Image copyright Reuters Image caption The press got a photo of a crater in Khan Sheikhoun, which shows parts of the ammunition

The death of more than 70 people, including children and women, as a result of poisoning with a chemical warfare agent in Syria has outraged the international community. The main version, which is considered in the world press, is the bombing of the village of Khan Sheikhun in the province of Idlib with chemical munitions, which was staged by the aviation of the government forces of Bashar al-Assad.

Russia insists on an alternative version - acknowledging the bombing, it claims that no chemical munitions were used, and a cloud of deadly gas, probably sarin, appeared after the bomb hit a chemical weapons warehouse belonging to an armed opposition group that was being delivered to Iraq.

Meanwhile, none of the parties has not provided convincing evidence of their correctness. Allegations of Syrian aviation involvement in the chemical attack are based largely on eyewitness accounts.

Only one photograph of the munition rupture site, in which parts of it are visible, got into the press. But at the same time, no one has yet identified them as part of a chemical projectile, bomb or rocket.

The Russian Defense Ministry's claim that an opposition-owned chemical weapons facility was blown up is not supported by any intelligence, although Russian forces have at least unmanned aerial vehicles capable of taking aerial photographs.

The Syrian military also denies using chemical weapons, claiming that members of an opposition group sprayed the gas.

The international investigation team Bellingcat has been gathering evidence of what happened in the area on the morning of April 4th. Judging by the report released by the group, it is currently difficult to establish exactly how much ammunition was dropped, whether it was bombs or rockets. Some witnesses say helicopters were involved in the raid.

The report also says that after the civilians were poisoned, airstrikes were carried out on the hospitals where they were taken, without the use of chemical weapons.

The Syrian government, however, in recent years has not recorded and proven the use of such a strong poisonous substance as sarin.

cautious reaction

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons issued a statement condemning those behind the use of chemical weapons in Syria, but did not point to either side. "The OPCW Fact-Finding Team is collecting and analyzing information from all available sources," the statement said.

Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have not yet filed charges against either side of the conflict.

However, Human Rights Watch said in a statement that "Syria canceled its chemical weapons program in 2013 after dozens of people were killed in a chemical attack on the outskirts of Damascus, probably by government forces."

"But this did not mean that the Syrian government forces stopped using chemical weapons. On the contrary, their use became regular in Syria. Human Rights Watch recorded dozens of cases when helicopters dropped containers of chlorine," the statement said. It also notes that the use of poisonous substances was also recorded by militants of the Islamic State group banned in Russia and a number of other countries.

Perhaps the only thing that no one seems to doubt is the very fact of the use of a poisonous substance, the victims of which were civilians, many of whom are children.

eyewitness accounts

Syria has been in a state of grave and bloody conflict for several years now. civil war, and reliable operational information from the combat zone is very difficult to obtain. Nevertheless, eyewitness accounts got into the press.

Mariam Abu Khalil, 14, told the New York Times that she saw the plane drop a bomb on a one-story building. After that, Mariam said, a yellow cloud rose above the explosion site, after which her eyes began to burn.

She described it as "fog". The girl took refuge in the house and then saw how people came running to help the victims. "They inhaled the gas and died," she said.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption After civilians were poisoned by sarin, medical aid stations were hit with conventional ammunition

Photographer from the opposition " medical center Idlib" Hussein Kayal told the Associated Press that he woke up from the sound of the explosion at about 6:30. When he arrived at the scene, he did not smell any. He saw people who were lying on the floor without moving. Their pupils were constricted.

The head of the charity ambulance service in Idlib, Mohammed Rasool, told the BBC the time of the strike was around 6:45 a.m. After 20 minutes, his medical staff arrived at the scene and found people on the street, including children who were choking with a cough.

The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, which helps medical facilities in Syrian opposition-controlled territories, said three of its staff were injured while providing care at the scene.

According to the descriptions of the doctors of the Union, the victims had redness of the eyes, there was foam from the mouth, the pupils were constricted, the skin and lips turned blue, breathing was difficult up to complete suffocation.

Traceschemical attacks

Reuters released a photograph showing a crater from a munition explosion. It shows a large fragment, which, however, is difficult to judge the type of ammunition and its belonging.

In the past, during chemical attacks using chlorine, as well as after the use of conventional munitions against civilians or representatives of international organizations, images with fragments of ammunition appeared in the press immediately after these events, by which one could determine their type.

For example, after chlorine was used in the province of Idlib in 2015, Reuters published pictures of opposition representatives who showed containers with visible markings.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption An opposition group activist demonstrates a canister, which, according to the oppositionists, contained chlorine. This canister, according to the opposition, was used by Syrian troops in the province of Idlib in May 2015.

