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)

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.

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
The statement released by the National Liberation Front denying accusations that they targeted areas Aleppo with chlorone gas. They call for the regime to be held accountable for their past & current crimes carried out against innocent civilians.
 * On The Ground News (Islamit opposition supporters) https://twitter.com/OGNreports/status/1066582702437163013

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.

The military spokesman of Hayat Tahrir Sham denies any involvement in the alleged chemical attack in Aleppo, and claims their reconnaissance units witnessed the regime firing artillery on majority Sunni areas under regime control.
 * https://twitter.com/OGNreports/status/1068399227091517440