Thread: US official: Russia knew in advance that Syria would launch chemical-weapons attack

US official: Russia knew in advance that Syria would launch chemical-weapons attack

• Natasha Bertrand

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Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.AFP/Reuters/Amanda Macias/Business Insider

The US has concluded that Russia knew in advance about the chemical attack in Syria last week that killed dozens of civilians and is believed to have been carried out by Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces, a senior US official told The Associated Press on Monday.

Both Moscow and Damascus have denied that Assad's forces dropped the chemicals, claiming that the gas was released accidentally when a Syrian airstrike hit a "terrorist warehouse" containing "toxic substances."

Experts quickly cast doubt on Russia's explanation for Syria's worst chemical attack since 2013, when Assad, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is believed to have used sarin gas to kill as many as 1,400 people in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria's capital. Assad still denies responsibility for that attack.

The US determined shortly after the attack last week that Syrian warplanes had dropped the chemicals, which caused injuries and deaths that the World Health Organization said were "consistent with exposure to organophosphorus chemicals, a category of chemicals that includes nerve agents."

The Pentagon had been looking into whether Russia was complicit in the attack. A Russian drone was reportedly hovering above a hospital treating victims and then turned off just before the hospital was bombed. US officials believe the hospital was targeted in an attempt to hide evidence of the chemical attack.

Those officials have now concluded that the drone that was hovering above the hospital was operated by Russia, but they have not determined whether the warplane that dropped the bomb was operated by a Russian or Syrian pilot.

"The official said the presence of the drone couldn't have been a coincidence, and that Russia must have known the chemical weapons attack was coming and that victims were seeking treatment," the AP reported.

The US retaliated against Syria for the gas attack on Thursday night, launching 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the airfield where Assad's warplanes are believed to have taken off, loaded with the chemicals.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday that Russia, which helped broker the deal in 2013 to destroy Assad's chemical-weapons stockpile, had been "complicit" or "simply incompetent in its ability to deliver on its end of that agreement."

It is unclear how the US will respond now that officials have concluded that Russia knew of the attack in advance. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday that the Assad regime would be "ill-advised" to use chemical weapons in the future, foreshadowing a potentially greater US response than last week's strike.

http://www.businessinsider.com/russi...-attack-2017-4

Well, we didn't destroy the gas agents at the airbase. We specifically avoided hitting the buildings where they were stored so as not to release the gases and impact civilians.

The question is how did we know where they were stored and what building not to strike because the gas agents were stored there?

Sounds to me like everybody knew the chemical weapons were not destroyed. Of course we would have just found out since sometime after Trump took office.

I think there is a lot to this story we will never know.

Trixie I agree. They say the US concluded how? Mostly it appears to be just hearsay. Something is not right with any of the recent anti-Russian propaganda being thrown around, mostly from leftest democrats and media. I am not saying Russia is innocent but it is coming out how many dealings the democrats had with Russian before Trump now all of a sudden they are the bad guys according to rumors with no actual proof. Yet McCain ( republican) asked for money for his campaign, Podesta was apparently in business with Russia and the Clintons received millions from the horrible Russian government. Our own government trusted Russia enough to give them 25% of our own uranium stock. Apparently Russia wasn't so bad until Trump was elected. Why?

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Originally Posted by posylady

Trixie I agree. They say the US concluded how? Mostly it appears to be just hearsay. Something is not right with any of the recent anti-Russian propaganda being thrown around, mostly from leftest democrats and media. I am not saying Russia is innocent but it is coming out how many dealings the democrats had with Russian before Trump now all of a sudden they are the bad guys according to rumors with no actual proof. Yet McCain ( republican) asked for money for his campaign, Podesta was apparently in business with Russia and the Clintons received millions from the horrible Russian government. Our own government trusted Russia enough to give them 25% of our own uranium stock. Apparently Russia wasn't so bad until Trump was elected. Why?

Absolutely - questions to the point.

I think it's because they know Russia knows stuff about the Obama Administration they don't want to come out, so the opposition wants to make Trump an enemy of Putin so Putin won't tell. While Trump sees this for what it is and is rising above it, poor Nikki and Rex are walking right into the Obamaites trap, which they better spring out of ... quick.

Originally Posted by posylady

. . . They say the US concluded how? Mostly it appears to be just hearsay.