After an air strike on a UN humanitarian convoy carrying medicines and food near Aleppo was carried out in September 2016, representatives of the Syrian civil defense detachment handed over Russian-made OFAB-250-270 high-explosive fragmentation bombs to the Bellingcat investigation team.

A few days after the shelling of the suburbs of Damascus in August 2013, a group of UN representatives was admitted to the place, who discovered, studied, measured and photographed fragments of rockets, which, according to the group, were indeed equipped with this poisonous substance.

In other words, the presence of fragments of ammunition serves as strong evidence of the very fact of the use of ammunition with a poisonous substance. In this case, since Russia does not deny the use of aviation in this area, and the opposition does not have planes or helicopters, this would be serious evidence.

Image copyright English MOD Image caption The Ministry of Defense released a video that the military claims shows an SUV carrying a mortar along a convoy in September 2016. No footage of the laboratory destroyed on April 5 was shown.

Russia, in turn, announced that "Syrian aircraft struck a terrorist warehouse where there were arsenals of ammunition with chemical weapons that were delivered to Iraq."

"On the territory of this warehouse there were workshops for the production of land mines filled with poisonous substances. From this largest arsenal, ammunition with chemical weapons was delivered by militants to the territory of Iraq. Their use by terrorists has been repeatedly proven by both international organizations and the official authorities of this country," the spokesman said. Ministry of Defense of Russia Igor Konashenkov.

Russia did not provide any evidence that Assad's army aircraft really bombed an underground chemical laboratory. Meanwhile, the Russian group in Syria has intelligence assets at its disposal, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, images from which could at least serve as an argument in this dispute.

After shelling a humanitarian convoy, the Ministry of Defense showed pictures that were taken from a drone, which clearly shows a car towing a mortar along the convoy.

Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday morning that the Russian military has such materials. "There are means of objective control that the Russian armed forces have in the course of their operation, which they carry out in Syria," he said.

War poison

On Thursday afternoon, Turkish doctors who performed autopsies on the bodies of those killed in the chemical attack said they were . This statement was the first evidence that this gas was used in the attack.

Up to this point, the use of Sarin has been talked about informally, and judgments have been based largely on appearances. For example, sarin is practically colorless and odorless (and photographer Hussein Kayal drew attention to this circumstance).

This is the strongest poisonous substance, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a British chemical weapons expert, told the BBC. According to him, chlorine has been mainly used in Syria so far.

"All the victims in Aleppo for Last year, and especially in preparation for the evacuation before Christmas, suffered from chlorine. Most of it appears to have been sprayed from the air, and was sprayed by the [air] regime. Perhaps the rebels somehow used chlorine in Aleppo to cause big number victims, but chlorine is very different from sarin. By toxicological standards, if we take chlorine as a unit, then sarin will be 40,000,” he said.

Sarin can be stored in two forms - either in the form of two or more components that can be mixed before use (a very difficult task that is performed on special equipment), or in its pure form.

Sarin is an unstable substance and it is very difficult to store it in its pure form. In addition, it is a chemically rather aggressive substance, and containers made of special materials, such as, for example, titanium, are used for storage.

As told by the BBC Russian expert on chemical weapons, President of the Union "For Chemical Safety" Lev Fedorov, under certain conditions, sarin can be stored for a long time.

A September 2013 report by the US Congressional Study Group states that sarin was stored in Syria in binary form, that is, in the form of two components.

In binary munitions, the two components of sarin are in separate containers and are mixed after the projectile is fired or the rocket or bomb is launched. Such ammunition is usually stored dismantled, and containers with components are placed in them before use.

Could there be sarin in the clandestine factory?

Sarin, according to Lev Fedorov, is very difficult to produce, and, according to him, it is simply impossible to do it in underground conditions.

"It's a tough task. Some chlorine or phosgene is all right, and sarin is a very difficult task," he said. According to Fedorov, chemists in the USSR after World War II spent several years just transporting sarin production at a chemical plant from Germany and localizing it in Stalingrad.

"It doesn't happen, it was either brought in, or it's fantasy," he said, answering the question whether the oppositionists could organize the production of the substance in clandestine conditions, as the Russian Defense Ministry claims.

He did not rule out that someone could "steal sarin from the Syrian army," but he emphasized that these are purely theoretical considerations and he has no information on this subject. It is not available in open sources either.

In neighboring Iraq, after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, munitions filled with sarin were discovered, which had been left in warehouses since the first Iraqi war in 1991.

Iraq was supposed to destroy them, but managed to hide them. In 2004, militants attempted to detonate a 152-millimeter artillery shell with sarin, but the explosive device made on its basis was defused.

Could the Syrian army have sarin?

