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That is incorrect Chris. The SA statement on Assad's chemical attack on Douma refers to "reports of a chemical gas attack on Douma", meaning you see it as neither confirmed nor do you know for sure who did it. Yet here you write without any qualifications that the rebels did use chlorine against Sheikh Maqsud in 2016, as if it has been proven, and as evidence you provide the Amnesty report. But that report only makes allegations: In its May 2016 report correctly condemning rebel groups in Aleppo for firing unguided missiles in Sheikh Maqsud, killing Kurdish civilians (https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/syria-armed-opposition-group-committing-war-crimes-aleppo-new-evidence), Amnesty included this paragraph: “There are also *allegations* that armed groups attacking Sheikh Maqsoud have used chemical weapons. A doctor told Amnesty that on 7 and 8 April he treated six civilians and two YPG fighters for symptoms including shortness of breath, numbness, red eyes and severe coughing fits. He said that several of the victims reported seeing yellow smoke as missiles impacted. A toxicologist consulted by Amnesty, who viewed video clips of the apparent attack and reviewed the doctor’s testimony, said the patients’ symptoms *could be* the effects of a chlorine attack. A subsequent statement purportedly issued by the leader of the Army of Islam armed group said that a field commander had deployed an “unauthorised weapon” on Sheikh Maqsoud and would be held to account.” Thus the allegations consist of (1) reports of “shortness of breath, numbness, red eyes and severe coughing fits” among 6-8 people, which a toxicologist said “could be the effects of a chlorine attack”, but also could easily be the effects of “normal” bombing (not to justify that of course: in fact these rebel attacks were condemned by both the Syrian Opposition Coalition http://en.etilaf.org/all-news/news/syrian-coalition-reiterates-calls-for-sparing-syrian-civilians.html , and the generally pro-opposition Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) http://sn4hr.org/wp-content/pdf/english/fsa_attacks_neighborhoods_in_Alepp_city_en.pdf); (2) one grainy photo somewhere in Sheikh Maqsud that looked like some yellow dye had been rubbed onto it; (3) The statement by Ghouta-based Jaysh al-Islam condemning its own Aleppo branch for using “weapons not authorized for use in these types of confrontations,” claiming to have disciplined a local commander (http://aranews.net/2016/04/main-syrian-islamist-rebel-group-punishes-field-commander-massacring-kurds-aleppo/). There was no indication he was referring to chemical weapons, and yet the claim that JaI "admitted" to using chemical weapons in this statement has been reported as fact virtually everywhere, and spread in particular by the Rojavasphere (the same Rojavasphere that had no idea who had no idea who attacked Ghouta with chemical weapons in August 2013). The problem with this Big Lie technique is that JaI itself claimed that it was referring to “modified Grad rockets,” not chemical weapons (https://twitter.com/islamalloush0/status/718410175934263296). People who read my Ghouta article know I hold a very low opinion of JaI. However, if they did punish the commander for using weapons that kill civilians in this case, that is a good thing. JaI needs to be condemned for things it has done, not for things it hasn’t done and claims its hasn’t made. It is not my business to prove they didn't do it; nor does their *denial* that they did it prove that they didn't. But claiming that they admitted it when they clearly didn't is a strikingly dishonest way of arguing. On Fri, Apr 20, 2018 at 5:40 PM, Chris Slee via Marxism <[email protected]> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > In a recent interview Stephen Zunes noted that, while the Assad regime has > carried out most of the chemical weapon attacks in Syria, including the > recent attack on Douma, rebel groups have also carried out some chemical > attacks. Some people have disputed this, but Zunes is correct. > > One example is the use of chlorine against the predominantly Kurdish Sheikh > Maqsoud neighbourhood in Aleppo in 2016: > > https://www.amnesty.org.au/syria-armed-groups-war-crimes-aleppo/ > > The rebels have used chlorine, not sarin. Only the Assad regime has used > sarin. Chlorine is much easier to manufacture and handle. It is also less > deadly than sarin. The symptoms are quite different. > > Chris Slee > > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/mkaradjis%40gmail.com _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
