Originally posted by Methuselah
I thought Assad’s government specifcally wasn’t allowing any third party to verify whether chemical weapons were used or not used.
So how could it be proven, even if they really did use them
Assad handed over his entire chemical weapons stockpile at the beginning of the war, after the first Ghouta attack, and it was verified as destroyed by the US. There was ONE attack with a nerve agent after that, and all the (actual) evidence I've seen indicates that it was smuggled in via Turkey. Russian analysts tested it against samples from Assad's original stores and determined that it was not a match; that it had to have come from somewhere else - the US rejected this, arguing that Russia must've tampered with the samples but refused to test it themselves. Even the UN team that investigated the initial Ghouta attack said that it was very unlikely it was committed by the government but that report was buried - have a look at Carla Del Ponte's interviews, some are still on youtube.
Almost all of the attacks during the war were of chlorine gas, which is a really shitty chemical weapon that generally doesn't do more than force people out of cover. Assad was fine with allowing UN inspectors visit the sites, but as they were typically in rebel-controlled areas or directly on the frontlines, he wasn't able to guarantee inspectors' safety. You'd think the US would be able to negotiate safe passage with their proxies if they really wanted those sites inspected, but it apparently wasn't the case.
Check out the second Douma attack; it prompted a largely impotent cruise missile barrage from the US, but turned out to be completely staged. The White Helmets took advantage of the panic in the aftermath of artillery shelling, claiming a chlorine gas attack and using video footage of several people that were actually being treated for dust and smoke inhalation.
Originally posted by Methuselah
Also lol @ how every time aldra posts it becomes a conversation about mid-east politics. I thought this was about killing babies lulz
kek, I was mostly trying to push that naked baby off the screen