Talk:Alleged Chemical Attack, March 16, 2015

Video

 * Playlist: Sarmin CW attack

Breaking!
New report from Sermin Idlib ( ادلب:سرمين )

"Civil Defense Idlib: Srmin: a very important three children and their parents and their grandmother chemical gas victims"

Family of Five

Some water (alkalai?) decontamination and gas masks but several don't wear gloves and the woman's clothing seems original. -- ‎Charles Wood


 * Incredibly sad. It seems the one toddler, red-haired FWIW, dies right there and no one really cares. You get the common feeling "Assad" targeted people the rebels don't really like. Though they didn't specifically blame anyone there. I don't suppose there's much more info available at the moment (checked VDC martyrs database, nothing relevant yet). --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:32, 17 March 2015 (UTC)


 * The couch that talks has already determined it was conclusively 'Assad Gas'. But he would say that, wouldn't he? -- ‎Charles Wood


 * Urs is on the case and has collected videos since they started uploading. The brown-nosed one isn't the only known propagandist involved with this. One Hadi Al Abdallah with a long history of "rebel" propaganda is even trolling John Kerry on twitter. She thinks that reveals the motive, and is convinced that the "rebels" did it for propaganda reasons - pointing out the usual treatment of the dead "like meat". But she would say that, wouldn't she? ;o) --CE (talk) 14:25, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

More details, names, symptoms etc. 'Warplanes attacked'. One mention of Chlorine but symptoms don't match at all. Scene looks like standard Sarin treatment Facebook Page --Charles Wood (talk) 10:55, 17 March 2015 (UTC)


 * This video needs the sort of detailed analysis that someone like Denis would be able to do. From a quick look, I agree with Urs that these aren't real medics/paramedics.  These children, if they were still breathing or had only just stopped breathing, needed immediate respiratory support via an endotracheal tube or just mouth-to-mouth. The red-haired boy is left on the trolley until he stops breathing, then someone makes a desultory effort at suction which is pointless without respiratory support.  The other two children are placed on top of the woman on the trolley in positions where they can't be resuscitated - better to put them on the floor.  One child is held up by the lower jaw for no obvious reason, with a grip that appears to compress both carotid arteries.  All three children appear cyanosed - these aren't like the children in the Kafr Batna sun morgue who were pink.  My impression is that these children have been given an overdose of some powerful respiratory / central nervous system depressant like morphine. Pmr9 (talk) 16:33, 17 March 2015 (UTC)


 * I think we can rule out not just chlorine but any agent that is not a central nervous system depressant - otherwise the red-haired boy would be struggling to breathe. Opiate poisoning is the most likely diagnosis because most other sedative drugs don't cause this degree of respiratory depression without causing coma. On a frame-by-frame view, it looks as if this child has dilated pupils.  Most opiates including morphine cause pinpoint pupils in overdose.  The only one that causes dilated pupils is meperidine (Demerol), still widely used as a painkiller.  Pmr9 (talk) 17:48, 19 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your expertise here. If it can be narrowed down like that, we can get somewhere. Some unit might be asking for more Demerol soon, or they had a huge supply to begin with. --Caustic Logic (talk) 22:57, 19 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Meperidine was a standard battlefield analgesic for the US military at least until the 1970s, but is now rarely used in the US and Europe because of its central nervous system toxicity. From a scan of recent publications, it's still widely used in Turkish military hospitals and is manufactured in Turkey under the brand name Aldolan. Pmr9 (talk) 13:00, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Amnesty International
Amnesty "International" jumping on the band wagon in their usual style. --CE (talk) 23:08, 17 March 2015 (UTC)


 *  The injured included a small number of fighters from the Free Syrian Army armed group, but the vast majority were civilians. In the middle of jabhat al-Nusra territory - yeah right!


 * ANOTHER VIDEO from the clinic is linked here. Note the different video identification which has now switched to Nusra. There is some curious medical treatment in the video. ricksterling


 * Welcome, Rick. Indeed, a Nusra flag on this one. No switch in anything really implied of course, just a different cameraman with his affiliation. The chest compressions here seem comically overdone, besides being useless. Seems they want to be seen as really trying to help, in case reality let slip any signs of the opposite. --Caustic Logic (talk) 22:57, 19 March 2015 (UTC)


 * The release of the two videos doesn't seem to have been coordinated: viewed separately the lack of effective treatment might just be explained by a lack of training, but taken together they make it obvious that the resuscitation is staged: in video 1 there is a minimal attempt at rescuscitating the red-haired boy which is then abandoned. In video 2, they start resuscitation all over again on all three children.  We really should point this out to Amnesty and get them to retract their earlier statement Pmr9 (talk) 13:00, 20 March 2015 (UTC)


