Syria: 'Chemical Weapons Freelancers Used'
Updated: 7:53pm UK, Monday 09 September 2013
By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent
Not a single person I have met in northern Syria has even the slightest doubt that Bashar al Assad's military has used chemical weapons against them on multiple occasions.
Many now in the border areas are there exactly because they witnessed the attacks and decided not to stick about for another.
The Damascus incident last month and who did it can be argued about of course, but chemical weapons experts working with Sky News are in no doubt that chemicals were used and have been on multiple occasions in the past.
The experts, using evidence available to them, advise that the delivery of these weapons was unorthodox; the Syrian regime has proper delivery systems for chemicals.
But, setting aside the Damascus incident, they conclude that someone was "freelancing" their use in other attacks.
They suspect it was militia working in tandem with the government.
Part of their reasoning is that the purchasing, handling and preparation of chemical weapons is extremely difficult and dangerous.
In one incident that they have specific knowledge of, Syrian soldiers and chemical experts working with them were all killed when a chemical bearing warhead was accidentally dropped.
One can conclude from this that the Syrian government, at the very least, is actively involved in preparation of chemical weapon use.
It is reported in Turkish media that jihadists have been arrested either in possession of chemicals or attempting to buy them.
One can conclude from that, if it is true, that some extreme elements of the rebel movement would like chemical weapons as well.
But there is not a single piece of evidence indicating that rebels have used chemicals or practised using them.
Nobody from Sky News or any other broadcaster or journalist, as far as I am aware, has witnessed chemical weapons or their use by the rebels throughout this war.
But is this really the point here? Few Syrians really draw a distinction between 100,000 dead from conventional fighting and between 400 and 1,000 dead from chemicals.
They are all dead and most because of Mr Assad's determination to ignore calls for change and the end of his dictatorship.
Right now Assad planes are attacking villages across the north of the country. I saw the jets and heard the explosions.
The Free Syrian Army, the civilian leadership of northern Syria and the vast numbers of internally displaced and refugees want the United States to bomb the Syrian military.
The FSA says 13 brigades in northern Aleppo will become one and will lead the fight to Damascus.
They are confident that the myriad of Jihadi groupings will set aside differences and join them.
All accept that the regime will retaliate and probably at a terrible cost to those who have stayed behind.
But as the governor of Aleppo said to me: "We fight on."
While Moscow plots to undermine action against its ally and Washington decides to plot or not against its President, there is one absolute fact beyond all sceptical analysis: the Syrian government continues to kill its own people. Every day.
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