Even before the start of the civil war, Syria had significant stockpiles of chemical warfare agents, including sarin and VX.

True, as stated in a report to the US Congress prepared in 2013, the Syrian regime was very dependent on the supply of substances necessary for the production of chemical weapons from abroad.

In 2014, under pressure from the international community, Syria agreed to destroy all stockpiles of chemical warfare agents and components for their production.

Within half a year. There is no unequivocal answer to the question of whether the supply of components or the substance itself could have remained in the hands of the Syrian military.

It is also unknown whether opposition groups could have had sarin.

Versions

The Syrian government has warplanes, and assuming that Damascus still has a stockpile of chemical weapons, it could theoretically use them. The facts of Syrian air strikes in this area are confirmed by witnesses, they are not denied in Moscow, the only question is whether they used chemical weapons.

The main disadvantage of this version is the absence of fragments of chemical munitions on the ground. The only photograph of the crater, which shows fragments of ammunition, did not allow experts to determine its type.

Igor Sutyagin, a senior researcher at Britain's Royal Joint Institute for Defense Research, told the BBC that he said this could be explained by the use of aircraft pouring devices - special devices for spraying liquid. Some witnesses spoke about the spraying of poisonous substances.

According to Sutyagin, the Syrians could produce sarin in a laboratory, and the lack of sophisticated chemical devices could lead to a decrease in the combat effectiveness of the poisonous substance.

"The main difficulty in it is associated with the purification of all those impurities that are present in the resulting product during production," he said.

In addition, Sutyagin believes that the Syrians did not necessarily use chemical munitions - it is possible to drop an ordinary container with sarin from an aircraft. By this he explains the absence of characteristic fragments of ammunition on the ground. However, these containers were also not found.

Syria is often accused of using poisonous agents against rebels after its chemical weapons were officially and under the control of the international community, but Sarin has not been used since the attack on the suburbs of Damascus.

The second version put forward by the Russian Ministry of Defense is that sarin was in the air as a result of the destruction of an underground laboratory and warehouse belonging to the opposition.

The presence of the laboratory is ruled out by expert Lev Fedorov, the impossibility of organizing production under these conditions is stated in another report by Bellingcat, published on Wednesday evening, Igor Sutyagin also considers this unlikely.

The assumption that the Syrian Air Force could destroy the warehouse with sarin is also criticized by experts. British chemical weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told the BBC that in this case, the bomb would simply destroy the poisonous substance. "If you blow up sarin, you just burn it out," he told the BBC.

Bellingcat in its report says that if binary munitions were stored in the warehouse, then the explosion would burn out one of its components.

“An airstrike on the components of a binary nerve agent cannot serve as a mechanism for its synthesis. [...] One of these substances is isopropyl alcohol. As a result of an airstrike, it would immediately burn up, forming a huge fireball, which was not observed at all,” it says. in the report.

https://www.site/2018-04-11/novoe_obostrenie_v_sirii_ugroza_voyny_ssha_i_rossii_chto_proishodit

The world is waiting

A new aggravation in Syria, the threat of war between the US and Russia. What's happening?

American troops in Syria cpl. Rachel Diehm/ZUMAPRESS.com

The United States and allies are about to launch a full-scale military operation against government forces in Syria. At the same time, Russia is an ally of the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, so the world fears a direct clash between Russian troops and the armies of Western countries. Negotiations at the UN led to nothing. website about events last days and what happened in the last hours.

What started a new aggravation

On April 7, several human rights organizations reported on a chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma, which is controlled by the Jaish al-Islam group. According to them, bombs with sarin or chlorine were dropped by Syrian Air Force helicopters, killing at least 60 and injuring about 1,000 people.

The United States blamed the use of chemical weapons on the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

US President Donald Trump promised that Russia and Iran, which support the Syrian leader, will pay a "great price" for this.

“We cannot allow such atrocities. This should not be allowed, ”the American leader said during a meeting with members of his administration. The head of the White House stressed that he was considering absolutely all options for responding to the chemical attack in Douma.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Syrian government denied reports of a chemical attack in Douma, calling them a fake and a provocation. The heads of Western countries did not believe Russia. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson recalled Russia's unfulfilled commitments from 2013 - to ensure that Syria refuses to use chemical weapons and completely destroy them on the country's territory.

Helme/ZUMAPRESS.com/GlobalLookPress

A day later, in the Syrian province of Homs, the Tifor government airfield (T4) was attacked. The Russian military said the airstrike was carried out by the Israeli Air Force.

