Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Black Sarin?

November 7, 2017
(incomplete)
edits Nov. 8, Aug. 5, 2018, 
big additions Aug. 22-24, 2019... 

With some if not all alleged sarin attacks in Syria, there's been a strange dark fluid  associated with it. From reports, it seems this is the sarin itself, splashing out of rockets and bombs delivered by Syrian government forces. Of course, pure, military-grade sarin is a colorless, odorless liquid, but this stuff is said to smell foul and appear black. That's now an accepted feature of "Assad's" sarin, as used in several attacks since 2013 that, on review, tend to be false-flag events launched by terrorists. French inteligence analysis of samples from Saraqeb, 4-29-2013 found the air-dropped hand-grenades contained sarin of only 60% purity. They don't mention a color, but witnesses there described a "horrible, suffocating smell." 

To start, there are 4 incidents I can list where possible black liquid sarin appears, and on review I may be able to add more. That's not many, but there have only been so many sarin attacks, and a few specifically don't seem to involve the kind of area-splashing that lets us see the color of it. Maybe in comparing this fluid as seen and reported there are clues, patterns, inconsistencies to discover.

Ateibah 3-19-2013
Adra 8-5-2013
Latamnah 3-30-2017
Khan Sheikhoun, 4-4-2017
(and added in 2019: other incidents from June and January of 2013)

Note: this black fluid aspect is something I've seen liot Higgins cover as a likely clue (see here for one example). I'm not sure it is, but there's enough of a case to assemble this post to lay it out and see.

Ateibah 3-19-2013:  a black fluid was said (not seen) to come out of a rocket, have a foul smell, and to cause direct health problems including lung damage. I don't know of any imagery from the site to support that, but given the following, it could be. It may not be what killed seven people. (ACLOS)

The area was under control of Saudi-backed  Jaish Al-Islam, who seem likely suspects in two even earlier alleged CW incidents in November, 2012, that killed one "displaced" child each. This Ateibah attack killed one displaced infant, and 5 civilian men, three of who seem to be from a Christian family, by their rare, Aramaic name. Also, the attack coincided with a sarin attack on Syrian soldioers and largely Shi'ite civilians in Aleppo, and apparently a planned CW attack in Homs cit that was barely reported then forgotten. It was a big day, March 19. There are clues that Jaish al-Islam's sponsors in Saudi Arabia ordered it up.

Adra 8-5-2013: In Adra, East Ghouta Damascus suburbs, a sain rocket attack was blamed for a plume said sicken hundreds, but to kill no humans (Eliot Higgins (Brown Moses) discusses it here). AN ITV News report (August 5, 10:43 PM) explains "Syrian rebel fighters have alleged that the Assad regime launched "a series of chemical attacks" on the Damascus suburbs of Adra and Douma yesterday morning. Residents reported that the attack took place during morning prayers yesterday, and approximately 400 people were showing "signs of exposure to chemical toxic gases." (Yesterday will be Syria time, hours ahead and already in "tomorrow.")

Adra is a large area, some of which was rebel-occupied at the time. Other parts were government-secured and sheltered many minorities, whom rebels murdered and abducted in a huge raid and massacre in December, 2013. Adra is next to Douma, and any "liberated" parts would be under control of the same Jaish Al-Islam mentioned above. They would lead the December massacre, who may have been behind the prior CW incidents mentioned above, and who may well have committed the Ghouta massacre a few weeks later. That incident would use several rockets of the kind that used for this prelude incident.

The alleged sarin apparently splashed all over a wet dog, who already appears abandoned and under-nourished. It's not clear of this fluid is black, at this relative thinness. It appears colorless, but... The poor creature starts  out still as their video begins, but quickly starts twitching and then in seconds, convulsing and kicking about as fast and violently as physically possible. It's quite hard to watch.  With the warning: Adra 5 8 2013 A rocket that was carrying chemical materials and shows around the animals died after the chemical

I've never seen any human victim convulsing remotely like this. The people filming it, breathing the same area (or are they wearing gas masks?) seem to be completely unaffected. That and the apparent sequence suggests the poison was splashed right on this dog well after any rocket impact, and just for this video. Possibly sarin but likely some other liquid nerve agent, it's quite deadly, like what they say came out of the rocket nearby, but here the guys with the cameras seem to have it to splash around at will. 

The video cuts at severe convulsion, perhaps before it got even uglier. Next we see after the animal is dead, and has been moved for some reason to a spot in the middle of an intersection (or it might be a different dog). The supposed sarin rocket laying there, as if just laid there, and a dead cat also laying nearby. The pavement is black here, if not wet-seeming (foreground: dead dog - left distance: a dead cat - left off-frame: the rocket). 
Looking the other way from over by the cat: the dog and the rocket over by the curb. 

The color enhanced composite view above shows that black has a blue-ish hue, but there are also patches with red, and areas where it mixes into purple ... in fact, a strange damage area (seems old, unrelated to the attack) seems to be the reddest. This is over by the dead cat. I don't know what to make of this.
Brown Mosess: "In the case of the 3 videos from Adra on August 5th, they are linked directly to an attack that took place on the same day, with videos of the victims of the attack showing the same kinds of symptoms.  I spoke to a doctor in Damascus who claims to have treated victims from both the August 21st attack and August 5th attack, and he claimed the symptoms where the same in both attacks."

