Alleged Chemical Attack, November 24, 2018

Video

 * SANA video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w37yDagyjMk


 * MoD published a video of the chemical attack aftermath-RT, November 25, 2018

(note shaking hand near the video's end - suggestive of nerve agent, not chlorine)


 * Vanessa Beeley: Speaking to Residents after Terrorist Chemical Weapon Attack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBCvIJUtz00


 * После химатаки в Сирии российские военные нанесли удар по позициям террористов. (After chemattack in Syria, the Russian military performed strikes on the positions of the terrorists), Russian Channel 1 TV news, November 25, 2018
 * Пострадавшие после химатаки боевиков жители Алеппо повторно госпитализированы (Aleppo residents, victims of the chemical attack by militants, hospitalized for the second time, Zvezda TV, November 26, 2018
 * 15 victims were hospitalized again after their condition worsened following their discharge from the hospital. Victims on videos complain of itchy eyes, burning feeling inside, bleeding, headache, unpleasant smell (description of it is unclear). We see environmental samples collected, analyzed by men in protective suits in this and the follow-up video. Results are not provided in a clear cut way, but it is said that 'chemical substances were found', and that further analysis will be done at the Khmeimim airbase.
 * РХБЗ развернули в Алеппо мобильную лабораторию после обстрела боевиками(CBRN defence deployed a mobile laboratory in Aleppo after shelling by militants), Zvezda TV, November 27, 2018
 * Ruptly Novmber 25, 2018
 * SYRIA:ALEPPO CITY IS UNDER CHEMICAL ATTACK BY US-BACKED TERRORISTS November 24, 2018
 * Cases of suffocation reached Al-Razi Hospital as a result of falling missiles (toxic gas-filled) on the neighborhoods of Khalidiya, Al-Zahra Association and Nile Street in Aleppo...Civilians are still reaching several hospital in Aleppo, closest estimate is 50 injured, 14 of which are children...The continued influx of emergency cases to hospitals in Aleppo has exceeded 90 cases so far have been suffocated and poisoned by toxic gases launched by the Takfir factions on the neighborhoods of Aleppo.


 * Terrorist Shell Aleppo Syria with chlorine projectiles!! Over 70 Injured!!! November 24, 2018]
 * Syria urges UNSC to condemn Aleppo gas assault PressTV 25 November 25, 2018
 * Dozens hospitalized in Syria's Aleppo after militants shell city with poison gas – reports RT, November 25, 2018
 * Southfront war report 26 November, 2018

Analysis

 * https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/11/28/open-source-survey-of-the-alleged-november-24-2018-chemical-attack-in-aleppo/
 * Current open source information indicates that some kind of event took place in north-west Aleppo city on the evening of the November 24 2018 which resulted in 50-100 people reporting respiratory symptoms. Multiple witnesses appear to agree that some kind of attack took place which resulted in these symptoms. Apart from washing the casualties, the treatments given in open source media appears consistent with previous reactions by hospitals in Aleppo to a suspected chemical weapon attack. Apparent oddities in the symptoms of the patients should be assessed by an impartial doctor before any conclusions are reached. 


 * Fragments consistent with 120mm mortar bombs were found at the scene of the alleged attack, however this would be a very unusual weapon to deliver chlorine, and any 120mm mortar would be at the limit of its range if the “al-Buraykat” we have identified is indeed the launch site. 


 * Above all, a thorough investigation should take place by the OPCW in order to establish the facts of the case, and if possible, assign responsibility for the attack.


 * Syria: Alleged Chemical Attack Elicits 180 Degree Response from West Tony Cartalucci, November 29, 2018

Military Response

 * https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/russian-air-force-eliminates-jihadist-sites-behind-chemical-weapons-attack-video/
 * The Russian Ministry of Defence released aerial footage of airstrikes in the village of Khan Tuman in Syria’s Aleppo Governorate, on Sunday, that allegedly eliminated the mortar section which shelled Aleppo a day earlier.
 * Russian Sukhoi Su-24 jets reportedly delivered two aerial bombs to a location four kilometres away from Aleppo Governorate’s Khan Tuman village and destroyed the mortars there.


 * Kenneth Roth HRW https://twitter.com/KenRoth/status/1067028865946660869
 * These women and children had nothing to do with the alleged chlorine attack on Aleppo but Syrian forces reportedly shelled a school in Idlib, killing them.

