victims seem likely to be hostages. This April 3 attack fits the latter profile (Monitor). Despite these and other precedents, Western and UN officials blandly assure us the non-ISIS opposition has no sarin capability and can be ruled out. But that's not the case, and so we watch for that  nightmare scenario.

Where There May Be No Sarin

Whoever's sarin appears wherever in the picture, there seems to a big part of it where the stuff doesn't feature at all.

As widely noted, rescue workers handle the patients without any protective gear for the skin, even gloves (sarin spreads on contact and is extremely potent - a gas mask or surgical mask, like some have, might protect the face, but that simply isn't adequate to handle real sarin victims). Some workers in hazmat suits are seen in the background. It's said some workers suffered exposure (the White House claims to believe this and uses it as evidence to decide of sarin). But we don't see that on video among those handling the supposed victims, so the claim is likely untrue and at best unproven. 

Next, sarin has specific observable symptoms besides miosis (constricted pupils) and seizures/paralysis, which is all they show, other than some kind of "foam" around the mouth in some cases. 

Misosis is highlighted as the "telltale" sign, but it actually has several causes, some of which are alternate poisons of some interest, like opiates. And misos is only the M in the standard sarin symptom acronym SLUDGEM. The other letters stand for Salivation (drooling), Lachrymation (tears), Urination, Diarrhea/defecation, Gastrointestinal distress, and Emesis (vomiting). (Wikipedia, SLUDGE syndrome). The excretory systems go as haywire as everything else, with these parts being visible on the outside. Yet, I don't think I've ever seen this with any of the alleged Syria CW attacks. In those against government soldiers or government-secured areas, the victims aren't shown. In those against rebel areas, they are, and no one displays the SLUDGE syndrome. The same applies here: many victims are stripped to underwear, and as far as we can see, they haven't soiled themselves. They don't seem to vomit that we see, etc.

Sarin also tends to cause cyanosis (a deepening blue shade to the skin, especially visible in the lips and beds of the fingernails.) This isn't universally, but common, and it's not exclusive; it has many other causes - but it should appear. Yet we see little if any cyanosis, and in fact lots of rosy cheeks. this red-faced rhythmically gasping kid both seems realistic, likely suffering pulmonary edema, and a clear mismatch with sarin. The extra red could just be from the cold drawin blood to the surface, but it's all red, not purple-blue shifted in  the slightest.  It's hard to say if that excess red is just from being cold or might be a poison clue (pointing to hydrogen cyanide or carbon monoxide, perhaps). But either way, it argues against sarin. 

- See also ACLOS: Chemical Questions

Another important note: Sarin kills very quickly, and the body also breaks it down very quickly - it's a race in microseconds. Survivors of severe exposure describe total paralysis, inability to breathe, their vision going black, and an overpowering sense of doom enveloping them within seconds, followed by loss of consciousness. Almost instantly you'll know how bad it is - if you survive the first minute, then most of the sarin is broken down and you'll probably survive and improve rapidly. If you don't, then it's too late anyway (something to that effect, I'm not sure on exact times - it could take a few minutes to decide - but not tens of minutes - and then maybe a few hours to recover).

So I don't buy people exposed to sarin were trucked to this place, at the cave hospital on the east edge of Khan Sheykhoun, and were still laying in the mud and wiggling and gasping an hour or so later. (They say the attack was around 6:30-6:45 am, and these scenes seem to be a bit later, mostly between 7 and 8:30, by sunlight angles - see ACLOS section with handy list of shadow-length to time translations one can use to visually time a scene. The scene at right is probably around 8:00).

Conclusion

So they say some type of sarin appears in the people and soil tested, and that might be. If they find it's terrorist-grade, I predict they'll never announce the findings, and leave us guessing it was "the regime." But if they find it's pistine military-grade stuff or even matches Syria's formula - and they'll announce that - then we must note... while it shows up in the chosen samples, it was probably not in that foul-smelling, caustic yellow sarin cloud or anyone poisoned by it, or in anyone poisoned with something else - it probably wasn't in the children apparently executed by Islamist blades, or in the apparent fakers acting out a sarin story.

Basically, it almost seems it wasn't in this attack at all. But we don't know what there is and isn't - even if there's no outward sign, maybe a special batch of pure sarin was smuggled in and opened up on some people in a basement off camera. Maybe their supply was limited, so the killers placed it where it would be found, where it would matter in solidifying their new Assad CW myth.