On the night of April 10, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was held, the topic of which was the state of emergency in the Duma. US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley said Washington would retaliate against the attack. It was also indicated that Trump held talks with the heads of France and the United Kingdom, who agreed on the need to take retaliatory steps in connection with the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

On April 10, it became known that the American warships, equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles, approached the coast of Syria.

During the war in Syria, the incident in the city of Douma was far from the first time that the Syrian opposition and external forces supporting it accused Damascus of using chemical weapons. However, the latest emergency happened against the backdrop of a deepening crisis in Russia’s relations with the United States and the West as a whole, which reached a new level in connection with the Skripal case.

What is happening now repeats the situation of a year ago. In early April 2017, the United States bombed the Syrian Shayrat air base because of reports of the use of chemical weapons in the province of Idlib. There was no evidence of a chemical attack.

What is happening at the UN now?

In order to investigate a possible chemical attack in Douma, the procedure for such an investigation must be defined. The United States submitted its resolution to the UN, proposing to restore the Joint Investigation Mechanism (JIM) of the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). This mechanism worked in Syria after the Sarin attack on the Damascus suburbs in 2013 and established the involvement of Assad and ISIS forces in chemical attacks in Syria. However, in 2017 Russia vetoed the extension of this mechanism. Moscow insists that the JIM has "covered itself in disgrace by passing judgment on Syria without supporting evidence."

“The US delegation is again trying to mislead the international community and is taking another step towards confrontation by putting to a vote a draft resolution that does not enjoy the unanimous support of the members of the Security Council,” said Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN.

Li Muzi/Xinhua

The UN Security Council voted on the US proposal. The resolution was supported by 12 member countries of the Security Council, Bolivia and Russia opposed it. In order for the US resolution to pass, it had to be supported by representatives of nine countries, but Russia, as a permanent member of the Security Council, used its right of veto. Earlier, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow insists on an investigation into the incident by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The Syrian army, loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, is accused of using chemical weapons. That Russia, which is Assad's ally, could veto the resolution was expected.

UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Syria Stéphane de Mistura said on Monday that according to non-governmental organizations, hundreds of people in Douma had symptoms similar to a reaction to the use of chemical weapons. However, the special envoy noted that the UN has no way to verify the accuracy of this information.

The resolution, proposed by Sweden and supported by Russia, calls for assistance to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Fact-Finding Mission. The Mission's experts are to be sent to the city of Douma in the suburbs of Damascus, which has suffered from a recent chemical attack. To do this, according to the Russian side, is possible without the revival of the SMR.

Li Muzi/Xinhua

The Swedish-Russian draft resolution was supported by five countries, while four members of the UN Security Council, including the United States and Great Britain, opposed it. Six countries abstained from voting. At the same time, for the adoption of the resolution, it was necessary to gain nine votes.

After Russia blocked the version of the resolution proposed by Washington, US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley called on members of the Security Council to vote against the Russian version or abstain. “Our resolutions are similar, but there are also important differences. The key point is that our resolution ensures that any investigations are truly independent. And the Russian resolution gives Russia itself a chance to select investigators and then evaluate their work,” she said, adding that “there is nothing independent about this.”

What will happen next?

It is not yet clear. American warships are off the coast of Syria. Both draft resolutions were rejected by the UN. Now the world is waiting. Interestingly, British Prime Minister Theresa May, despite London's support for the United States at the UN, said that the UK needed more evidence of a possible chemical attack in Syria in order to join in the strikes on this country.

May has refused to take part in "quick retaliation" as inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) prepare to visit a suburb of Damascus where a chlorine bomb was detonated by government forces on April 6, according to a number of NGOs. There was also information about the use of nerve gas.

Special flight rules introduced over the Mediterranean due to possible airstrikes in Syria

French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke about the situation. He clarified that in the event of a military response, the targets would be the chemical facilities of the Syrian authorities, and the strikes would not be aimed at allies of the Syrian government (read - Russia) or specific persons.

Macron stressed that the response from the allies "will have nothing to do with the discussions in the UN Security Council", but will follow after consultations with the US and the UK.

On the night of April 10-11, information appeared that the family of President Bashar al-Assad was evacuated from Syria, but then these data were denied.

Hasn't Russia withdrawn its troops from Syria?

Indeed, Russian President Vladimir Putin has several times announced the withdrawal of the bulk of troops from Syria. However, this is not a complete withdrawal, but only a reduction in the grouping, while the exact scale of the reduction is unknown. How many troops were in Syria, how many are left - the exact official data, as far as we know, has not been published.

The Khmeimim military base has been assigned to Russia for 49 years, so in any case, the Russian military will remain in Syria. In addition, according to unofficial data, a large number of Russian mercenaries, employees of semi-legal private military companies, are fighting in Syria.

