Mr. Pesticide, Gen. Asaad Al-Zoubi
Part three of four:
2018-19 Comments on CW Crimes of Ba'athist Leaders
September 24, 2019
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part 1
3a) Blessing Saddam's Soul for Halabjah?
As part 2 explained, FSA General Asaad al-Zoubi's made a lot of fairly loony public claims in 2016 comments, during his term heading the negotiating team for the whole Syria opposition in Geneva. Perhaps the most controversial among his comments were those about the Kurdish people, their military forces and statehood aspirations, as covered in part 2. Some of these spurred the Kurdish contingent within the HNC to quit the project just two weeks into talks.
But those weren't his first or last words on the subject. A recent re-iteration of the theme in a twitter message of 16 August, 2019, caused a new stir. As
one twitter response put it: “Asaad Alzoubi, one of the Syrian opposition's leader
praising Saddam Hussein, because he was killing Kurds by using a chemical gases. Today, Zoubi wants to play the same role by commiting chemical attacks against Syrian Kurds... # example of Syrian negotiator_”
Another criticism doesn't mention anything chemical, but includes a re-tweet of Al-Zoubi's exact words. But that original tweet was "unavailable" before I saw it. Well before. On 17 August (the day after the tweet)
someone asked "Has he deleted the tweet or shut down his account?" Presumably, he deleted it in embarrassment by then, with or without a friend's advice. At the time I checked (around 27 August), most of the other tweets at
his account were still visible, but that one was gone.
It caused him trouble anyway - his account had already been suspended, as
someone noticed on 22 August. I didn't know about that when I first looked a few days later. It must have been down just briefly before he had the decision repealed. But just checking now, it seems he's suspended again (as of Sept. 11, and still on Sept. 24). That's presumably for the same thing, which is probably the Kurd-bashing comments possibly praising CW-genocide. He was banned more firmly, maybe permanently, we might note after more time to review the complaints
and his reasons for the brief repeal.
He used to be charged with helping shape the future of a nation - what could stop the fighting, who needs released from jail, who cannot be president, etc. That might have played into the initial repeal ("I was at Geneva, you oafs!").
Now he's not even allowed to air his thoughts on Twitter, a platform often criticized as too lax on hate speech and the like.
Wow. That must have been some misstep I should have a look at it if possible. I asked the resourceful Michael Kobs, who found an archived copy of the tweet (at a link that almost instantly expired on my end). The screen grabs he sent are below with details, original text, and an auto-translation to English. (
Kobs tweet)
LBD = PYD, etc. an Arabic-speaking friend helped check the nuances and gave the same gist but no word-for-word, so this is a guessed refinement of the auto-translation. Anything it misses that's significant, someone let me know (comments).
Whenever we uncover the truth about the character of the Kurdish
terrorist organization the PYD, it reveals many animals (donkeys who are tired,
howling dogs, cockroaches, tints [sounds like some tiny insect?], cockroaches, and many worms).
There is no need to use pesticides for these insects.
God bless his soul.
(It's pesticide enough?) for these insects to say the name Saddam,
and they quickly disappear. So their appearance always makes us
have mercy on Saddam.
God bless his soul.
 |
| Halabjah 1988. Al-Zoubi: "God bless (Saddam's) soul" |
He might have seen this as lighthearted, proposing as it does NOT gassing people; even if it might seem warranted, to deal with the subhuman pests of the PYD "there is no need to use pesticides for these insects." Simply remind them how Saddam (Hussein?) did that once (Halabja 1988?), and ...the pests will go away? He seems onto something ugly, if not logical.
Following an "attack on social media" Al-Zoubi explained himself in
an interview for Arabic-language Zaitun Agency. He says it was a misunderstanding. As he clarifies, Kurdish people in general are brother Syrians, but the PYD militant group - at least - "coordinates with the Syrian regime to thwart the people's revolution. They exploited the revolution of the Syrian people and called for an independent entity ...and committed the crimes of genocide and forced components of the core of our people [meaning some (Arab) Sunni Muslims?]" apparently, to lose their homes (translation is unclear).
Forced relocation in areas PYD and other Kurdish forces take over is credibly reported by Human Rights Watch in Iraq (
Nov. 2016), and also in Syria, as reported by
The Nation, Feb. 2017. It's considered an act of genocide, which is a continuum, obviously.