Otherwise, so far, everything simply says impure terrorist sarin was used, if any was. Again, this could possibly be used by Syrian forces, but that's obviously "not a slam dunk" when terrorists have the same, and motive clearly favors them. As John Wight notes at Sputnik, "The Assad government has nothing to gain from launching chemical weapons attacks in Syria — and never more than now when it is winning the conflict, both on the ground and diplomatically. Indeed, launching such an attack now would be tantamount to insanity." 

But then, so would launching the 2013 Ghouta attack exactly a year after Obama first offered his "red line" threat/offer, and just a day after UN-OPCW "inspectors" had arrived next to the planned crime scene... The "Assad" of opposition myths like these has always been this insane, and always will be, as long as there are armed fanatics out there willing to realize and document his supposed evil plans.

Further Developments
Added 4/20: UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said the other day

"We know from shell fragments in the crater that sarin had not only been used, but that it was sarin carrying the specific chemical signature of sarin used by the Assad regime. Given that samples from the victims show conclusively that they had been exposed to sarin gas, there is only one conclusion to be reached: that the Assad regime almost certainly gassed its own people, in breach of international law and the rules of war." 

This confirms what I said - biological samples only shows it was sarin, or in fact only that it's that "or a sarin-like substance" (as reiterated by the OPCW chief), while environmental samples show the chemical "signature" identifying a specific type or formula. In our discussion at ACLOS, Pmr9 notes this is presumably based on tests by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), and postulates three explanations. It's possible this is pure fiction, or that the match is with Syria's surrendered stocks, as taken away by the USS Cape May. But in either case, Johnson would likely say it matched that known profile most clearly implicating Syria (but again, not with certainty, as explained above).

Instead, he calls it a kind they've used. This would include what are in fact several terrorists uses of impure sarin, since March, 2013, falsely blamed on Syrian forces, even though they're the targets half he time. The DSTL probably matched the Khan Sheikhoun samples to the samples from the Ghouta attack of August 21, 2013. But evidence suggests that never did match with Syria's stocks. And, as noted above, the event has massive indicators of being a false-flag massacre carried out on hundreds of hostages. That's a pitfall of relying on prior allegations ...

Add 4-24: David Habakkuk asks UK officials for clarification on this question at Pat Lang's blog, Sic Semper Tyranis. About the questions raised here, put carefully, alongside a more vague gist of the implications.  Recalling the first reports on coming tests explained "samples" taken by spooks from "the Syrian military stockpile when it was withdrawn from the country in late 2013" had "are known to have particular properties" scientists would look for. If they found that match, they're being just as unclear about it as they were after the Ghouta attack.
 It may be an exact match to the Ghouta samples, from the same big batch of sarin, widely used for four years now. But quite likely, it's just a similar type with some of the same impurities - it might have a yellowish color, smell horrible, and burn the eyes - this we already heard from the witnesses.  So, Boris seems to be saying ... this is Ghouta 2.0, as it was already seeming to us. (Denis O'Brien (Pierpont) at ACLOS noted early on: "Khan Sheikhoun looks like Ghouta II to me," and it keeps looking that way.)

Add 4-23: Speak of the devil, Denis O'Brien weighed in with LogoPhere's Top Ten Ways to Tell When You're Being Spoofed by False-Flag Sarin Attacks and I didn't notice it. With a PhD in neuropharmacology, a good B.S. detector and his engaging and irreverent tone, this is awesome - an exploration of science vs. images, showing what's wrong with the alleged sarin victims of April 4, as far as we've seen. He clarifies that foaming at the mouth is actually a bit of an anti-symptom (victims can't breathe enough to really bubble up that mucous). He cites the old baking soda and Pepsi trick to cause "foaming at the mouth" of a kind we see. Here's my favorite example of an alleged sarin victim from the April 4 attack.

He might overstate the universality of cyanosis or other signs (as a comment points out, low-dose victims or those who die instantly may not display all the signs clear enough to see). But I agree (as less of an expert) he's right that people struggling with a serious dose after a minute or two will not possibly be a healthy pink, but pale or turning to blue.

