Khan al-Assal Terrorist Crime

Following the much of fuss and groundless accusations by some Western countries about chemicals use in Syria, the Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, declared yesterday that samples taken at the Syrian town where chemical weapons were allegedly used indicate that it was “rebels” – NOT the Syrian army – behind the attack.

 Evidence studied by Russian scientists indicates that a projectile carrying the deadly nerve agent sarin was most likely fired at Khan al-Assal by the “rebels”, Churkin pointed out, adding that it was determined that on March 19 the “rebels” fired an unguided missile Bashair-3 at the town of Khan al-Assal, which has been under government control. The results of the analysis clearly show that the shell used in Khan al-Assal was not factory made and that it contained sarin,”.

Churkin added that the contents of the shell “didn’t contain chemical stabilizers in the toxic substance,” and therefore “is not a standard chemical charge.” The RDX – an explosive nitroamine commonly used for industrial and military applications – found in the warhead was not consistent with what the armed forces use.

Earlier, the Syrian veteran Ambassador to the UN, Dr. Bashar Ja’afari, announced that Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, the UN official to investigate the claims, and UN High Representative for Disarmament Angela Kane had been invited for “constructive negotiations with the Syrian officials in order to reach an agreement, a mutual agreement on the terms of reference, mechanism and time frame of the mission.”

Dr. Ja’afari disclosed too that the Syrian authorities have seized in the city of Banias 281 barrels filled with dangerous, hazardous chemical materials capable of destroying a whole city, if not the whole country.”

The stockpile of chemicals belonging to “armed terrorist groups” included, 79 barrels of polyethylene glycol, 67 barrels of monoethylene glycol, 25 barrels of monoethanol [amine], and 68 barrels of the diethanolamine, and 42 barrels of [triethanolamine].”

A United Nations independent commission of inquiry confirmed in May 2013 that the opposition rather than the government has chemical weapons in their possession and are using sarin nerve against the civilian population. “The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen evidence of government forces having used chemical weapons, which are banned under international law,” said commission member Carla Del Ponte.  Earlier, Turkey’s state media agency Zaman, disclosed that the Turkish General Directorate of Security ceased 2 kg of sarin gas in the city of Adana in the possession of Al Nusra terrorists believed to have been heading for Syria.

Dr. Mohammad Abdo Al-Ibrahim