One of his 3 videos is the one with the dog being poisoned. Per the other 2, there were apparently 3 or more rockets used, all of the same "volcano" or "UMLACA" style famously used for the Ghouta attack. The one next to the dog and cat seems pretty straight. Two others are badly bent: #138 and 15x (bad still for that - it's obviously 155 as shown here). Both shown on videos dated August 5, The bent portion of tube that's discolored: that will be inside the chemical tanks. One looks a bit like its stained by motor oil, something greasy and dark. The other looks sort of rusty. It may have landed similarly,  with this being the original down side. How it got what looks like drizzles of chocolate syrup is unclear, but might be the remaining fluid running down the sides and pooling along this bottom edge. A similar case of dark drizzle is examined in this Brown Moses post, that also shows a better view of the rocket by the dead dog: it has the same dark/greasy-looking metal as these in the same area, forward of the payload tank end-plate. As Higgins described it "the tube of metal where the payload would have been looks black and shiny, possibly covered in a black liquid." I tend to agree on that point.

Add 2019: greasy black pavement.


Ghouta 8-21-2013: not an example?
The Ghouta attack a few weeks later and not far away had an alleged 12 such rockets used, with at least 8 or 9 seen manged afterwards. These sites tend to have a clear blackening of the ground with each rocket hit. But it never looks wet, and usually appears scorched as if by fire (see right). A close-up on grass at one impact site is clear on that point (below). 

Besides at the famous field impact 1 (UN-OPCW visit) and 2 (rocket #197), similar burn rings can be seen with a rooftop where rocket landed, and there are circular scorch-marks near the pile of dead sheep and goats. It might even be part of why they're burnt and why some of them seem torn up. Whatever caused that fire, by the way, would destroy any sarin it might have carried. The damage and burn ring patterns suggest these were fuel-air explosive weapons, not sarin rockets. That's still a minority view but I hold to it. The fuel used in those - not sure, but it might be black and oily, like what the Adra rockets held. The Ghouta rockets and dirt tested positive for sarin days later, but that could be after it was splashed there, like it might have been splashed on that poor dog, by some well-connected Islamists from Douma. So this doesn't count. (So does Adra 8-5 count?)



So 2 possible cases in 2013, not so clear. Phase II in 2017, it's clearer. Is it new, or just newly seen?

Latamnah, 3-24-2017: (added 8-5-18) Only 15 months later did this event get mentioned anywhere. The next-day event had been reported as a chlorine attack, but in mid-2018 the OPCW revealed that samples in both cases showed sarin (report PDF link). On the 24th:
Casualties in the vicinity of the first impact point reported not smelling anything before the onset of symptoms. One witness who inspected the first crater described it as being about 1.5 meters in diameter by one meter in depth. Inside, there was a bubbling liquid and metal fragments. Another witness who saw the crater on the first day described the bubbling liquid as similar to water. Days later, the same crater was seen having a black bubbling liquid. According to both witnesses, a burning sensation on the skin was felt when approaching the crater and dead animals and burnt vegetation were found within 200 meters in the direction of the wind.

Latamnah 3-30-2017: When an alleged sarin bomb was dropped in a gully between orchards, some 170 militants and farm workers hanging out nearby claimed sarin exposure, but none died. The blamed device is an air-dropped bomb with some scraps left - one laying in the bomb crater has the same kind of filler cap seen on a scrap in the crater in Khan Sheikhoun days later. (ACLOS, Bellingcat) The alleged jet-dropped bomb caused vegetation to become strangely flattened and blackened over a wide area, but not seeming burnt - as if by a tsunami of black water that was flowing strongly to the north. (below: the area was also coated with dirt afterwards, apparently from a follow-up explosive bomb or shell) Any inherent hue to this black stuff refuses to pop out under enhancement. Below is just contrast-adjusted to clarify the scene.




Khan Sheikhoun, 4-4-2017:
After this alleged jet bombing with sarin killed nearly 100, there's a strange black fluid splash all around the supposed release. Here an enhanced view shows it has a blue-ish hue, like ink, here seeming blue green or cyan. These densest patches are along the south edge of the crater (note one small patch of the same blue on the other side, but mainly it's this thick only on the south side, extending south and southeast, or towards the camera). Here's an enhanced view from the other side. That long thin streak to the south was probably a fatter shape until someone apparently drove right through that spot.

Those blues spots here appear wet, meaning the sarin has not evaporated yet? That would mean it would still be drifting up in molecules - uite a few of them - into the air. But it might be light enough a paper mask and not staying long would suffice to not die. Some reporters and others who visited the site report falling ill. Is this blue stuff something else added later? No. Its splash pattern goes with the general black, with the same directions of greater spread, because it's all from inside the same rocket (see below).

Reporter and propagandist Hadi Abdullah filmed the area with a drone, providing a nice overview of the scene for a clearer than usual reading of the size and shape of this black splash. From an enhanced view, note the shape of the darkest patch around the crater; it extends most to the lower right and least the opposite way. The denser scatter of displaced road fill goes the same way, more or less to the southeast.