The claims were variously denied by Kurdish officials, or explained as a counter-terror measure, and they might point – in Iraq anyway - to forced Arabization of historically Kurdish areas, acts of genocide they were just just “correcting” (so corrective genocide?). The Kurds are no angels, and I'm no expert, but I noted in 2013 some clues their leaders in Iraq at least took advantage of the ISIS situation, perhaps even helping to create it, to enable their Iraqi Kurdistan; they would let some land be shaken from Baghdad's control, blame them for being too sectarian and causing ISIS, then as possible take the land back and keep it. Consider from the HRW report a commander of Kurdish forces in Iraq, reportedly declaring upon conquests in Nineveh governorate “These territories are Kurdistan's now. We will not give them back to the Iraqi army or anybody else.”
Their cause is not that crucial, but they're selectively boosted in the West because, I guess, they can cause grief for to the Syrian and Iraqi governments, because they want their own country, not a caliphate or an emirate. Little wonder there's a long attraction, but this Islamist takeover is quite a sinister thing for the Kurds and their external sponsors to be taking advantage of. They should stand with the nations they're in, and talk degrees of autonomy later. First both ISIS and all those others the HNC had under its umbrella would need to be defeated.
So Al-Zoubi may have a point, or just a pointless, hate-inspired gripe with a
near-explanation available. But he never did explain the references to “Saddam” and "pesticide" use, and why that event can be glibly invoked against
just the PYD when the attack itself was against primarily civilians. He offered no explanation and also deleted that tweet as if it simply could not be explained – at least within civil bounds. Now, this is/was a professional political operative, heading negotiations on issues of war and peace, justice and morality, etc. - by record of tweets anyway, he says little, and it will be relatively guarded and careful. This kind of comment could mark the edges - things he wouldn't normally say, has to un-say if he slips. I mean, he's not talking about Alawi or Shia people here, but the widely-championed Kurds. we can wonder how wide and deep is the pool of uglier thoughts he's even more careful with?
I can partly endorse the efforts of some French Kurds' effort to sue Gen. Al-Zoubi over this comment. They hope to have him tried in French courts for "apology for war crimes and genocide," punishable by up to five years in prison." (
Le-Point) For anyone in the world? As someone who's been
accused of apologizing for war crimes, this raises questions for me. But I'd be denying the crime, not smiling about it and waving it in peoples' faces. Their lawyer, Antonin Péchard, found the deleted tweet counted as "provocation to violence." That's debatable, but he cites "a direct and unambiguous allusion to the crimes committed in Iraq in 1988, recognized as genocide before the court in The Hague.” As he decodes it, “the menagerie” - or what I have as “many animals” - “is the Kurdish people.” He actually specifies PYD, not the Kurds at large. But then “Saddam, of course, is Saddam Hussein and
"the insecticide is the poison of his chemical weapons," most famously used at Halabjah against a lot of Kurdish people at large, so the meaning of “menagerie” IS pretty dubious.
On a side-note, Saddam Hussein also gassed a lot of Shi'ites in Iran in 1988 and earlier, some background information for Al-Zoubi and other hardcore Sunni fanboys of that Ba'ath party leader. Considering all this and how it plays into the following, I've given al-Zoubi the nickname “Mr. Pesticide.”
3b) Damning Assad's Soul over Douma
So there's some worry about Al-Zoubi's rehtoric inspiring future acts of violence, perhaps even chemical violence. Just from what's seen, that's a stretch. But either way, some of his allies need no encouragement.
The Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) of his fellow HNC bargainer Mohammed Alloush is epic in its criminality. They're behind killing off all sort of opponents and critics and the sectarian-based kidnapping of hundreds of civilians at once in December, 2013 at Adra (teamed with Jabhat al-Nusra). They've arrested thousands more from Adra and elsewhere across East Ghouta, military and civilian alike, including women and children. They subjected prisoners to harsh conditions and torture, starvation and slave labor, besides other crimes known and still-unknown.
Some possible JaI crimes involve chemical weapons allegations, two of which we now consider, starting with the Douma incident of 7 April, 2018. This was easily blamed on the Syrian government, triggering the second of two yearly April missile strikes led by US president Trump. Al-Zoubi firmly credits Assad with the attack and considers the attack criminal, not laudable. So he's for
all CW attacks, and not even for all those blamed on Ba'ath party leaders. He's more selective than that. The Douma attack was said to kill random Sunni Arabs, not Kurdish or PYD "terrorists." And Assad, for what it's worth, is not a Sunni Muslim like Saddam Hussein was, and gets aid from Iranians instead of gassing them. For whatever mix of reasons, Al-Zoubi does not ask for Assad's soul to be blessed, but labors instead to expand the case for its damnation.
