UN Report Finds ‘Clear and Convincing Evidence That Surface-to-Surface Rockets Containing the Nerve Agent Sarin Were Used’
Surface-to-surface rockets delivered
the deadly sarin nerve gas that killed more than 1,400 people last
month in a neighborhood outside of Damascus. Further, the time of day
the rockets were launched was calculated in order to effectively kill
more people, the UN report released Monday said.
“On the basis of the evidence obtained
during the investigation of the Ghouta incident, the conclusion is that
chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the
parties in the Syrian Arab Republic, also against civilians, including
children, on a relatively large scale,” UN investigator Ake Sellstrom of
Sweden said in the much anticipated report.
“In particular, the environmental,
chemical and medical samples we have collected provide clear and
convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve
agent sarin were used,” the repot adds.
A
picture shows heavily damaged buildings in the Salah al-Din area of the
northern Syrian city of Aleppo on September 8, 2013. Credit: AFP/Getty
Images
The report also noted that the weather
conditions on the day of the attack ensured that the maximum number of
casualties would take place. When the rockets were launched between 2
a.m. and 5 a.m. the temperatures had fallen. The Sarin settled to the
ground in these conditions and was not carried away by the wind.
“So when Syrian parents ran with their
children to their basements to seek refuge from the onslaught of
bombings they were met with Sarin nerve gas,” Dr. Abo Akram, who treated
nearly 600 patients at a field hospital in eastern Ghouta, told
TheBlaze.
“It was horrific,” said the doctor, who
spoke by Skype.”Parents were pushing material into their babies and
children’s mouths hoping to keep out the gas long enough to run. They
couldn’t escape the chemicals and died in each others arms in their
basements. That’s how they were found, hundreds of people.”
Akram said UN inspectors did not visit
his field hospital and did not speak to the victims from his area that
survived the horrific attacks but “they did take samples from many
people.”
“I was surprised they didn’t take samples from the dead,” he added. “I don’t expect the U.S. or anyone will do anything.”
The report stated that the “chemical
weapons use in such meteorological conditions maximizes their potential
impact as the heavy gas can stay close to the ground and penetrate into
lower levels of buildings and constructions where many people were
seeking shelter.”
It has been almost a month since the
chemical weapons attack and the recent threats by the U.S. to launch an
airstrike on Assad have been tabled. President Obama changed course of
action when he was met with large opposition on both sides of the House
and from a war weary public. He punted to Congress and was awaiting a
vote when Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed that Syria declare
and destroy its chemical stockpile. Syria has a week to report on its
stockpile but Middle East analysts and foreign policy experts have very
little faith that it will happen.
“I don’t believe the Syrian government
will fully and accurately report or declare its chemical supplies,”
former Ambassador John Bolton, told Fox News on Monday.
Several U.S. officials told the
TheBlaze that there is concern that Assad’s regime has been moving some
of their stockpile through the border to Lebanon and Iraq in an effort
to hide these weapons of mass destruction.
“(Syria) just won’t declare
everything,” a U.S. Official told TheBlaze. “The Russians said they were
willing to wait for the UN report but they don’t believe the UN report.
It’s because they know Assad used these weapons on his own people and
the Russians are determined to keep him in power.”
Both Syria and Russia have denied that
Assad’s forces carried out the attack. Instead they blamed the attack
on Syrian rebels, some of which are connected to Al Qaeda and the Muslim
Brotherhood.
In an interview last week with Charlie
Rose, Assad flatly denied his government used chemical weapons. Instead
he blamed the U.S. for falsifying information against Syria, much like
when former Secretary of State Colin Powell presented flawed
intelligence against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq.
In
this frame grab from video taken Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013, and provided by
“CBS This Morning,” Syrian President Bashar Assad responds to a
question from journalist Charlie Rose during an interview in Damascus,
Syria. Assad warned in the interview broadcast Monday on CBS there will
be retaliation against the U.S. for any military strike launched in
response to the alleged chemical weapons attack. Assad said, “You should
expect everything.” Credit: AP
Sawsan Jabri a trained physician who
teaches biology courses at Oakland Community College in Eastern Michigan
and who serves as a spokeswoman for the U.S.-based Syrian Expatriates
Organization, said the people she is in communication with in Syria are
frustrated at the continual “double message” from the Obama
administration and the United Nations.
The problem is the double message,”
Jabri said. “In 2011, Obama called the regime illegitimate and now with
this Russian proposal he is legitimizing the regime. It’s so frustrating
and for more than two years the people of Syria have been given false
promises.”
The U.N.report does not say who
launched the attack in eastern Ghouta, which is held by rebels. But one
thing is certain UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon told the Security
Council: “[The] United Nations Mission has now confirmed, unequivocally
and objectively, that chemical weapons have been used in Syria.”
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