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Comment by hankutark | Hacker News Reader

This post is seriously flawed as it completely forgot to mention the previous chemical attack. It happened a few months ago and there was a huge uproar by western states, specially US. But the media suspiciously quieted down as soon as many organisation including UN and French investigations proved that the rebels were behind the attack. No actions were taken then by any countries.

And now this article claiming to provide info on the conflict has not a single mention about it. I call BS!!

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Also, no mention of Wahhabi Jihadists that are being brought in from all over the world to fight Assad regime. There is a good piece by German media that talks about how Europe is supporting ultra-extremist insurgency in Syria [1] by turning the blind eye on Turkey, which is providing al-Qaeda affiliated jihadists with arms, shelter and healthcare. They gather in Turkey, then proceed to fighting Assad regime and massacring civilians by thousands in the spare time. [2][3]

Syrian rebels in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta have admitted to Associated Press correspondent Dale Gavlak that they were responsible for last week’s chemical weapons incident which western powers have blamed on Bashar Al-Assad’s forces, revealing that the casualties were the result of an accident caused by rebels mishandling chemical weapons provided to them by Saudi Arabia.

“From numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families… many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the (deadly) gas attack,” writes Dale Gavlak. [4]

Dale Gavlak has been a Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press for two decades and has also worked for National Public Radio (NPR) and written articles for BBC News.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pdvbinNLH8

[2] http://www.opendemocracy.net/rozh-ahmad/mass-slaughter-of-ci...

[3] Search the Web for "Lattakia Massacre" (caution, very explicit content!)

[4] http://www.mintpressnews.com/witnesses-of-gas-attack-say-sau...

The Le Monde article makes a strong case that there have been previous chemical attacks by the Syrian Goverment.

http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2013/05/27/chemi...

Can you share a link substantiating that French investigations proved rebels were behind some of the chemical attacks?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/1...

UN accuses Syrian rebels of chemical weapons use

Syrian rebels have made use of the deadly nerve agent sarin in their war-torn country's conflict, UN human rights investigator Carla del Ponte has said.

"According to the testimonies we have gathered, the rebels have used chemical weapons, making use of sarin gas," del Ponte, a former war crimes prosecutor, said in an interview with Swiss radio late on Sunday.

"We still have to deepen our investigation, verify and confirm (the findings) through new witness testimony, but according to what we have established so far, it is at the moment opponents of the regime who are using sarin gas," she added.

You have one investigator commenting on preliminary evidence, but the actual commission investigating not backing her up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22424188

Carla Del Ponte told Swiss TV that there were "strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof".

Ms Del Ponte did not rule out the possibility that government forces might also have used chemical weapons.

Later, the commission stressed that it had "not reached conclusive findings" as to their use by any parties.

"As a result, the commission is not in a position to further comment on the allegations at this time," a statement added.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the statement was terse and shows that the UN was taken by surprise at Ms Del Ponte's remarks.

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