In the 18 months since the Douma incident, serious study has shown the opposition's claims to be fraudulent on every level. The physical evidence is clear to OPCW's suppressed experts, Russia's experts, and independent researchers who show their work: someone manually planted two barely dented chlorine gas cylinders at or beneath unrelated damage from explosive weapons. There are troubling signs the 35 seen victims – mostly women and children - were
captives of Jaish Al-Islam, mass-murdered so they could plant some bodies underneath one of those forged scenes and blame Assad. It seem s they were intentionally killed in a gas chamber using an unusual method that left
ugly clues still being unraveled. Al-Zoubi's Islamist buddies piled the bodies near water faucets so the residues could be
washed off their faces and hair just minutes before the first video – leaving behind dingy rags and one of the respirator masks they probably wore to protect against the fumes still coming off these people during transport (likely in Jaish Al-Islam's fabled tunnel system – a confined space). Visuals below, from
my own tweet.
Yes, this was almost surely a false-flag managed massacre by JaI as they finally lost their home base in Douma, and saw their last chance to gas any hostages they'd rather not free, and last chance to have a lot of bodies at once to blame on Assad. They had promised to release some 3,000 detainees as part of the surrender deal, but a lamentable 200 or so ever emerged (
AFP). Quite likely some of the missing thousands wound up piled in those photos.
It took a while to see all that, but just one day after, on 8 April, 2018, as most of us were rather hazy, Gen. Asaad al-Zoubi gave
an interview to Turkey-based SMART News where he's described only as “a political and military analyst,” revealing a stunning inside view; as the headline sums it up, "Opposition general reveals that Russia and Syrian government prepared toxic gas month before Douma massacre." Considering my interest in the details of the Douma incident, his full explanation is worth some detailed analysis in another post (part 4, forthcoming). But it's worth relating in brief here, for comparison.
Like many, he seemed sure it was Assad's deadly sarin nerve agent that killed people in Douma; "Al-Zoubi assured that the forces used a nerve gas that causes immediate asphyxia, and has a stronger effect than chlorine gas." He or SMART News thought the death toll was at least 85 (which is also noted as the death toll for the Khan Sheikhoun sarin attack a year earlier). But that was “at an early count” that actually grew to ~180 and was later claimed to be 187. Mysteriously, only 42 were ever "verified,” and only chlorine turned up at the location where most of the bodies were found. Simple chlorine should have killed close to zero people, not 42, or 85, or 187. Did Al-Zoubi know about that problem in advance? On day 2, he claimed
the chlorine dropped along with the nerve agent instantly erased all signs. But as I'll explain in part 4, this is nonsense.
He claimed to know all about the super-deadly agent that's “similar to sarin” (which seems to mean it was sarin – allegedly – but he'd rather leave some wiggle room?). He says it was specifically brewed for the purpose a month earlier, in full violation of Syria's OPCW obligations, and with the help of three particular Russian officers Al-Zoubi could probably name (but didn't), in a pretty audacious and satanic conspiracy. He claimed to know where the poison was made, when it was moved and where to, including to Dumayr airbase, where people said the CWs were loaded onto helicopters for use on 7 April. He probably failed to mention any of that knowledge over the weeks of alleged preparation because it only appeared in his "information" network - fully formed – just a few hours before this interview.
But despite being total nonsense, the Zoubi narrative might be too well-informed to be an innocent guess. His info was likely provided by the true experts who knew inside details like how no sarin would turn up, as they originally planned. Again, the likely perpetrators are Douma-based Jaish Al-Islam, whose state of defeat might cause logistical failures like their sarin supply getting unexpectedly blown up, for example. Because, again, their political leader was one of Zoubi's contacts from the HNC days. And the victims ... not Kurds or probably any other minority, but the largest portion of a named 35 are seemingly related to a military opponent of JaI: An “FSA” faction called Douma Martyr's Brigade led a tragically failed rebellion against the “Army of Islam” in late 2014. That in turn started a few months after its founder – Mohammed Diab Bakriyeh – was killed “in clashes” with government forces, on the same day an apparent civilian brother of his was killed by random government “shelling.” (
see here.) Does that reflect the same growing tensions that led to open rebellion soon after? And does it show Commander Bakriyeh's family was fair game to kill and falsely report the cause of death? The answers could both be yes, and if so, it's quite possible that 11 people named Bakriyeh (plus unclear others related by blood and marriage) would get kidnapped over time, held until the end in 2018, and finished off then rather than set free. If so ...the elaborate story Gen. Al-Zoubi passes on would be fake, and he'd be helping conceal a gross war crime by his allies, bt passing it off as yet another Assad crime. To the intelligent, that would be cause to wonder how often that kind of thing happens.