 * The video linked by Rick shows the dilated pupils more clearly though at this stage (at least 2 minutes after respiratory arrest) it's not a specific sign. This video appears to start immediately after the end of the first one.  It looks as if having left the children to be filmed lying on the trolley, they thought they'd better make a show of trying to resuscitate them.  The cardiac massage and intracardiac injection are pointless without artificial ventilation.  I think these videos are worth a detailed study along with others from the same source.  Linking them may give more clues to the identities of the perpetrators. Pmr9 (talk) 10:34, 20 March 2015 (UTC)


 * A doctor and a civil defence worker told Amnesty International those affected by the attack had no injuries associated with explosive weapons, but showed symptoms characteristic of a chemical weapons attack, including reddened eyes, shortness of breath, continuous coughing, respiratory distress, vomiting, and drooling from the mouth. Except the videos of the children only showed drooling on one of them and none of the other symptoms on any. --Charles Wood (talk) 00:50, 18 March 2015 (UTC)


 * I will point out that at least one of the infants has signs of trauma on one side of their head. This is not consistent with the Amnesty statement of no injuries associated with explosive weapons --Charles Wood (talk) 11:45, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Chlorine Gassing Symptoms

 * ''See also Talk:Alleged Chemical Attack, August 21, 2013


 * "Medical Diseases of the War" by Arthur Hurst, M.A., MD (Oxon), FRCP.
 * The first effect of inhalation of chlorine is a burning pain in the throat and eyes, accompanied by a sensation of suffocation; pain, which may be severe, is felt in the chest, especially behind the sternum. Respiration becomes painful, rapid, and difficult ; coughing occurs, and the irritation of the eyes results in profuse lachrymation. Retching is common and may be followed by vomiting, which gives temporary relief. The lips and mouth are parched and the tongue is covered with a thick dry fur. Severe headache rapidly follows with a feeling of great weakness in the legs; if the patient gives way to this and lies down, he is likely to inhale still more chlorine, as the heavy gas is most concentrated near the ground. In severe poisoning unconsciousness follows; nothing more is known about the cases which prove fatal on the field within the first few hours of the "gassing," except that the face assumes a pale greenish yellow colour.


 * When a man lives long enough to be admitted into a clearing station, he is conscious, but restless; his face is violet red, and his ears and finger nails blue ; his expression strained and anxious as he gasps for breath; he tries to get relief by sitting up with his head thrown back, or he lies in an exhausted condition, sometimes on his side with his head over the edge of the stretcher in order to help the escape of fluid from the lungs. His skin is cold and his temperature subnormal; the pulse is full and rarely over 100. Respiration is jerky, shallow and rapid, the rate being often over 40 and sometimes even 80 a minute ; all the auxiliary muscles come into play, the chest being over-distended at the height of inspiration and, as in asthma, only slightly less distended in extreme expiration. Frequent and painful coughing occurs and some frothy sputum is brought up. The lungs are less resonant than normal, but not actually dull, and fine riles with occasional rhonchi and harsh but not bronchial breathing are heard, especially over the back and sides. Headache is generally severe, and there is also considerable epigastric discomfort, due partly to the strain of coughing and partly to gastric irritation, as it is increased if an attempt is made to eat.


 * The intense dyspncea of this asphyxial stage lasts about thirty-six hours, after which it gradually subsides, if death does not occur before. The patient, exhausted from his fight for breath, then falls asleep and wakes up feeling much relieved. A few hours later acute bronchitis or broncho-pneumonia develops. In severe cases the quiescent interval is short and the bronchitis very severe. The sputum is now viscid, yellow or greenish, and muco-purulent with occasional streaks of blood. Respiration becomes more shallow and rapid, and the rate may finally be even 70 or 80 a minute. The pulse is small and very rapid ; the temperature rises, and is often as high as 104. The patient may now become delirious. Pleurisy may occur, and in some instances empyema and gangrene of the lung have followed.


 * After recovery from the bronchitis and pneumonia the patient remains weak and exhausted for a considerable time. He gets tired very rapidly and is unable to walk quickly or up hill without getting short of breath, even after the last signs of bronchitis have disappeared. He may continue to have attacks of dyspncea and cyanosis for several weeks. The frightful experience he has passed through often affects his nervous system, and some of the attacks are doubtless aggravated by apprehension. Headache, vertigo and dyspepsia may continue for several weeks. --Charles Wood (talk) 01:00, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

Everybody including John Kerry and the US State Department is saying this was chlorine. Maybe it was. What I find most interesting is that the symptoms and the whole "operation" seem strikingly similar to the Ghouta CW attack. We and others should compare the footage and note the similarities and differences, if any. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 11:31, 20 March 2015 (UTC)