Below is a larger view, also enhanced. The broader dark patch extends much further south thatn north. The other directions are less clear: on the left, we can see where it's splashed across the concrete island at a certain angle, across both levels. From there, it's less clear. On the right it surely extends into the soil, perhaps making it look redder? It's hard to say how far it extends - it just doesn't show up as clearly as it does on the asphalt.

The longest direction of spread will be the direction of travel of the delivery device, if it were traveling. That's not clear yet - it could be from right up the highway, from a bit from the right of that or, more likely, a bit or two to the left (note again the darker patch around the crater).

The highway runs about 19 degrees N-NE on the compass, so the firing direction suggested for this sarin rocket is, basically, from the north. It was said to be a non-propelled gravity bomb that fell from a jet, but the radar shows the nearest jet was, at the best moment, about 4km to the south, passing on an east-west flight path. Even if it were possible for that bomb to drift so far on the wind before hitting, it clearly would come in with a northerly heading on a slant from the south. But all that black sarin clearly splashes in roughly the opposite direction. Huh.

In Review
(forthcoming)

2019 additions (August 22-24)
Among the sources I overlooked before is an old Brown Moses blog post by Eliot Higgins. Among his valuable work was collecting visual sources for the improvised rocket blamed for the Aug. 21, 2013 Ghouta chemical massacre. The mystery rocket he dubbed UMLACA and then Volcano was also "reportedly used by government forces in Daraya, Damascus in January, and in Adra, Damascus in June." In perhaps their first known appearances.

"Regular readers of the blog might recognise this device as resembling an unidentified rocket/missile I've written about recently, reportedly used by government forces in Daraya, Damascus in January, and in Adra, Damascus in June." There's also a use of the volcano in Homs mentioned, the only case of that I know of a "volcano" rocket seen outside the Damascus area, and intriguingly placed on the timeline. Let's consider this one first, briefly.

Homs, August 2, 2013: Higgins wrote "in addition to these images from Damascus we also have this video posted a few days ago from Khalidiya, Homs" - Aug 2 video, said to be full of explosives, bent tube, ruptured tank, but unexploded, intact. There's a pale yellow powder fill (his screen-grab - lower left is fill, above that peeled back metal, with more powder perhaps stuck to it?) that looks like high-explosives to Higgins. I'd credit that. He thinks it "didn't all explode." I propose it didn't explode at all, and the missing part is just from mechanical impact that deformed the tank holding it. That yellow stuff looks pretty similar to the smoldering pieces seen in Daraya on 4 January (see below), but it's not clear if that means anything. There's no black oily splash I can see, and no chemical incidents reported, and they claim it's explosives - in all ways, this is not a "black sarin" example - but worth mentioning, showing, but not dwelling on any longer.

Adra, 6-11-2013: First, the later incident more in line with the above cases: 11 June Liwa al-Islam video, said to be in Adra, as with the August incident. It's not clear if this was or was meant to be the same sarin-related black stuff. I know of no mentions of a chemical attack there at this time, but smaller ones were commonly claimed, mostly in a combat context, killing a couple "FSA" fighters here and there across E. Ghouta through mod-2013. Only a few non-fatal alleged incidents will have crossed my radar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HylX8OiczHk
Islam Brigade (Liwa al-Islam), Junaa al-Tawhid Battalion remnants of the Katim rocket
Original title - لواء الإسلام كتيبة جند التوحيد بقايا الصاروخ الكيم
Original publishing date - June 11th 2013
Original description - None

Here we see no visible splash pattern, raising the question if this its original impact point. But still we see more greasy, dark residue on the rocket tube as seen on August 5, in the same area: what would have been inside the payload tank, whatever it was carrying. Some residue doesn't evaporate, pooled up enough on the underside to trickle when it's rolled over. Another view shows the black shiny character of the metal in the tank area. Higgins noted all these things, and I agree with on all these impressions. I just think it was some part of the Islam Brigade that was firing these things in the first place.

Daraya, 1-4-2013: First, a video of this event was re-posted by Higgins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68YeijuMHec "Important flash one of the rockets that landed this night Daria." Posted 4 January. No fighting group is specified here, but the shared technology (that they claim to be targeted with) suggest an alliance with Jaish al-Islam in Eastern Ghouta, or perhaps its own fighters (I hear they have had a direct presence, not clear when). This shows impact in wet mud that's extra yellow, at least near the rocket. A wide arc around the impact has soil seeming soaked in a black liquid like we've been considering. A very wide area, like a mile off to the right, it seems, is darker than that next to it, maybe for other reasons. Just a narrower arc closer in has a definite black oily character. This should be out ahead of impact normally (in direction of travel), but it looks to be behind it, from how the tailfin points. But in fact, the heavy tail assembly on these flimsy tubes often bend forward after impact. I don't see a bend, but it's probably there way under the mud.