Turkey: Autopsies show sarin gas used against Syrian town; officials investigating

by BASSEM MROUE and PHILIP ISSA, Associated Press
Tuesday, April 11th 2017





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BEIRUT (AP) — Turkey's health minister said Tuesday that test results confirm sarin gas was used in an attack on a northern Syrian town earlier this month and the Russian military said the Syrian government is willing to let international experts examine its military base for signs of chemical weapons.

Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian General Staff said in televised remarks that Russia will provide security for international inspectors seeking to examine Syrian bases, and that Damascus has agreed to allow the inspections. His comments came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow will appeal to the United Nations to investigate the attack on Khan Sheikhoun.

The international chemical weapons watchdog has scheduled a meeting of its executive council to discuss the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria.

According to a written notification posted Tuesday on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons' website, the behind-closed-doors meeting will be held Thursday at its headquarters in The Hague.

The April 4 chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town in Idlib province left nearly 90 people dead. The United States blamed President Bashar Assad's government and launched nearly 60 cruise missiles on Friday at the Shayrat air base in the central province of Homs, where it claims the attack originated.

Moscow, which is a strong backer of the Syrian government, has dismissed suggestions that the Damascus could be behind the attack. The Syrian government also denied the allegation, saying its air force bombed a rebel arsenal that had chemical weapons stored inside.

Putin told reporters on Tuesday that Russia would appeal to a U.N. agency in the Hague, urging it to launch an official probe. The Russian president also said Moscow has received intelligence about planned "provocations" using chemical weapons that would be used to pin the blame on the Syrian government.

The Russian statements came as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Moscow where he will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday.

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Donald Trump has attacked the base responsible for deploying sarin gas on Syrians. What is sarin?
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In Turkey, a main backer of the Syrian opposition, Health Minister Recep Akdag said test results conducted on victims of the Khan Sheikhoun attack confirm that sarin gas was used. Akdag said that blood and urine samples taken from the victims confirmed that they were subjected to the nerve agent. His comments were reported by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Turkey last week conducted autopsies on three victims of the gas attack who were brought from Syria. Officials from the World Health Organization and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons participated in the autopsies.

In Damascus, a Syrian official said Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem will visit Russia on Thursday where he will meet officials in Moscow.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Tuesday that there might be a three-way meeting later this week in Moscow between officials from Russia, Syria and Iran.

Syrian government forces battling insurgents in Daraa have dropped several barrel bombs on the southern city, opposition activists said Tuesday, a day after the White House suggested that the use of the crude explosive devices could bring a U.S. response.

Russia's Defense Ministry meanwhile said two of its army officers were killed and a third seriously wounded in a mortar attack in Syria, without specifying when or where it took place. Russia has been waging an air campaign in support of Syrian forces since 2015.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting in Daraa erupted Monday when rebels attacked a government-held area in the city center. It said 16 pro-government fighters, including an army colonel, have been killed.

Both the Observatory and Daraa-based activist Ahmad al-Masalmeh said warplanes carried out raids on Daraa while helicopter gunships dropped at least 14 barrels loaded with explosives.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday that the use of barrel bombs, which government forces have repeatedly employed throughout the six-year-old conflict, might prompt a U.S. retaliation.

A Syrian official, meanwhile, said residents will begin evacuating two besieged areas in northwestern Syria on Wednesday, in the latest population transfer arranged by the warring sides.

Hakim Baghdadi said authorities have prepared 100 buses to move 5,000 people out of the Shiite villages of Foua and Kfarya. Baghdadi, a member of the relief committee for the two villages, said they will be bused first to the nearby city of Aleppo, then on to other destinations.

The predominantly Shiite villages have remained loyal to the Syrian government while the rest of the surrounding Idlib Province has fallen under the rule of hard-line Sunni rebels.
The rebel commander in charge of two opposition-held towns in western Syria says evacuations will also begin from his districts tomorrow. The commander, who goes by the name Abu Adnan al-Zabadani, said residents and fighters electing to leave will be bused out of Madaya and Zabadani on Wednesday, before the towns are returned to government control.

An arrangement between the government and rebels has linked the fate of the four besieged towns since 2015. The U.N. has decried the arrangement, saying it has served to obstruct the provision of badly needed assistance.
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Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria contributed to this report.

http://kfoxtv.com/news/nation-world/...st-syrian-town