Denials

 * On The Ground News (Islamit opposition supporters)
 * https://twitter.com/OGNreports/status/1066582702437163013 The statement released by the National Liberation Front denying accusations that they targeted areas Aleppo with chlorine gas. They call for the regime to be held accountable for their past & current crimes carried out against innocent civilians.
 * https://twitter.com/OGNreports/status/1068399227091517440 "The military spokesman of Hayat Tahrir Sham denies any involvement in the alleged chemical attack in Aleppo..." In the video, the spokesman notes if they had wanted to gas civilians, they'd hit "Assad's people" (Alawites) on the coast, not a Sunni-majority district of Aleppo. He doesn't seem to consider what if they were launching a false-flag, or false-false-flag attack. The target to him proves Assad did it. Furthermore, he "claims their reconnaissance units witnessed the regime firing artillery on majority Sunni areas under regime control."

https://twitter.com/AlArabiya_Eng/status/1066935834484428800
 * 1) Iran’s militias were behind the chemical attack targeting #Aleppo, and they seek to abort the Sochi deal in #Syria's Idlib, the head of the High Negotiations Committee, Naser al-Hariri, told al-Hadath news channel.

Rebels around the city rejected Russian claims that they had fired shells filled with chlorine. Rebel commander Abdel-Salam Abdel-Razak, who once served in Syria's chemical weapons' program, said the militants did not have gas-based ammunition or the capability to launch gas-filled shells. "These are lies," Abdel-Razak tweeted in response to reports of a rebel gas attack.
 * https://www.dw.com/en/russia-bombs-militants-after-aleppo-chlorine-attack/a-46442475?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/11/25/syria-russia-accuse-rebels-of-wounding-scores-in-aleppo-gas-attack/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter Abdel-Salam Abdel-Razak, an official from the Nour el-Din al-Zinki insurgent faction, said rebels did not own chemical weapons or have the capacity to produce them. “The criminal regime, under Russian instructions, is trying to accuse the rebels of using toxic substances in Aleppo. This is purely a lie,” he tweeted. Abu Omar, a Failaq al-Sham spokesman, accused Damascus of trying to create “a malicious charade” as a pretext to attack rebel towns.

Note a loud denier is a former CW program associate now with the extremist Noureddian Al-Zenki movement, the infamous child-beheaders and likely culprits of the Aleppo CW attack of August 2, 2016. He's been cited as early as December 2012 in an error-filled description of Assad's routine use of chemical weapons already at this time, and pleading for help in seizing them away.
 * Captain Abdul Salam Abdul Razaq, who defected from Syria’s chemical warfare unit, told A-Sharq Al-Awsat that sarin and mustard gas are the two nerve agents primarily used by the Syrian army in combat.
 * He said that since the colorless, odorless sarin gas evaporates within half an hour, the Syrian army uses it “before entering any area.” Abdul Razaq also pleaded for international assistance in taking control of chemical weapon sites, which he claimed defectors have accurate intelligence about.

Official statements
The United States is deeply concerned that pro-regime officials have maintained control of the attack site in its immediate aftermath, allowing them to potentially fabricate samples and contaminate the site before a proper investigation of it by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. We caution Russia and the regime against tampering with the suspected attack site and urge them to secure the safety of impartial, independent inspectors so that those responsible can be held accountable. "
 * Comment by the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department on the chemical attack in Aleppo (Eng.), November 26, 2018
 * Rebroadcasts: Russian comment on the chemical attack in Aleppo Voltaire Network, 26 November, 2018
 * Statement from Russian Foreign Ministry press Dept, Russian Embassy to Australia 27, November, 2018
 * The Russian and Assad Regime's False Allegations on Chemical Weapons Use in Aleppo US State Department press statement, December 7, 2018: "On November 24, 2018, the Assad regime and Russia falsely accused the opposition and extremist groups of conducting a chlorine attack in northwestern Aleppo. The United States strongly refutes this narrative and has credible information that pro-regime forces likely used teargas against civilians in Aleppo on November 24. The United States has information indicating Russian and Syrian personnel were involved in the teargas incident, and believes that both countries are using it as an opportunity to undermine confidence in the ceasefire in Idlib.