...
That video is filmed in full daylight, likely morning; the rocket is said to have landed this night, overnight, hours ago. But as the video starts near the rocket, at about 0:16 we see faint yellow smoke, rising off the impact area, then thicker, continuing with variances from the breeze, to late in the 1:25 video, which might stop because the smoke seemed to be winding down. The source is apparently from the irregular yellow fragments of various sizes, some pretty large, that otherwise look like part of the impacted soil.

It's possible they were still smoldering from a very slow post-impact process, and the smoke was just invisible for the first seconds because of the breeze. But to me, this yellow stuff seems manufactured for the video. Perhaps something was added to the scene to start a new chemical reaction there? Some dilute acid drizzled on right before he pressed record? It doesn't seem to be very toxic; I'm not sure if the camera operator is wearing a gas mask, but he walks right through the smoke with no sign of worry.

In addition to this scene, Higgins was sent two photographs of another volcano rocket that landed in Daraya the same day, January 4. These show blacktop pavement impacted non-explosively, with a mostly intact rocket lodged in its impact crater, the side-slats of the payload tank peeled back but still connected. There's a serious splash of black liquid on the wall and across the pavement, reflectively wet in spots. Yellow smoke like that seen in the street impact, but even thicker, actively pours out of the crater. Perhaps the same method as the other video, with the yellow chunks invisible down there?

2020 Add: the pavement impact scene is from earlier - on or before 26 December - at most 4 days after the alleged fatal attack on soldiers on 22 December. Bellingcat's early article Volcanoes in Damascus, July 15, 2014
https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/07/15/volcanoes-in-damascus/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYq9p2Ojhgs
داريا خطير - صواريخ نظام الأسد التي تقصف بها المدينة
Darya Danger - Assad regime's missiles bombing the city
uploaded by المجلس المحلي داريّا
Daraya Local Council

We haven't seen a lot of cases, but enough that it might matter this smoldering impact is never seen except in both of these cases on Jan. 4 in Daraya. Is that just the luck of the available views? Or do the chemical volcano rockets only do this in Daraya? It might have been a local specialty in those days; Daraya was also home of this purple smoke bomb blamed for the Dec. 5/6 chemical attack.

The Daraya appearances are important for location and timing.

Location: As partly noted, this is perhaps the only appearance in Daraya, western Ghouta, generally cut-off from Eastern Ghouta, where these appear otherwise. Douma-based Liwa al-Islam seem to be the weapon's usual controllers. LaI may have had a direct presence around Daraya at times. Otherwise perhaps allies had them too - Jabhat al-Nusra springs to mind. They're seen nowhere else in Syria that I know of - and there's a fair amount I don't know of, or knew but forgot - aside from the one sighting in Homs.

Despite the separation, E+W Ghouta terrorists seem to have worked together on the 21 August chemical massacre, though apparently using They agreed on gassing hostages en masse, with LaI providing unclear several hundreds, and whoever exactly in Moadamiya scraped up less than a single hundred. They'd like to use the same weapon to underline the Assad blame and centralized plan, if they could. But different weapons were used - volcanos in the east, some mortar shells in the west, where they apparently didn't have any more volcanos to use. Because this teamwork goes back just as far as this first volcano sighting; the first deadly attacks to emerge in Nov-Dec 2012 happened in what seems like agreed shifts - one attack per week (6-day spans, actually), two near Douma in E. Ghouta, then 2 in W. Ghouta in the weeks before the Jan. 4 volcano impacts there.

Timing: this is by far the earliest appearance of this weapon (AFAIK), besides the only one in its area. There were no toxic gas attack reported at the time I know of, but shortly before this day, in fact ... the second half of those late-2012 CW incidents were in Moadamiya (next to Daraya) around Nov. 28/29, then in Daraya on Dec. 5/6. For what it's worth, one or two of the 4 men killed in the Moadamiya event, and the washroom, appear to be coated and smeared with some kind of black fluid, raising the possibility of an unusual sort of black sarin inclusion. ( incident post) The Dec. 6 reports may link to Dec. 5 video of toxic smoke that's obviously a fake purple smoke bomb or the like, as noted above, and may also to a strangely killed baby they never finished linking (instead, asphyxiated by random smoke from regular shelling). Otherwise, we'd say no fatalities that week, just vague reports and the fake video. ( incident post)

So that 4-attack pattern closed in Daraya on Dec. 6. Then, perhaps unplanned, another incident unfolded there 2 weeks later. On 22 December, 2012, reports emerged of Syrian troops confronting armed "terrorist" groups in or near Daraya being hit with a shell that released a mysterious yellow smoke, effecting many conscripts and causing seven to die in under an hour. If true, that would suggest sarin, which as used in Syria is yellow in color. But it's more of a mist than a smoke... ( incident post shared w/Dec. 6) The reality and full details of this incident (like the weapon used) remain unclear after all this time, but here in Daraya again, another 2 weeks later, they have these rockets landing with black splashes and pouring yellow smoke in a manner not seen elsewhere. If we consider something yellow and real killed Syrian troops, and this yellow smoke were faked ... that could be a coincidence, or maybe their explanation how yellow smoke rockets come from the regime, including these two, probably the one they hit themselves with in December (in case that story sticks - they couldn't know for sure). These views could "show" how that smoke is not fatal, so any soldiers killed in that staged event, well ... surely a conspiracy with Iranians involved. "Defectors" on hand can know all about it on command, etc. (hypothetically - I don't know of such a story being phoned in).

