Chemical weapons used in battle against ISIS?
The Associated Press reports that folks in Syria say that the Syrian government used chlorine gas against rebels in Syria yesterday;
Two activist groups – the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees – said the attack late on Monday night targeted the town of Sarmin in northwestern Idlib province.
They said that apart from killing six, dozens of people suffered from breathing difficulties in the gas attack. The two groups collect their data from a network of activists on the ground.
A military official in the capital, Damascus, denied the claim and blamed rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad for the attack.
Meanwhile, Kurds are also accusing ISIS of two other chemical attacks on their forces, according to another Associated Press report;
Kurdish officials have offered footage of the aftermath of the Dec. 26 attack, which shows fighters coughing and pouring water over their heads after another suicide truck bombing that authorities say wounded some 60 men.
“I put a wet scarf on my face because when I saw the gas, I felt it,” said Capt. Mohammad Sewdin, who leads the Kurdish special forces unit targeted in the December attack. “I was afraid it might be something like (chemical weapons). So I told my men to do the same.”
Sewdin told The Associated Press he was temporarily blinded for six hours after the attack and coughed up blood. He and others were hospitalized.
On Saturday, the Kurdistan Region Security Council offered video and lab results it said proved the Islamic State group used chlorine in the Jan. 23 suicide truck bomb.
There is so much false information coming out of that war, I don’t know whether either of the stories are true, but folks in that region seem to place no value on human lives, even their own, and since chemical warfare is the most barbaric and cowardly form of warfare, I wouldn’t doubt it. But the US should really focus on verifying or disproving these allegations before they send more troops into that type of indiscriminate warfare.
Category: Terror War
The bad thing is chlorine sucks. The good thing is it’s a lot less lethal than most chemical weapons. Chlorine seems to have become the poor mans agent of choice in the Middle East during the last 10-15 years.
‘Less lethal’ seems to be a relative term with chlorine gas:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/09/opinion/gallery/wwi-chemical-weapons/index.html
True. It was new in WWI and the scale of engagements was a lot larger. Compared to Sarin, VX, Soman etc. it’s lethality is less. It can still be lethal in high concentrations though.
“Less lethal” in this case meaning it won’t kill you immediately, it’ll just fuck you up for the rest of your shortened life. Take your pick as to which is worse.
That is true. My maternal grandfather was gassed in WW I and died from it effects after the war–when he was 27.
Absolutely true. Takes more to kill you immediately, but it still dicks you up for life.
I thought Lurch got rid of all chemical weapons in Syria under the threat of an almost unbelievably small air strike.
Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa.
The reported use of chemical weapons makes people recoil, more so, I guess, than immolation and beheading. Why? Because exposure to chemical weapons is something that could happen to John and Jane Q. Public and their 1.3 children. Immolation and beheading? Most people are repulsed by it by don’t believe they or theirs are likely to suffer one or the other. Hey, I could be way off base but that’s what I see.
Air Cav is right. There are probably a few badasses in the American military that are also freaked out about this sort of thing. Don’t freak out, guys – just go in there and WIN.
People forget. This strategy is old as the hills: Demoralize your enemy. In the Middle Ages, it was catapulting bodies that had the bubonic plague (or some such craziness), and then in WWI it was sophisticated chemical weapons. That was a hundred years ago!
Will ISIS abide by the Geneva Conventions? Gosh, we all agreed on them, right? What? ISIS did NOT agree? Well, they’re probably the kind of people who would rob, steal, etc.
I heard they don’t wear uniforms either!
If memory serves, the last time chem weapons were used (and Obama proclaimed his famoous “red line”), after all the frenzy died down it would seem that there was credible evidence that the rebels did the dirty deed in such a way that the Syrian government would get the blame.
Sounds like more of the same.
This changes nothing.
Scum gonna scum.
Well, the Kurds would know what it’s like to be gassed. As for Syria, the only “moderates” in that fight (if there are any) are the people trying to stay out of it. Assad is a turd, but I can’t say I’ll shed a tear if he wants to use up his chemical arsenal against IS. Sucks for those caught in the crossfire, but then again, it already sucked pretty bad for them.
Suffice it to say, I’m just glad that I and my family live here and not there.