Everything we know so far about chemical attacks in Syria: analysis from #Bellingcat

Editorial note. Cooperation between Assad and the Kremlin has again acquired a characteristic criminal turn. Children and adults in Khan Sheikhoun are being poisoned with military gases, and Russian officials are mastering new levels of bottom in lies and frills. Bellingcat has compiled everything we know about the recent chemical attack in Syria. And we have translated the main part of the materials for you. Such texts are difficult to read: they are large, stylistically dry and overflowing with details. But this is what real military journalism and real open source intelligence look like.

Original Publications— The Khan Sheikhoun Chemical Attack, The Evidence So Far andWhat does chemistry tell us about the statements of the Russian Defense Ministry about the attack on the “chemical weapons depot” in Khan Sheikhoun?

Bellingcat, Dan Kascheta

On Tuesday, April 4, 2017, photos and video from Syrian sources captured what was later assessed as a chemical weapons attack in the city of Khan Sheikhoun, south of Idlib.

Introduction

The first reports of the attack appeared in in social networks on the morning of Tuesday, April 4, 2017. It was claimed that the airstrikes in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, used a chemical agent that many sources described as sarin. The chronology of events presented in these sources looked like this.

Translation - “On April 4, 2017, four missiles were fired at Khan al-Shehun as a result of two airstrikes from the Su-22. The civil defense forces were present at the site of the defeat, their employees were also injured. More than 200 wounded were taken to hospitals. We do not yet know exactly how many victims there were, but according to preliminary estimates - 50 or 60 people. Medical teams stripped the wounded of their clothes, washed their bodies with water and transferred them to first-aid posts. Symptoms - pressing difficulty breathing, yellow foam from the mouth, subsequently - bloody vomiting.

1:18 - “Many cases of suffocation are the result of gas attacks. Among the wounded are children and women. Over 70 victims. What kind of gas was used, we do not know.”

Photos and videos from the hospitals where the victims of the attack were treated were posted online and collected in this playlist along with other related videos. In the video, the victims, including children, have characteristic symptoms - lack of reaction to light, foaming at the mouth and convulsions. This coincides with the symptoms of sarin poisoning, but not only. ( Mlegsenerveepoisonousesubstancesabasicallycausesimilar symptoms - noteaP&M). However, given that attacks using sarin have already occurred in Syria, and their victims had the same symptoms, some observers have concluded that it was he who was used in this case. In the following video (in English), Dr. Shazhul Islam from Binnish Hospital talks about the situation in the institution during the treatment of the victims.

Later, it was also reported that one of the civil defense centers used as a hospital, where victims of the previous attack were rescued at that time, was hit. This air strike on a partly underground hospital was filmed.

Both Syria and Russia denied that chemical munitions were used in the airstrike. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that the cause of chemical contamination was the hit of a shell in the rebel ammunition depot ( we have placed a separate bellingcat material with an analysis of this lie at the bottom of the article - P&M note).

Early PostsI

The first message appeared on the morning of April 4th. This video, which, according to its author, recorded an airstrike with a chemical component, was uploaded online at 4:59 UTC (data from YouTube Data Viewer from Amnesty International).

Other photos showing the same place from different angles have been released by news outlets such as Reuters.

Based on these videos and photos, it was possible to geolocate the funnel.

The geolocation of the crater, combined with the video of the alleged chemical weapons attack, shows that the crater is not visible in the video. In the video, it's still not a chemical missile hit (assuming this is the only place where the chemical attack took place).

Another lesion site was shown in YouTube channel of the Syrian Journalism Center.

Translation: 2:20 - “Today, residential areas were attacked. There are no military bases in the air strike zone. The first rocket hit at 6:30, a little farther from here, the second one here.”

Although images of the remnants of the rocket were uploaded to the network, it is not yet possible to determine which ammunition was used.

hospitals

As a result of the attack, the victims were taken to hospitals and clinics, some as far as 50 kilometers from the impact site. AT videos published as a result of the attack, it is possible to identify at least four different locations where patients were admitted and treated. These videos have been collected into separate playlists and tagged as hospital A , hospital B , hospital C and hospital D. The most interesting was Hospital B, located in Khan Sheikun itself, which was hit by an airstrike on the same day as the chemical attack, while treating its victims. This place was used both as a hospital and as a center for local civil defense. The moment of impact was captured on camera by local activists.

“According to the spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, on Thursday, between 11:30 and 12:30 local time (from 8:30 to 9:30 UCT), a Syrian aircraft launched an airstrike on the eastern outskirts of Khan- Sheikhun, hitting a large ammunition depot and military equipment terrorists. Konashenkov said that the militants transported chemical munitions to Iraq through this warehouse. He also added that there were workshops for the production of bombs filled with poisonous substances. He noted that the same ammunition was used by militants in the Syrian Aleppo.