Regardless of that speculation, we have a rater interesting pattern of clues here that seem worth considering in the evolution of the sarin narrative in Syria. These black splashes and volcano rocket link run back at least this close, in time and space, to 12-22-2012, what could be the deadliest sarin attack until the more well-known March, 2013 attack on Khan al-Assal, Aleppo. Apparently launched by Jabhat al-Nusra with a different, smaller and locally made rocket, again targeting SAA troops, sickening many and killing at least one, besides 20-25 mainly civilians killed.

42 comments:

  1. Got it. Did Syria produce their own Sarin wholly from scratch? Or, did they import any of it or the chemical constituents of Sarin from external sources? Black Sarin's got me thinking black market. Remember the Turkish journalists who got into trouble for reporting on consignments of "Sarin chemicals" coming into Turkey from East Europe?

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    1. Hey. I suppose Syria would import most but not all the chemicals needed.

      Terrorists would import it whole, import all materials needed, steal some and import the rest, whatever.

      Black does have many connotations, including black markets, Wahabbi Islamism, death, etc. That's probably a coincidence. But black markey it will be, at least if purchases are recent (since '97?).

      Not sure what journalist that was that got in trouble for that story. I guess that's not a story that I followed. Whole newspapers have been shut down so the sultan can try and keep his secrets.

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  2. How do you think the amount of liquid seen compares between Latamneh and Khan Sheikhoun?

    Crater seems around the same width and if the 'cap' is comparable, similar device? More liquid at Latamneh?

    https://imgur.com/kCMdDnW

    Also wondering why in the videos the White Helmets are seen walking south from the muddy area? They think any remnants will have flown directly away from the town?

    I thought Latamneh was now only 70 victims too- perhaps 100 arrived too early?

    A popular field either way. We'll see if the first patient of the day causes multiple hospitals to fall into "chaos" with their records again.

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    1. Good, question. It appears comparable in spread area, but the Latamnah scene is hard to put bounds on. It should be a smaller and less clear spread, of course, with plants and dirt absorbing it where pavement just lets it splash over and keep going, and lets it show evenly later.

      Good picture. See one was ... well, and the other was like "hey look at us, dead babies, no protection, help us, etc." So you only break out the suits later, when you got your sarin detector out to go beep beep beep off the charts regime sarin attack. After the babies are dead and the sandals-wearing guys finish hauling them off.

      Latamnah Victim numbers vary a lot. HRW heard a total of 169 just at SAMS clinics. It's almost exactly 2x the number UN-OPCW heard, 85 including medics. Medical staff with 2nd contamination is given as 9 in both counts, and the rest is unclear. So it's confused. No reason given for either number of people to be out there. Bellingcat was told cumin farmers were out thinning their plants. The same shady star witness who saw the coma kid step outside and fall down is their source.

      So here, oppo. supporters get to pass on rebel claims there was no rebel presence nearby to target, so it was clearly an attack on civilians. But as it happens, some maybe huge number of fighters came to be nearby, maybe all rushing to help...

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    2. New FFM report is interesting http://undocs.org/S/2017/931

      My first thoughts: if the casualties are all fighters in nearby caves, the White Helmet lied to Bellingcat when they said "the land which was targeted was far from headquarters (of rebels)"

      There is only one 'different' bomb but gravel from a second crater further south is positive for sarin? Not the crater next to the alleged remnants and liquid?

      Very rusty remnants... need to study but if 07SDS is the previously seen 'cap', then the location found does not match where it is seen lying in the video in the crater.

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    3. 07SDS definitely looks to have been moved. Maybe something someone official should be aware of?

      Maybe someone could do a more professional version of this:

      https://imgur.com/BIHgV5V

      https://youtu.be/pq_Ne3CnkKA?t=65
      https://youtu.be/TwUat45Vg4o?t=221

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    4. In fact the locations of the metal parts given may be completely meaningless as they weren't collected until 5th and 30th of July - if they didn't spot 07SDS they could all have been moved by then.

      This sarin had "no odour" too which is very different from Khan Sheikhoun. What happened to those impurities? Very strange.

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    5. My other silly question is if the 2 pin filler cap is unique to an air dropped Syrian chemical bomb and there was one bomb dropped, why are there 2 filler caps (both with sarin)?

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    6. Higgins thinks no mixing device found because it is premixed as suggested by chemistry:

      https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/928013417004363776

      but someone else says latest evidence shows this one has 2 filler ports, which means binary munition

      https://twitter.com/gregkoblentz/status/928769914466422785

      so... different for 2 attacks? I'm confused, are people just making things up?

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    7. Not sure about 2 filler caps - is that another one on 03SDS?

      True on lack of smell - everyone seems to say this, an it's unusual. Strange symptoms as well - narcolepsy and death-like sleep, hallucinations and speaking gibberish? Not usual sarin signs.