3c) When Jaish Al-Islam Gasses Kurds
Considering his take on Douma, if Gen. Al-Zoubi's Islamist cohorts ever did gas some Kurds, don't be surprised if he weighs in with dubious but specific "information" blaming Syria and implicating Russia, or Iran, or perhaps ISIS or China.
In fact, I had to check with an attack on the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud district of Aleppo, on 7 April, 2016. In this little-understood event, I propose the agent used was not the reported chlorine gas. The agent color is wrong (seen on video, too orange-yellow, and also too lightweight), and the smell might be (described as "strange," not bleach-like). It might have been a nerve agent, going by the reported symptoms (including "convulsions, spasms and vomiting"), and its
killing a reported 23 people to an expected zero for chlorine. (
gathered sources at ACLOS)
 |
7 April, 2016: Al-Zoubi ally's militia launches "pesticide" against Kurds? 23 died?
(color: increased saturation but same hue = not chlorine (yellow-green)) |
Note: "Yellow phosphorous material" was also cited as the agent, but that should probably be a sort of burning irritant, not likely fatal (based on some research). Also I've seen before where someone mistranslates “organophosphate” this way to describe
a likely sarin attack. Three such cases are listed
here: Interestingly, twice before in the same district – shortly before in 2016, 9 March (with the same "yellow" description) and in 2013, 13 April, where 3-4 civilians were listed as killed, later revised to 14. the VDC heard early reports of “white phosphoric material and then other sources said it is
(Sarin Gas)" which won the contest. (The same odd weapon involved in Sheikh Maqsoud was used in another event 2 weeks later at Saraqeb, that was verified as having sarin inside.) And 2013, 3-24 Adra, Damascus Suburbs, next to Douma and partly occupied by Jaish Al-Islam, where 2 fighters were reportedly killed and several sickened: "Doctors are describing the chemical weapon used as phosphorus" that otherwise fits the bill of a nerve agent. Spasms are seen, and atropine
was an effective treatment.
ACLOS None of these reports mentions
pinpoint pupils, a key indicator, but otherwise ...
In 2016 anyway, this is not chlorine, nor is it mustard gas, nor that mysterious BZ/Agents 15 phoned in a few times. Is it sarin, or something else not yet identified as a CW used in Syria? Either seems plausible to me. More clarity would be nice.
Whatever it is, apparently Jaish Al-Islam has it. Further clues a few paragraphs down suggest they share this access with Al-Qaeda franchise Jabhat Al-Nusra.
In what can only be a coincidental twist, that fatal Aleppo attack was exactly two years before the Douma incident we just considered. So both of these 7 April incidents across the country from each other were probably the work of Douma-based Jaish Al-Islam which, as a coalition, also had external branches, including one in Aleppo. It was they who were fingered for the Sheikh Maqsoud chemical attack, and a statement followed that one of their fighters was in trouble for using "prohibited weapons" there. I found no comments by Gen. Al-Zoubi, but he would surely agree with his chief negotiator Mohammed Alloush, who denied the claims - not as part of the HNC but as the political leader of the likely perpetrators. “This is really a big lie, which is laughable.” He swore JaI had no chemical weapons and if they did, would never use them on "our civilians." Rather, To Sputnik news, Alloush "once again accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of using chemical weapons in the country," if not in this particular case. He explained they only fired regular grad rockets at "our civilians" in Sheikh Maqsoud that day, and someone else must have fired in that toxic gas on the Kurds at the same time. He gives no indication who that would be, and implicitly suggests there was no chemical incident at all. I mean, how else could the situation be “laughable” to kind of guy once charged with heading big talks in Geneva? (
Global Security.org)
JaI at large has also claimed the public statements about "forbidden weapons" were misread – they never referred to the CW claims they
seemed to refer to, but coincidentally made a public show of reprimanding a fighter for unauthorized modification of GRAD rockets. (
The Daily Beast) Maybe he modified them to deliver CW, and it actually was authorized, but just caused to much bad PR. Alloush found the ensuing confusion “laughable,” so maybe that big non-admission is
the practical joke it kind of seems like. (
ACLOS)
Some context: 5 April the deadliest day yet of indiscriminate terrorist shelling of the Sheikh Maqsoud district. "Saad, a pharmacist, described 5 April as “the bloodiest day the neighbourhood had witnessed”. He said that shelling from armed groups continued for nine hours straight. He added: “We counted at least 15 Hamim rockets and more than 100 mortars. The shells were falling everywhere, it was indiscriminate.” (
Amnesty International) Two days later came the deadly "pesticide" - as some might put it - launched on the Kurds there by the group led by Zoubi's chief negotiator.