O'Brien helps re-cast Dr. Shajul Islam's video showing the obvious signs of sarin poisoning - he's no expert. He puts the spotlight on a patient's eye to show a constricted pupil, but that's not even miosis if the bright light is causing it. O'Brien adds that we see no tears in this eye - it even seems abnormally dry. Miosis is just the M in SLUDGEM, and the L is lachrymation, profuse tear production. So this likely proves a non-sarin cause - just the flashlight he uses to show it, or perhaps an alternate drug that causes miosis but not profuse tearing.

Also noting on that eye: no redness to suggest irritation (this is reported as a first sign), but possible yellow-brown discoloration on the right side, (some iris distortion?) and dried yellow-brown crud in the tear duct corner (the gas is said to be yellow, and secretions yellow-to-brown) - mixed signs, no theory at the moment.

4-23: Autopsy Results (see ACLOS) suggest a problem consistent with everything above: the victims who tested positive for sarin or similar also suffered serious lung damage, leading to edema and suffocation. Sarin doesn't do this in itself, and is likely to kill a victim before anything else could cause this much damage (in a serious case, it makes breathing work poorly, then usually stops it in a swift death). So maybe this is very impure sarin that burns like hell before reaching the fatal point, or a primary poison used in addition to the token sarin, or sarin-like substance. For simplicity alone I'll guess it's all one thing, very nasty impure sarin. That's not something you casually waste. It would be administered efficiently in some enclosed space (gas chamber).

4-24: Dr. Theodore Postol, who helped debunk the 2013 Ghouta attack claims, has been very active on this case. His most recent piece (TruthDig) fixes a basic error (wind direction backwards, as ACLOS noted) in the last piece. The directions he now gives may not be exact, but they seem at least pretty close to what videos show at attack time, moderate breeze from east-to-west.
(add 4-17: Any visual reading will trump the predictive models he cited ... it was to the east, and somewhat to the north by video)

I didn't read this all yet, but noted the part with a dead goat next to a frayed rope some meters east of the white house crater - presumably a stray dragging his or her chewed rope. Postol notes the animal would be upwind and probably immune if stationary or, if mobile, would have died from the sarin too quickly to walk this far, "as the sarin dose within the plume would have killed it very quickly."

He also notes foam from its nose and mouth, and I'll note that's pink with blood. As O'Brien explains and I pretty much agree, strong sarin exposure will prevent foaming by preventing functional breath. But a lower dose might allow it. And blood means irritants. So I'd guess, like I have, a weak improvised sarin (or sarin-like substance...) with high caustic impurities, that burns like hell and suffocates animals with edema before the fatal sarin level is even reached. That's time to wander upwind before keeling over. This matches findings in Turkey (lung damage) and reports that it was yellow, smelled disgusting, and burned the eyes and lungs. (however, the bloody foam from has no sign of a yellow color, as reported - or, I'll have to look closer - I've seen this goat before but, like many things, haven't had time to study it yet)

Add 4/26: Now France, more clearly than anyone, affirms what I've been saying here, and it seems everyone is. The Independent reports French Foreign affairs minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said they know Syria did this, with a "singature" sarin  "because we kept samples from previous attacks that we were able to use for comparison," not because it matches the stuff Syria surrendered. That means it doesn't, like the Ghouta sarin never did, and this matches that in not matching Syria's. As Petri Krohn and I and others explain here at ACLOS, "The French statement reveals the circular reasoning behind the allegations. The samples are similar to those from the Ghouta CW attack in 2013." (4:27: Though actually they cite an earlier CW attack that was always equally dubious)

And here are some victims said to be of this attack, by the Syrian-American Medical Society (via ACLOS). Military-grade sarin does not cause blooding from the nose. Bleeding from the nose and not the mouth can be caused by an unseen head wound. It could also be caused by caustic gas, with no blood out the mouth for some reason. The girl also seems to have purple lips, a rare glimpse of apparent cyanosis, but with signs that contra-indicate sarin. No eye damage to suggest chlorine or the like. The woman has swollen lips, but they don't seem irritated, and has possible white residue around the eyes. But no serious blood to suggest head wounds either ... As I note, they might have had their clothes changed after death (see dust on the girl's palm - as if crawling in the dirt - but clothes are all clean).

Anyway, it's all a clear indicator of known regime process signatures and blah blah accountability blah blah.