      Rusty remnants: why use really old stuff? But it looks really old. Maybe the unknown chemical? It causes stronger than usual burning sensation... might it rust metal like chlorine does?

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    8. As for the Hell Cannon theory, I kind of agree. The tail assembly doesn't seem quite right, and the rest is sort of vague. Still no air bomb matched. And if one is, it could be configured to be fired from a Hell Cannon etc. or launched with a catapult, etc. And it might be an unknown improvised device with nothing around to match it to. Or improvised with some recognizable air bomb parts.

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    9. this 07SDS ... I thought it was part of 01, but I guess just laid with it. Alone then, it looks strangley square, not torn out, but cut out on straight lines at 90-degree angles. This would be very odd, except there's also 11SDS that looks like 3 rectangular plates cut the same way but connected at the bottom. Suggested is, I guess, some perforated plates designed to break apart like this, with the filler cap set in the middle of one plate? I don't know how normal this is.

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    10. I wasn't sure about the other 'filler cap'.

      I do wonder why the countries who have been accusing the Syrian gov don't just provide the radar track for this 6am plane on the 30th. Would really help to prove/disprove, if it dropped 4 bombs along the valley it should also go straight over the town.

      Would also question why the local armed fighters moved into ground level caves after the valley has supposedly been bombed constantly with chlorine.. and with no spotter to warn the people in the caves.

      Perfect place to release sarin/set off an IED and safely watch from the high ground though.

      Possibly significant, KS environmental samples were received by the FFM on April 12th and 13th - the sarin-positive Latamneh gravel was also the 12th. Maybe delivered together?

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    11. By "ground level" I mean of course "at bottom of the valley"

      Rusty remnants make me think of the 2000 repurposed chemical bombs the Syrian gov said had been used in 2013. If true, in theory aging remnants of actual Syrian chemical bombs could be found wherever they were dropped 4 years ago.

      I'm not sure if they have been mentioned since the OPCW last said they had no samples http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=14292

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    12. ..and by extension, if hypothetically the government had taken the trouble to hide those 2000 purpose built chemical bombs and drop them now, the remains would be those of a bomb with at least a decent build quality (to be worth keeping and as they would need no modification)?

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    13. Even the man who filmed a lot of the later Khan Sheikhoun videos has one showing their collection of remnants in Hish

      https://youtu.be/mgjV5rylHGs?t=181

      Similar tail fin anyway (though I strongly believe if the OPCW couldn't identify the parts as unique to a certain bomb, people on the internet certainly won't be able to). If they kept the collected remnants, they would certainly have a good selection of 2013 era bomb parts to put in a field in Latamneh.

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    14. Higgins seems to have declared it an M4000 all by himself but the OPCW weren't even interested in the spring he was trying to ID it seems

      https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/917061633394008064

      and Bellingcat couldn't identify the fuse "used on a large number of aerial bomb types by numerous nations" which doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

      Munition parts "consistent with application in a chemical weapon" is not "unique to a Syrian chemical weapon" and it is interesting that the FFM doesn't describe the Latamneh 'caps' as Syrian chemical filler caps. I wonder what else they are 'consistent' with.. obviously something or it would be a 'slam dunk'.

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  3. For the record, there doesn't seem to be any messages for the Latamneh plane. The plane is simply assumed this time (to go with 0 scientifically verified casualties)

    https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&q=from%3Asentry_syria%20since%3A2017-03-30%20until%3A2017-03-31

    I think the Rootclaim hell cannon round theory is wrong btw, all of the remnants have been identified and provided by the White Helmets, there is no way in the world they would knowingly hand over bits of hell cannon rounds fired by their friendly armed groups.

    The FFM don't seem to have asked for any green metal parts seen in videos that aren't consistent with a chemical munition (e.g. to maybe try and match the paint and rule other parts out) so that makes me think the they have just asked the White Helmets for parts consistent with an air dropped chemical munition.

    I suppose it is like the JIM 'verifying' the plumes video and then asking their expert if it was possible to have dropped one bomb rather than all the bombs the plane would had to have dropped and via the path on the radar track: ignore anything that might rule out the theory.

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  4. It should be noted that even the ISIS sulfur mustard attacks appear (besides symptoms like blisters) pretty similar. The description by witnesses and images show yellow smoke and a black oily "foul-smelling" agent.

    ISIS mustard gas attacks
    Mari Aleppo, 1 September 2015
    Marea, 21 August 2015
    +5 attacks on Peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq

    images of black oily agent
    http://mashable.com/2015/11/06/mustard-gas-in-syria/#l5hJlEOgKEqb
    https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/540737/ISIS-ISIL-world-war-one-chemical-weapons-mustard-gas-Syria-war-crimes-united-nations

    “It smelt like garlic. ..."
    "“I thought it was chlorine at the beginning..."
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/02/syria-mustard-gas-attack-my-body-was-burning

    "Kurdish forces reported "considerable yellow smoke" at the scene of a similar attack on August 31 in the same area in which one fighter was treated for gas inhalation."
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/606424/ISIS-mustard-gas-attacks-Syria-Iraq