In addition to the purely geographical difficulties of moving chemical weapons across Syria, including territories controlled by ISIS and the Assad government, it is worth noting that the time of the attack here is a period several hours later than the first appearances of the results of the air strike on the network. It is also worth noting that the Russian Ministry of Defense has repeatedly been caught lying and forging evidence and must be regarded as highly unreliable even when presenting evidence in support of its position.

Addendum: What does chemistry tell us about the statements of the RF Ministry of Defense about the attack on the “chemical weapons depot” in Khan Sheikhoun?

In response to allegations of a chemical attack in the Syrian Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that a warehouse of poisonous substances had been destroyed in that city.

According to Russian means of objective airspace control, on April 4, from 11:30 to 12:30 local time, Syrian aircraft attacked a large terrorist ammunition depot and a cluster of military equipment in the area of ​​​​the eastern outskirts of the Khan Sheikhun settlement.

On the territory of this warehouse there were workshops for the production of land mines filled with poisonous substances.

From this largest arsenal, ammunition with chemical weapons was delivered by militants to Iraqi territory. Their use by terrorists has been repeatedly proven by both international organizations and the official authorities of this country.

From a technical point of view, it seems unlikely that the impact chemical substances observed on April 4 was the result of "the destruction of a chemical weapons depot", according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. So far, binary-type poisonous substances have been used in the Syrian conflict. These agents are so named because they are made by mixing different ingredients a few days before use. For example, sarin is made by mixing isopropyl alcohol with methyldifluorophosphoranil, usually also using additives to neutralize the resulting acid. Another nerve agent, soman, is also produced through a binary process. VX is produced in a similar manner, although the process involved is more complex than simple mixing of materials.

There are several reasons for the Assad regime's use of binary poisons. Binary nerve agents are developed by the US Army to ensure safe storage and handling so that nerve agents do not move through the supply chain in finished form. Some US munitions provide a mixture of such materials in the air after they are launched. For example, these are the M687 155 mm Sarin artillery shell, the XM736 8-inch VX binary shell, and the Bigeye binary bomb. A lot of time has been spent on research and development of these ammunition, and none of them has shown good results in practice (especially the VX). There is no evidence of the development or adoption by the Assad regime of in-flight mixing binary munitions. OPCW inspections and the signing of the Chemical Weapons Convention by Syria in 2013 have uncovered various fixed and mobile binary nerve agent blending facilities.

Another reason for the use of binary sarin is that few countries have mastered the technology to produce "unitary" sarin with any long shelf life. During the main chemical reaction In the production of Sarin, for every Sarin molecule synthesized, one molecule of the strong and dangerous hydrofluoric acid (HF) is released. Residues of this acid will corrode virtually any container in which Sarin is stored, and will also quickly reduce the effectiveness of Sarin. The USA and the USSR spent considerable efforts to solve this problem. They found various ways separating hydrofluoric acid from sarin using expensive heavy chemical engineering techniques, which, for obvious reasons, are best not described here. The Syrian authorities either failed to develop such techniques, or decided that it was much cheaper, safer and easier to store binary components, mixing them as needed. That is why the OPCW found mobile mixing equipment. In Iraq under Saddam Hussein, despite serious problems with the shelf life of sarin, it was also not acid-refined.

Even assuming that a significant amount of the substances used to synthesize Sarin were located in the same part of the same warehouse (which in itself would be rather strange), a large amount of Sarin could not have been synthesized as a result of the airstrike. An air strike on the components of a binary nerve agent cannot serve as a mechanism for its synthesis. It is foolish to say so, to say the least. One of these substances is isopropyl alcohol. As a result of an air strike, it would immediately burn out, forming a huge fireball, which was not observed at all.

In addition, even if the Syrian military knew that a chemical weapon was stored in a warehouse, an air strike on such a warehouse would be an indirect use of such weapons.

Finally, let's return to the issue of industrial capacity. The production of Sarin requires at least 9 kilograms of substances, which are quite difficult to obtain. Approximately the same amount is required for the production of other nerve agents. Obtaining any significant amount of nerve agents requires a complex supply chain for rare raw materials and an industrial base for their production. Are we being asked to believe that the rebel group has spent huge amounts of money on creating production facilities that, for some reason, have not yet been noticed and attacked? This possibility seems unlikely.

More than 80 people became victims of bombings using poisonous substances in the province of Idlib on April 4. 350 people suffered. This incident once again showed the world community the full danger of a civil war in the SAR, which has been going on for more than six years. Nevertheless, against the backdrop of confrontation between Russia, the United States and other superpowers that are involved in this conflict, there are practically no prospects for establishing the facts and perpetrators of the tragedy. The peace talks are also stagnating. The reality is that there are no barriers to the use of chemical weapons, which are prohibited by international standards.

