Talk:Alleged Chemical Attack, April 29, 2013

Moved starting material

 * Press TV May 1: Militants carry out new chemical attack near Idlib: Syria UN envoy
 * Syria’s Ambassador to the United Nations says the foreign-backed militants in the Arab country have used chemical material against civilians during an attack on a town near Idlib. Bashar al-Jaafari said at a press conference on Tuesday that the militants spread the contents of plastic bags containing chemical material during the attack. ...Reports say that two people were killed and 20 others injured in the militants’ chemical attack in Idlib.


 * Many residents were affected by the armed groups’ “heinous and irresponsible act,” the Syrian envoy said, warning that it was an attempt to “implicate the Syrian government on a false basis.” Some of the victims were transferred to Turkey for treatment, Jaafari added. The envoy went on to say that 'today or tomorrow Ankara and Western media would launch a new propaganda campaign against Damascus and claim that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own people.'  --Caustic Logic (talk) 23:32, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

And Reuters reports on the the Ottoman analysis of the patients smuggled over to them. Especially considering the claim that the chemicals are first smuggled into Syria from Turkey... --Caustic Logic (talk) 23:40, 1 May 2013 (UTC)
 * A second Syrian doctor, Ubada Alabrash, who helps treat Syrian patients at Reyhanli hospital, said they also suspected the patients had been victims of a chemical attack because those escorting them to the border had exhibited similar symptoms. Alabrash said blood samples from the patients had been sent for tests but that they had not been given the results. "I don't think the Turkish government would hide the results from us, but I understand they must be careful with it because NATO and other international bodies are also involved in this issue," he said. "Now we are waiting for the blood test results from Ankara, we have asked to be informed. We can only say after the test results if chemical weapons were used or not."

Newer Stuff

 * UPI: Blast kills 13 in Damascus; suspected chemical attack kills 2 in Idlib
 * Elsewhere, two people were killed and 20 others were injured Tuesday when planes dropped bags of suspected chemicals in Idlib province, al-Jazeera reported. Videos from the Qatari news network appear to show victims having difficulty breathing, and in one, a patient at a makeshift hospital has white foam coming from his mouth.
 * (side-note) Forty-two people suffocated to death last week after an alleged chemical attack on a Damascus suburb, rebels said.


 * RT: Syrian rebels 'used unknown chemicals’ against civilians in Idlib – state news agency
 * Syrian opposition fighters have allegedly used unknown chemicals against residents in the town of Saraqib in the northwestern province of Idlib to later put the blame on Assad forces, SANA news agency reports citing a government official.


 * The source stated that on Monday “terrorists” collected residents of Saraqib near the southern entrance to the town and made them open “plastic bags” containing some unknown powder, SANA reported on Tuesday.


 * As a result, some people suffered “suffocation, tremors and problems with breathing.”


 * Later, militants took the injured to hospitals on the territory of Turkey with the goal of accusing President Bashar Assad’s army of using chemical weapons, the official said.


 * Later in the day, the report was confirmed by Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Ja'afari.


 * “Today or tomorrow you’ll hear from the Turkish government that they have new evidence that the Syrian government used a chemical weapon in Saraqib,” he told a media conference, cites Itar-Tass.


 * SANA: Terrorists Exploit Incident of Fumes Killed two People, Transfer them to Turkey to accuse Syrian Government
 * ''IDLEB, (SANA) – Mounting fumes from gallons containing some liquid materials, which were stored by a shepherd in his house in Saraqeb town in Idleb countryside,  have killed his guest and him as one of the children in the house opened one of the gallons.


 * A source in the province told SANA reporter that after the two people died, the housewife and her children went out to the street frightened, adding that an armed terrorist group gave them protective masks and brought three people they kidnapped at a later time and took them to the house to make them inhale the fumes. The source added that the three people also died after inhaling the fumes, pointing out that the armed terrorist group, affiliated to Jabhat al-Nusra, transferred the bodies of the dead people to the Turkish territories to make use of the incident against the Syrian state.


 * Earlier, terrorists threw "unknown powder" in the face of a number of citizens in Idleb to accuse the army of using chemical weapons against citizens, an official source told SANA reporter. The source explained that the terrorists brought bags containing "unknown powder" and opened them in the face of a number of citizens whom they had gathered in Shabour neighborhood and the southern entrance of Saraqib town in the countryside of Idleb, causing suffocation, shiver and respiratory symptoms among the citizens.


 * The source added that the terrorists then took the injured citizens to Turkish hospitals to accuse the Syrian armed forces of using chemical weapons.


 * The source noted that this happened after a unit of the armed forces on Monday targeted terrorist groups in Saraqib town, killing and injuring numbers of terrorists, including non-Syrians.

Varied Findings in Turkey
After the dead and injured were evacuated across the border to Turkey, it was hoped tests there would show they'd been exposed to chemical weapons. The first specific news back, however, was contrary.
 * Global Post, May 5: Turkish doctors say no nerve gas in Syrian victims' blood
 * ''Doctors in Turkey say initial tests of blood samples from victims of a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria last month are negative for sarin gas.

Medics tested the blood samples — which were taken from some 13 victims of an attack that included white powder in the northern village of Saraqeb on April 29 — at the Reyhanli hospital on the same day, but did not find anything unusual, they said. ''
 * They tested the blood specifically for sarin gas — a nerve agent — and also ran regular bloodwork. The samples from the victims, who suffered from dizziness, vomiting and respiratory difficulties, have since been sent to the Turkish capital, Ankara, for further testing.

"The symptoms were consistent with those caused by a chemical, and the effects of this chemical were very serious and potentially fatal,” said Dr. Ubada Alabrash, who treated the victims at Reyhanli hospital. “But we couldn’t identify what the chemical was.''


 * Doctors in Reyhanli, in Turkey’s Hatay province, say they believe the Turkish government will keep the final results a secret due to the potential global political consequences of either negative or positive results.

Apparently the tests in Ankara went different. Except they aren't specifically cited - just peripheral clues the president thinks are adequate. --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:00, 12 May 2013 (UTC)
 * CNN, May 10: Patients from Syria being tested for chemical weapons
 * ''The Turkish government is treating around a dozen patients who have exhibited unusual symptoms suggesting they were exposed to a chemical weapons attack, a Turkish source said. "They were not injured by any kind of conventional arms. Tests showed excessive results which produced findings to let us make that statement," a Turkish source with access to Turkish government findings told CNN, on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the allegations. The Turkish source was referring to an announcement by Turkey's prime minister which accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons. "It is clear the regime has used chemical weapons," said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an interview broadcast on NBC News Thursday night.

"There are patients who are brought to our hospitals who were wounded by these chemical weapons," Erdogan added, speaking through an interpreter. Erdogan said he wanted the US to "assume more responsibilities and take further steps" when it comes to Syria.''