    "As the couple were enveloped by dust and foul-smelling smoke..."
    https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/world/middleeast/syrian-familys-agony-raises-specter-of-chemical-warfare.html

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  5. btw it wasn't Higgins who "identified" the M4000. I suggested that the M4000 looks like a pretty good match regarding the tail cone and the filler caps found in Latamneh but I initially was confused by two filler caps.
    https://twitter.com/MichaKobs/status/932074828844224512
    https://twitter.com/MichaKobs/status/932060643561295872
    https://twitter.com/ArtWendeley/status/932276655300775936
    ArtWendeley reminded me that the M4000 comes with two fillercaps.
    The Russians, who provided the drawings of the M4000, missed a big and heavy mixing unit in or close to the craters. Such mixing units are necessary to mix the components prior to the attack.
    ArtWendeley suggested that the components usually are mixed prior to the take off. However, such a unit should be inside the bomb.
    Imho it must be considered that the initial images of the filler cap in Khan Sheikhoun show a silver metal. Later images show that piece of metal heavily corroded. This in fact makes it difficult to simply use some old remnants found anywhere. You would need virtually some "new" filler (without prior contact to corrosive chemicals) and that filler should look like broken away from the rest of the bomb.

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    Replies
    1. Apologies then, I thought it was originally this Bellingcat article that tried to connect the parts to an M4000

      https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/11/13/russia-accidentally-provide-best-evidence-syrian-governments-involvement-sarin-attacks/

      Higgins certainly seems to be selling the theory as fact now anyway even though the FFM did not.

      Also.. possibly interesting to compare this crater with the KS crater (similar road surface), posted the other day (and not sarin bomb obviously)

      https://youtu.be/aU48IE169EU?t=1

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    2. I'm not really sure about the cap looking like silver metal: maybe there is a better example, but I can only find one EMC photo that makes it look silver (top here)-

      https://imgur.com/yiRQ2UQ

      In another EMC photo that looks to have been taken at the same time, the metal looks less silver and more like the photos taken at ~12:30pm. Like it is caked in some light substance a bit like mud, similar to the cap at Latamneh?

      https://imgur.com/nbapWpL

      The explanation could be that the light-mud-like substance is actually still wet in the EMC photo?

      There is a distinctive white rock in the crater in this other angle EMC photo, it gets knocked into the crater sometime between the Reuters crater photo and around midday when Hadi arrives so the silver cap EMC photo must be between 10 and 12.

      The other photos and videos around that time don't look silver to me, could be another I've missed?

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    3. extra white in top view - I think that's the same white residue seen beneath, just catching more sun from that angle and looking whiter (glare effect). It seems pretty dry by then. interesting detail I never noticed. That light residue might be of interest.

      Delete
    4. that other crater: not dissimilar but one difference is radial lines chipped in the pavement in a semi-circle on the side towards us. That's from shrapnel on the down side of an angled rocket, so it came from behind the camera or a bit left. No such marks in KS, consistent with it not being an explosive rocket, so direction clues are harder to read (but still readable, IMO)

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    5. I don't know if Micha will give an opinion on this - I usually completely agree with him - the corner of the crater and metal strip with holes looks to have the same kind of white residue?

      https://imgur.com/mAHRueF

      Also maybe of interest, some of the White Helmets/MMC photos seem to have been taken at the same time as Hadi filmed the crater, possibly Hadi's shoes in the bottom picture

      https://imgur.com/XUbCfUB

      Here is the white rock in the road before it is knocked into the crater - 'silver' cap EMC photo set must be after this

      https://imgur.com/6wo9VIy

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    6. On the very earliest photos and videos that corner of the crater doesn't appear to have the white residue too

      https://imgur.com/PmEZD33

      Seems to appear by the time of the Reuters photo and Al Arabiya video. Could be down to the way it dries? .. or something added between 9 and 10am?

      Delete
    7. The corner of the crater could be an optical illusion, but why would the 'filler cap' end up so corroded when the 'pipe' and electrical box do not?

      Delete
  6. Reading the AW tweets, what do you make of this theory? https://twitter.com/ArtWendeley/status/936347199121821696

    Go to the trouble of producing it, hiding it, planning, loading it onto a plane with their best pilot... who then drops it at random so the sarin bomb might not even be hazardous by the time anyone goes near it? That is the very definition of nonsensical

    Does this theory also mean they agree that Ismail Raslan lied to the FFM about hearing "a swooping sound, as made by a jet when it attacks", Ahmad al-Helou couldn't have seen a plane drop a bomb and lied to HRW, Adham al-Hussein lied to HRW about hearing a plane fly over KS and seeing the "plane fly away towards the north" and 'Othman al-Khani' lied to the press about hearing a radio warning before the "small explosion of the type that occurs when a missile doesn't blow up"?

    And other witnesses are lying if conventional bombs were dropped in a similar way.

    Why would they all tell lies? Why not just drop the bombs in a targeted way?

    Also doesn't explain the FFM/JIM not being able to identify points on the detailed radar track they would surely be given access to where the plane could physically have dropped the bombs to hit those impact points? Or if there is some unlikely anomaly - match a radar track for Latamneh?

