Chemical weapons use in Syria?

A couple of disturbing videos were uploaded to YouTube today from Syria showing disoriented victims being treated for difficulty breathing and tearing. This seems suggestive of the use of some sort of chemical agents by the Assad regime.





Notably, the way that a woman and child are featured in the video is such that one might wonder if what we're seeing is contrived to precipitate the story of Assad starting to use chemical weapons against his own people. This, in turn, is setting the stage for Western, and possibly Israeli, military intervention.

As noted in the following report from CNN, use of chemical weapons by Assad may constitute a "red line" for the international community:



What's more, if Israel detects that chemical weapons are falling into the hands of Hezbollah or the like, it will take military action to stop such transfers:

Israel “will have to strike” at Syrian weapons shipments if they are being transferred to Hezbollah in Lebanon amid the collapse of the Assad regime, a prominent Israeli military analyst said on national television Friday night.

Roni Daniel, of Israel’s most-watched news station Channel 2, made the prediction immediately after Defense Minister Ehud Barak had indicated warily in two TV interviews that Israel was preparing options to ensure Syrian weapons did not reach the pro-Iranian Hezbollah.

Again, is this all somehow leading to what I 'foresaw' in February 1991, i.e., a special report of a chemical SCUD missile attack on Haifa, Israel?

The Missing Damascus Bombing: What's Really Going On In Syria?! (update 2)

ALSO SEE:

Original Blog - What's Really Going On In Syria?!

7/16/12 update

12/13/12: Another mysterious 'terrorist' bombing in Damascus

12/20/12: Video Of Rabbits Being Poisoned By Sarin Gas

The big news of the day out of Syria is that a large bomb blast took place in the National Security Headquarters in Damascus that killed three key members of President Bashar Assad's inner circle of power.

Also see: As it happened: Top Syrian ministers 'killed'

Here's what ABC and CBS nightly news reported on the alleged bombing:





The Free Syrian Army has taken credit for the apparent attack in Damascus:

The New York Times and other prominent news organizations have been quick to point out how significant the Damascus bombing is in the unfolding crisis. From the article, "Damascus Confronts New Reality After Brazen Attack":

Something fundamental shifted in Damascus on Wednesday, a kind of before-the-bombing reality and a far different one afterward.

“Really, up until this morning you could sense that the regime still had a firm grip over the country,” said a 25-year-old resident of the old city, declining to give her name amid the unsettling events.

Stores were initially open, she said, and the traffic, albeit light, moved easily. University students were sitting for exams.

Then came the startling announcements on state television, one after another starting around noon, that a bomb had exploded in a small meeting of the country’s crucial security figures, killing three of them, including Asef Shawkat, the brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad.

“Everything changed after 3 p.m., and things turned in a totally different direction,” she said, echoing comments made by numerous Damascus residents reached via the Internet.

From the New York Times article, "Syrian Rebels Land Deadly Blow to Assad’s Inner Circle":

The killing on Wednesday of President Bashar al-Assad’s key security aides in a brazen bombing attack, close to Mr. Assad’s own residence, called into question the ability of a government that depends on an insular group of loyalists to function effectively as it battles a strengthening opposition.

The strike dealt a potent blow to the government, as much for where it took place as for the individuals who were targeted: the very cabinet ministers and intelligence chiefs who have coordinated the government’s iron-fisted approach to the uprising. The defense minister and the president’s brother-in-law were both killed, and others were seriously wounded.

The attack on the leadership’s inner sanctum as fighting raged in sections of the city for the fourth day suggested that the uprising had reached a decisive moment in the overall struggle for Syria. The battle for the capital, the center of Assad family power, appears to have begun. Though there was no indication he was wounded, Mr. Assad stayed out of public view — unusual but not unprecedented in a secretive country where the government has long tried to present an image of quiet control.

There's only one problem with mainstream news reports above about the Damascus bombing and likewise the response of the U.S. government to this news: it appears that no such bombing at the Syrian National Security Headquarters actually took place.

BBC News started to ascertain that something was seriously amiss right after Syrian national TV reported the bombing:

The BBC's suspicions that some sort of false story was being generated coalesced into a more thorough report by day's end:



From the BBC article, "Damascus 'bombing': A turning point?"

The reported attack in Damascus could mark an important symbolic turning point in the struggle to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The claim that a bomber was able to carry out such an attack against a high security target speaks volumes about the government's ability to protect its own members and raises questions about the broader capacities of Syria's "security state".

Caution, though, is still needed.

Details of the event are sketchy, contested, and rely upon elements all with their own axes to grind.

Why, according to reliable witnesses, does the building where the bomb apparently went off appear to be undamaged? Why has Syrian government TV refrained from showing its usual lurid images of the casualties?

Conspiracy theorists may have a field-day, but there is one inescapable fact.

The news put out by the Syrian government of a rebel attack against the very heart of the regime cannot be interpreted as anything other than a disaster for President Assad and his supporters.

It sends out a message that if these men cannot be protected by the state security apparatus, then who can? It is in this sense that the attack marks a new phase in the struggle for Syria's future.

What the BBC should really be asking is, if the Damascus bombing did not really occur, why would the Assad regime "put out" such self-defeating news?

What's more, will ABC, CBS and other major news sources adjust their reporting according to historical reality rather than continue embellishing this fictitious event? Will the U.S. government adjust its thinking for the truth rather than the latest lies from Damascus?

I wouldn't hold your breath. This newest, most blatant, version of misinformation flowing out of Syria will likely be incorporated into the whole edifice of historical lies Moscow has been building in this world over the past couple decades to achieve the West's defeat. I will, as usual, remain unheeded as everyone continues to happily cooperate in their own annihilation.

What is odd about this latest lie, however, is that it was delivered so sloppily, as if there was an intent to be caught. Why would that be? I honestly do not know. Maybe Syria and like authoritarian powers are just that arrogant in telling their bald-faced lies since they know how easily the uncritical media and mindless masses fall for such falsehoods.