It is possible that the nerve agent sarin was used during the April 4 bombing raids. This shocked the US. At the end of March, the Trump administration changed the course of the previous President Obama: it prioritized the destruction of the "Islamic State" ( prohibited in the Russian Federation - approx. ed.) and stopped demanding the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stressed that Assad's fate must be determined by the Syrians.

Context

Now the war in Syria will go in a new way

Hurriyet 07.04.2017

Flaws in Russia's reporting of a chemical attack

The New York Times 04/06/2017

#Chemical_Bashar

InoSMI 07.04.2017

Assad quarreled between Putin and Trump

Deutsche Welle 07.04.2017

Will Putin leave Assad?

Marianne 04/07/2017 Some experts point out that since the incident took place immediately after that, statements about keeping Assad in power could have provoked a chemical attack against opposition forces.

Even one of the pillars of the Republican Party, Senator John McCain, in an April 4 statement criticized these actions, saying that the US administration's change of course justifies Assad's war crimes.

The international community is also expressing increasing dissatisfaction with the possibility of the use of chemical weapons, which has killed a large number of people. In light of this, the Trump administration will be forced to rethink its policy in Syria. However, on April 4, US presidential spokesman Sean Spicer said no further course should be discussed.

The Trump administration is committed to improving relations with Russia, so experts believe that it will not be able to take a tough stance against the Assad administration, which is supported by Russia.

Meanwhile, on April 5, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the airstrikes were carried out by the Syrian Air Force, but the chemical weapons were stored in the warehouses of the armed formations. It covers the Assad administration by shifting the responsibility to the opposition.

Russia began conducting airstrikes in Syria in 2015. She repeatedly stressed that ISIS is using chemical weapons in Syria and Iraq and called on the West to cooperate, but was ignored. The Obama administration has been critical of Russian airstrikes, claiming that civilians and militias backed by the US and other countries are being targeted, leading to a confrontation with Russia.

The chemical weapons incident underscored the differences in approach between the US and Europe, which believe it is the work of the Assad administration, and Russia, which trumpets the dangers of opposition forces. Apparently, now it will be difficult for both countries to cooperate.

It may also have a negative impact on the peace talks on Syria, which have stalled. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who negotiated a truce with Russia last December, said on April 4 that the use of chemical weapons was slowing down the peace process. He also touched on the topic of violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Iranian news agency Fars covers the Assad administration. The confrontation escalates between neighboring countries whose actions should contribute to the end of the civil war.

The UN Security Council began discussing the incident, but due to the confrontation between Russia and the United States, which are permanent members of the organization, no positive changes are observed. The Syrian civil war has claimed more than 300,000 lives and created the biggest migration crisis since World War II, with more than five million people displaced from their homes. The fact is that there is practically no chance that any effective measures will be proposed.

Following this incident, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) raised serious concerns on April 4 and said it was gathering information. After 2012, there were already suspicions in Syria related to the use of chemical weapons.

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RIA Novosti 06/17/2015

Chemical weapons: history and modernity

RIA Novosti 04/22/2015 The Assad administration and the opposition accused each other of using it. In August 2013, a joint UN and OPCW investigation began. In the vicinity of Damascus, evidence of the use of sarin has been found. At that time, the perpetrators were not named, but from the information provided it followed that the Assad administration used the damaging substances.

The victims of that incident were several hundred people, including children. The Obama administration even considered sending troops to the region, but ultimately abandoned the idea. Russia proposed the creation of an international structure for the destruction of chemical weapons. Eventually, in September 2013, Syria acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention. Its destruction was to be carried out under the supervision of the OPCW.

In June 2014, the OPCW announced the withdrawal from Syria of chemical weapons declared by the Assad administration. It was assumed that stockpiles of sarin and mustard gas were then destroyed.

Nevertheless, casualties are constantly reported. As of spring 2016, chemical weapons have been used at least 161 times since the start of the civil war, according to the Syrian American Medical Association. As a result, 1491 people died, 14581 people were injured. One-third of the cases used chlorine gas, which is easy to prepare.

Last August, the UN and the OPCW determined that chemical weapons had been used nine times between 2014 and 2015. Of these, barrel bombs with chlorine gas were dropped twice by Syrian forces. It was also acknowledged that IS used mustard gas.

Even if the OPCW launches an investigation into this incident, it will be extremely difficult to conduct it due to the ongoing fighting and not enough staff. The road to the complete elimination of chemical weapons is not an easy one.