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  7. https://twitter.com/SyriaCivilDef/status/945635493282279424

    White Helmet Bashar Dado (who was originally reported as dead by Dr Hazem then told his story in the White Helmets 'Humanity Men' video), killed by an airstrike in KS

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  8. Journalist for British newspaper The Express claims that a 'British chemical weapons expert' was present in Khan Sheikhoun https://twitter.com/marcogiann/status/959386085745979392

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  9. I think this is a new video of the Khan Sheikhoun washing scenes

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rare-footage-shows-chemical-attack-in-syria/

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    Replies
    1. https://twitter.com/CL4Syr/status/967041815420391425

      Delete
    2. Interesting to compare with CNN Gasping For Life, CNN footage seems to be slightly before the CBS footage and that man doesn't seem to be bleeding

      https://imgur.com/EeZejEn

      Many with no gloves and flip flops too, how that fits with Samer al-Hussein being specifically warned of "sarin" I'm not sure
      https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/04/05/522093672/the-view-from-khan-shaykhun-a-syrian-describes-the-attacks-aftermath

      Apologies if on the wrong post (as always)

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    3. To link back to 'black sarin', Mr Mulet's comment that "one single drop here right now would be killing everybody in this studio" is interesting in the context of the apparently still wet but not lethal crater in the Diab, Orient News etc. videos in Khan Sheikhoun (and others like Hassan al-Yousef surviving for 8 hours with no treatment).

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    4. Worth mentioning that the CNN footage now seems to be credited to Adham al-Hussein

      https://rorypecktrust.org/Awards/2017/Award-Finalists/Rory-Peck-Award-for-News/Fadi-Al-Halabi-and-Adham-Al-Hussen

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  10. Indeed, a bit later than some scenes ... it freezes, but I see blood dripped behind the van Mohamed Qaddah was just loaded into. Can't get a good view of the spot hos other blood was. May be covered with clothes?

    not sure why this goes under black sarin, but ok. And while we're here I have an update pending on a fascinating piece at Newsweek... http://www.newsweek.com/wheres-evidence-assad-used-sarin-gas-his-people-810123
    Scott Lucas pans it poorly
    http://eaworldview.com/2018/02/syria-how-newsweek-fell-prey-to-chemical-weapons-disinformation/
    Scott Lucas said he'd debunk my wind direction findings, but then didn't. I'll be calling him out.

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    Replies
    1. "Uzbek (White Helmet) jihadis"?

      I assume this is a (confused) reference to Faruq Shami?

      John Delacour has a theory that Shami's video is the 'proof' supplied with the samples to the Syrian government but I'm not sure how he concluded that. The videos were listed by the FFM as multiple videos delivered on CD, so presumably never made public.

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    2. Uzbeks... not sure, but I think this refers to the guys in hazmat suits seen on video gathering samples and swearing it's sarin (a good guess?). They speak Russian, apparently, so could be Uzbek. I didn't get that at first... You may know that video. I don't have a link handy.

      Not sure if it's linked to Faruk Shami. John Delacour seems to cite some things that just came out of his ass, so no citation is given.

      Delete
    3. Not just you not getting a response:

      https://twitter.com/mistik0s/status/967221601602342912

      It would also have been interesting to hear any ideas other than the high altitude no-aiming theory (that still doesn't work with not being able to connect to radar data and seems to be a bizarre way to use a bomb that supposedly took a "sophisticated and big laboratory" to fill in the first place)

      Perhaps 2ndnewmoon on twitter would be more receptive? Interesting tweets about the sarin 'slurry matrix' and IEDs

      If the translation is accurate, the Faruq Shami video has some samples that didn't go to the OPCW and Kutini doesn't seem to be taking photos, so have wondered if WHs did a second collection attempt that wasn't filmed

      https://imgur.com/YC2RqxA

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    4. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt that they did a more professional unseen sample collection but James Le Mesurier says the clips on 60 minutes (and by extension the Faruq Shami video) are THE White Helmets collection. Presumably FFM only refers to photos as they used stills from the video

      https://twitter.com/lemesurierjames/status/973613024681627653

      The cat doesn't seem to have test results either

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    5. Black sarin and effects: https://youtu.be/2rX3dFoYVfM?t=309

      The al-Daghim video shows how far away he was stood at around 9am, the road has clearly not been closed off and there are no sounds of respiratory distress or the warnings said to have been broadcast from mosques

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  11. My theory on the origins of March 24:

    S/1636/2018
    6.6

    "The FFM further notes the presence of chemicals that may be related to sarin." .. "determines their presence as being related to the very likely use of sarin the day before, and the decontamination of patients at this location."

    They don't associate the results with the sarin victims from the 30th (MF-A = "Ltamenah Hospital" to be running at (5.20) "decreased capacity" due to March 25) so either samples were reportedly taken before March 30 or they claimed that part of the hospital was no longer in use on March 30.

    I think it is possible the FFM found March 24 credible not because of interviews, but because they got the results back for samples from inside the hospital- complete with sarin related chemicals.

    March 24 was then the explanation for the hospital being covered in said chemicals before the March 30 attack had supposedly even happened.

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