And following on that were reports of
an earlier chemical attack: "Lebanese Hezbollah fighters said that they were also attacked by chemical weapons during the night from Sunday to Monday (April 3/4), when
terrorists attacked the settlement of al-Yis in the south of Aleppo." Kurdish YPG sources "confirmed" the claims; "According to the militias, dozens of civilians suffered as a result of the attack," which they blame Turkey for. There's no mention of deaths directly caused by the chemicals. (
RIA, Russia) The place is not phonetically obvious, but probably Al-Eis
on Wikimapia, the only place south of Aleppo I found with a name that could also be transliterated al-Yis. Arabic: العيس
Gtrans pronunciation: aleyisu) It's described as Sunni-majority (and not Kurdish?), well southwest of Aleppo city, about halfway to Saraqeb, but still inside Aleppo province. Other Names: Ash Shaykh Isa. Next-door areas labeled
Tell Al-Eis and Jabal Al-Eis.
A Reuters report of 6 April said "the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front … last week attacked and captured a town" south of Aleppo, killing 11 Hezbollah fighters and 43 Syrian soldiers, then "shot down a Syrian warplane on Tuesday (the 5th) and captured its pilot" The town is given as
Telat al-Eis - probably meaning the Tel Al-Eis (al-Yis) above with the chemical attack during the Aug. 3-4 conquest. On the 6th, the Reuters story related "intense air strikes in the southern Aleppo area," described as "the fiercest government assault in the area since an agreement to ease the fighting came into effect in February."
The HNC's al-Zoubi "told Reuters the truce was “in danger of ending”
due to government violations." He referred to the February deal he apparently had nothing to do with, and seems to mean these new strikes – not the 5 April shelling of Aleppo by his allies, or the 3/4 April gassing and takeover of a town near Aleppo. His only and urgent issue was government retaliation against the designated terrorists of al-Nusra Front. The article notes Nusra (then calling itself Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) was never party to the ceasefire, but "its fighters are deployed near rebel groups that are.”
In fact they often share the exact space with and cooperate with such "good-guy" Islamists. The same article cites a fighter of the Sham Revolutionary Brigades who "said his group had taken part in repelling the attack (on al-Eis), and Shi’ite militias fighting with the government had suffered heavy losses." The Sham Revolutionary Brigades probably was party to the cease-fire and off-limits, despite being embedded with al-Nusra. The ceasefire was said to cover basically everyone but Nusra and ISIS, and these guys in particular were one of the "moderate" Islamist groups in Aleppo province who were vetted and given US TOW anti-tank missiles in 2015 (child-beheaders Nouredin al-Zenki were another such sponsored group -
news story)
So in context, the HNC head of delegation implied that even Al-Nusra should be allowed to overrun anywhere and do anything from there, so long as they have some exempted “rebels” tagging along as human shields. A failure by Damascus to recognize that protection would destroy the fragile and
ever-so-useful dialog in Geneva. Can we see what a scumbag this guy is? Al-Zoubi denounced only the government's responsive portion of this as harmful to peace. On that basis, he threatened yet again to end talks, and encouraged more terrorist attacks (explicitly on the 17th - see part 1). Any further chemical attacks on Kurdish fighters and civilians, like the one that happened the day after his statement about government violations ... “Mr. Pesticide” would see nothing to complain about, anyway, and in private, he might praise some souls over it.