 * Ministry of Defense commented on the statements of the State Department on chemattack in Aleppo-RIA, December 7, 2018
 * ''"The statement of the US State Department is nothing more than an attempt to whitewash the international terrorists operating in Idlib connected with the White Helmets pseudo-rescuers who let down (подставили) their Western patrons with this provocation

A spokesman for the UK foreign office echoed the US denunciation. "We have seen nothing to support the claims made by Russia and Syria," the unnamed spokesperson said in a statement. "It is highly unlikely that the opposition was responsible." The UK posits that the attack was done as a means to frame the opposition "or an operation which went wrong and from which Russia and the regime sought to take advantage."
 * CNN December 7
 * https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-statement-on-allegations-of-chemical-weapons-use-in-aleppo
 * https://twitter.com/UK_OPCW/status/1071304739877462016

http://tass.com/world/1035060 https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/us-seeks-to-undermine-opcw-investigation-into-aleppo-chemical-weapons-attack/ https://southfront.org/russia-says-it-has-undeniable-evidence-that-militants-are-responsible-for-chemical-attack-on-aleppo/ On December 6, the Ministry of Defense of Russia slammed the U.S. State Department’s claims regarding the recent chemical attack on the Syrian city of Aleppo and said that Washington is trying to whitewash actions of terrorists in the governorate of Idlib. “The statement by the US State Department is nothing more than an attempt to whitewash the international terrorists operating in Idlib and associated with the White Helmets pseudo-rescuers, who have put their Western patrons in a bad spotlight with their provocation,” the Russian MoD said in an official statement. Russia also revealed that it has an “undeniable evidence” that the militants in Idlib shelled Aleppo with “munitions filled with toxic agents” on November 25. https://southfront.org/russia-says-it-has-undeniable-evidence-that-militants-are-responsible-for-chemical-attack-on-aleppo/ “The Russian Defense Ministry interprets the US State Department’s hysterical statement alleging that the November 24 chemical attack by terrorists in Aleppo was allegedly staged, as an attempt to exert pressure on the OPCW [Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] in order to hinder an unbiased investigation,” the ministry said.

OPCW Investigation

 * Reuters, November 26 Fernando Arias, the OPCW’s new head, said the organization would investigate the allegations. “Once they have something concrete and credible that meets their standard of proof, they will be able to report publicly,” he said, and noted they had asked the UN Department of Safety and Security about that aspect, but were waiting on an answer. For context, the report notes "The panel has attributed 33 documented chemical attacks to the government since 2013, while the perpetrators of six others have not been sufficiently identified." Also "World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said the WHO had “received unconfirmed reports of patients arriving in health facilities in Aleppo with symptoms that may be consistent with exposure to chemical agents”. "

RT, Going Underground, Dec. 3: Aleppo MP Fares Shehabi is not sure why OPCW hasn't sent a team yet. They've been invited.
 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRUehQdxf_Q&feature=youtu.be&t=129

As no investigation and little or no news has yet emerged, nearly a month later, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said: “One cannot help but have an impression that the probe [into the Aleppo incident] is being deliberately protracted by the OPCW Technical Secretariat, which is a deviation from its duties … There is a question if this is being done to appease the Western troika (the United States, the United Kingdom and France – TASS) which pursue their narrow geopolitical interests in Syria and which, prior to the investigation, had used military force more than once against that state, a member of the United Nations and the OPCW,” the diplomat said. “We proceed from the fact that a delay in deployment of the mission to Aleppo contradicts both the Chemical Weapons Convention requirements and common sense.”
 * TASS via Al Masdar, December 20

https://www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/2019/01/ec90dg4%28e%29.pdf
 * EC-90/DG.4 12 21 December 2018 Original: ENGLISH    NOTE BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL - PROGRESS IN THE ELIMINATION  OF THE SYRIAN CHEMICAL WEAPONS PROGRAMME
 * In response to a note verbale from the Syrian Arab Republic dated 28 November 2018, the Director-General deployed an advance team to Damascus from 4 to 6 December 2018 to collect information provided by the Syrian National Authority regarding an incident of alleged use of chemicals as a weapon in Aleppo on 24 November 2018. The aforementioned information is being analysed by the Secretariat. Since the alleged incident, the Director-General has been in regular contact with the Syrian National Authority. 


 * OPCW statement, Jan. 8 https://www.opcw.org/media-centre/news/2019/01/opcw-spokespersons-statement-allegation-chemical-weapons-use-aleppo-syria
 * In early December, an advanced team was deployed to Syria to collect further information. Since then, consultations with the Syrian authorities have been on-going. The OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) deployed in early January to further establish facts regarding the allegation. The FFM continues to independently collect and analyse information and will report its findings to States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention. All measures continue to be taken to ensure the safety and security of OPCW experts and personnel involved.

So the December visit was just an advance team, rushed in only two weeks after the event. A month later, they went back for more information. They may or may not have it all now. It's not clear yet whether or not they've been to Aleppo at all, or made two trips just to Damascus.