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

Opponents of Bashar al-Assad could annoy the Kremlin

In response to the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian province of Idlib, the United States fired a total of 59 rockets at a government military base in Homs. US President Donald Trump said that it was Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who was responsible for the tragedy, so the use of military force against him is justified. Meanwhile, an independent investigation into what happened in Idlib has just begun and the perpetrators have not yet been officially identified. Experts interviewed by MK are confident that Assad is the last one who benefits from poisoning the Syrians with gas. Then why did the tragedy become possible? And where did chemical weapons come from in Syria, if international experts reported on their complete destruction back in 2014?

According to various sources, from 72 to 100 people died from a chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, which is located in the province of Idlib and is controlled by opposition forces. Turkish doctors, after autopsy of the bodies of the victims of the tragedy, came to the conclusion that they died from the nerve agent sarin, the Turkish Ministry of Health said. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it sent experts to the scene to begin gathering facts for an investigation. Independent experts from the OPCW have not yet begun to name the alleged perpetrators of the tragedy.

But the US has already found them. President Donald Trump said: "Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad carried out a horrific chemical attack on civilians on Tuesday," adding that there was no doubt about it. Therefore, the strike on the air base, from which the planes with lethal gas allegedly took off, in his opinion, is fully justified.

“We are confident that the attacks (in Idlib) were carried out from the air on the orders of the Bashar al-Assad regime and we are also confident that sarin gas was used,” added Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. destruction of Syrian chemical weapons). Either Russia was an accomplice, or it is simply not capable of completing the implementation of the agreement.” Moscow, meanwhile, denies Bashar al-Assad's guilt, emphasizing that the Syrian army simply does not have chemical weapons, as the OPCW confirmed in 2014.

According to Russian Ministry Defense, on the day of the tragedy, Syrian warplanes attacked an opposition troop depot where chemical munitions were stored. Because of this, an explosion occurred that poisoned the locals.

“In 2013-2014, when the operation to destroy chemical weapons was carried out, the Syrian government controlled much less territory than now,” said Nikolai Sukhov, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in a commentary to MK. - Accordingly, some ammunition could remain in the uncontrolled territories. We can say for sure that it is impossible to produce this gas in artisanal conditions. Another option is that the chemical munitions entered the Idlib depot through Turkey, which is among the countries potentially benefiting from this situation. Various groups have accumulated in Idlib, moderate and not. All this is close to the borders of Turkey, therefore, as they say, it hangs on its neck, the situation must be resolved. It is possible that they decided to destroy it so radically.

I very much doubt that the Syrian air force is to blame for the chemical attack. Assad is the last person to benefit from this. After the American administration softened its rhetoric towards him, showed a desire for negotiations, to take everything and spoil everything for himself ... let's not proceed from the fact that the Syrian government is completely idiotic.

But it is not possible to verify these data now. Therefore, the impatience of the American administration is baffling. If American missiles hit the warehouse with chemical bombs that the Syrian government uses, there would be a result. But it’s not there: no explosions, no gas cloud, which means there was nothing there.”

“Under the conditions of the civil war, it was very difficult to ensure that all chemical weapons were destroyed,” said Grigory Melamedov, a political scientist and orientalist. - In addition, it is not known whether Iran has it. In my opinion, after all, the main customer of the operation using such weapons is Tehran, it is beneficial only to him. It may be the most intransigent wing in Iran, the Revolutionary Guards and the numerous militias that are associated with them - Hezbollah, Shiite militants from Afghanistan and so on. Because it is absolutely not beneficial to either Russia or Assad. Judge for yourself: the world community has just begun to lean towards recognizing Assad as a legitimate president. Why should he himself cut the branch on which he sits? But there are forces that are not interested in Russia getting out of this war, in order for the Syrian leader to become a normal person again in the eyes of the whole world.

The tragedy puts an end to the prospects for a peaceful political settlement of the Syrian conflict, at least in the near future. The sixth round of peace talks on Syria in Geneva after this incident, at least, will be delayed. I don't want to talk like that about ourselves, but it turns out that Russia was simply set up. After that, we cannot publicly condemn our own allies. It remains either to say that this did not happen, or to “translate arrows”, to draw attention to something else.”

Recall that the most egregious case of the use of chemical weapons in Syria was recorded on August 21, 2013 in the suburbs of Damascus. The victims of the nerve agent sarin then became, according to various sources, from 280 to 1,700 people. The experts found that the chemical weapons were used by the Syrian government forces. Therefore, the then head of the White House, Barack Obama, threatened Syria with a military invasion. But Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by proposing the destruction of all chemical munitions in the country. This was done by Russia and the United States under the control of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which in June 2014 reported on the completion of the task.

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