Syrian-Iranian chlorine bombs a mockery of US-Russian accore

[Eric]

New Syrian-Iranian chlorine bombs make mockery of US-Russian chemical accord and UN monitors

Special Report Apr 21, 2014, 2:55 PM (IDT)
On April 11, Syrian planes dropped Chinese-manufactured chlorine gas canisters rigged with explosive detonators on Kafr Zita near Hama. Since then, British and French intelligence sources report at least four such attacks against the northern towns of Idlib and Homs and the Harasta and Jobar districts outside Damascus. Assad is dropping these crippling gas bombs at the rate of one every three days, mocking the 2013 Kerry-Lavrov chemical disarmament pact.

Iran is buy Chinese chlorine in industrial quantities off the Internet from a Hangzhou-based firm.

Nonetheless, Sigrid Kaag of the UN Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Saturday, April 19, that Syria had destroyed approximately 80 percent of its arsenal as agreed under the Kerry-Lavrov accord. At this rate, she said, Syria will have got rid of 100 percent of its chemical arsenal by the April 27 deadline.
The French President Francois Hollande admitted April 20, however, that the Syrian leader had continued to use chemical weapons on the front line, but he denied that definite proof had not been established.
On April 7, Israel Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon offered chapter and verse to prove that the Syrian army had perpetrated a chemical attack on civilians in he town of Harasta on March 27, causing scores of serious injuries and lasting damage to children.
Yet although Assad continues to fight civilians with chemical weapons up to the present, neither the Obama administration, nor the Russian Kremlin or the United Nations find his actions reprehensible enough to warrant rebuke or even concern.

[nosborne48]

Very bad.

[Eric]

http://news.yahoo.com/france-informatio ... 54472.html

More info here.

[Rich Douglas]

The source of the first post seems murky. I don't see that text in any major new source. The second source--Yahoo--is a bit more authoritative, but it is also considerably less specific about the details.

[Eric]

U.S. says has indications toxic chemical used in Syria this month
Reuters By David Brunnstrom
13 hours ago
A woman breathes through an oxygen mask inside a field hospital in Kfar Zeita village in the central province of Hama .
View photo
A woman, affected by what activists say was a gas attack, breathes through an oxygen mask inside a field …

By David Brunnstrom

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has indications that a toxic chemical, probably chlorine, was used in Syria this month and is examining whether the Syrian government was responsible, the U.S. State Department said on Monday.

"We have indications of the use of a toxic industrial chemical" in the town of Kfar Zeita, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, referring to a rebel-held area.