Feel Good Story: 14 IS militants killed loading chlorine gas into warhead...

Evidence God is not on their side...

Baghdad, Sep 16 (IANS/EFE) At least 14 members of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group were killed Tuesday near Baghdad when a rocket whose warhead they were filling with chlorine gas exploded.
Iraqi security officials said seven more IS militants were injured in the incident, which occurred near the town of al-Dhuluiya, about 90 km north of Baghdad.
Al-Dhuluiya was also where four members of the Iraqi security forces and Shiite militiamen suffered symptoms of asphyxiation after inhaling chlorine gas released by two improvised explosive devices.
It was the first time that chlorine has been used as a weapon in Iraq, although it is not uncommon in neighbouring Syria, where the regime's use of it has been denounced by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Syrian deal calls for them to have given up all chemical weapons next week. Only 4.1% actually given up.

How is this plan working out for you Obama? 

(Reuters) – Syria has given up less than 5 percent of its chemical weapons arsenal and will miss next week’s deadline to send all toxic agents abroad for destruction, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
The deliveries, in two shipments this month to the northern Syrian port of Latakia, totaled 4.1 percent of the roughly 1,300 tonnes of toxic agents reported by Damascus to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“It’s not enough and there is no sign of more,” one source briefed on the situation said.
The internationally backed operation, overseen by a joint OPCW-United Nations mission, is now 6-8 weeks behind schedule. Damascus needs to show it is still serious about relinquishing its chemical weapons, the sources told Reuters.

Report: Assad regime scattering chemical weapons..

There is nothing to the Russian and Syrian offer except delay and games...

Via WSJ:

A secretive Syrian military unit at the center of the Assad regime’s chemical weapons program has been moving stocks of poison gases and munitions to as many as 50 sites to make them harder for the U.S. to track, according to American and Middle Eastern officials.
The movements of chemical weapons by Syria’s elite Unit 450 could complicate any U.S. bombing campaign in Syria over its alleged chemical attacks, officials said. It also raises questions about implementation of a Russian proposal that calls for the regime to surrender control of its stockpile, they said.
U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies still believe they know where most of the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons are located, but with less confidence than six months ago, U.S. officials said.
Secretary of State John Kerry met Thursday in Geneva with his Russian counterpart to discuss a road map for ending the weapons program. The challenges are immense, Mr. Kerry said.

Did some of Syria's chemical weapons come from Saddam Hussein?

There have been reports...

Via IBD 2012:

War On Terror: As the regime of Bashar Assad disintegrates, the security of his chemical arsenal is in jeopardy. The No. 2 general in Saddam Hussein’s air force says they were the WMDs we didn’t find in Iraq.
King Abdullah of neighboring Jordan warned that a disintegrating Syria on the verge of civil war puts Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons at risk of falling into the hands of al-Qaida.
“One of the worst-case scenarios as we are obviously trying to look for a political solution would be if some of those chemical stockpiles were to fall into unfriendly hands,” he said.
The irony here is that the chemical weapons stockpile of Syrian thug Assad may in large part be the legacy of weapons moved from Hussein’s Iraq into Syria before Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Keep on reading…

BRITISH intelligence report: Syrian artillery officer told to fire chemical weapons or be shot...

Least surprising story of the day...

Via Daily Express:

BRITISH intelligence chiefs have intercepted radio messages in which senior Syrian military chiefs are heard ordering the use of chemical weapons.
In one heated exchange, a regional commander was overheard demanding the captain of an artillery battery in a Government-held suburb of Damascus to fire chemical shells.
When the officer protested, he was told “in direct terms” that failure to comply would result in him facing a firing squad, and the chemical weapons were then fired.
The dramatic revelation, disclosed by a high-placed RAF source, came as the defiant Syrian government declared it was “fully ready” with “its finger on the trigger” for an expected US attack.
And it adds to the “evidence from thousands of sources” which US Secretary of State John Kerry has said places the chemical attacks firmly at the door of forces loyal to President Bashir Assad.
Last night the senior RAF officer said: “The commander of the artillery battery told the regional commander that he would not comply and there was a heated exchange. He was told in direct language that unless the order was carried out, he would be shot. A total of 27 chemical artillery shells were then fired at the suburb in a 14-minute period.”

Fail: UN inspection team will not be allowed to determine "who" used WMD in Syria...

The team will only be allowed to determine if chemical weapons were used. I wonder why the Syrian government doesn't want the UN to investigate who did it?

Via WSJ:

… On Sunday, the U.N. said its inspection team was preparing to start its fact-finding mission on Monday after Syria said it would allow U.N. personnel now in Damascus immediate access to the affected areas.
“The team must be able to conduct a full, thorough and unimpeded investigation,” said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday night. However, the team is only mandated to determine if chemical weapons were used, not who used them, Mr. Ban’s spokesman said.
Syrian state television, airing a statement attributed to the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said agreement was reached following a meeting between Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and Angela Kane, the U.N. disarmament chief, who arrived in Damascus on Saturday. The Syrian statement said the timing of the visit would be coordinated between the U.N. team led by Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom and the Syrian government.
However, it wasn’t clear how the U.N. team would be able to start the work given the continuing military campaign. All areas in question have been sealed off by the military and strenuous restrictions were imposed at checkpoints.

Report: Israel bombs Syrian chemical weapons site...

 Apparently, Israel knows a red line when it has been crossed. Barack Obama, not so much...

DAMASCUS, Syria, April 28 (UPI) -- The Free Syrian Army says Israeli air force jets flew over President Bashar Assad's palace and bombed a chemical weapons site near Damascus, Maariv reported.

The report said the Israeli jets entered Syria's airspace close to 6 a.m Saturday and flew over Assad's palace in Damascus and other security facilities before striking a chemical weapons compound near the city.

Crossing the Line: Britain and France tell UN Syria used chemical weapons against rebels...

This is the "game changer" Obama warned Syria cabout. What now? 

UNITED NATIONS — Britain and France have informed the United Nations that there is credible evidence that Syria used chemical weapons on more than one occasion since December, according to senior diplomats and officials briefed on the accounts.

In letters to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the two European powers said soil samples, witness interviews and opposition sources support charges that nerve agents were used in and around the cities of Aleppo, Homs and possibly Damascus, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The European accounts are in part aimed at countering accusations by the Syrian government that opposition forces had fired chemical weapons during fighting in the town of Khan al-Asal near Aleppo on March 19, killing 26 people, including Syrian troops.

European diplomats acknowledge that Syrian forces may have been exposed to chemical agents during the attack, but they say it was a “friendly fire” incident in which the troops were hit when a government shell missed its opposition target.

Confirmed: Chemical weapons used in Syria...

It's still unclear if they were used by the Assad regime or the rebels...

Via JPost:

Evidence of the use of chemical weapons has been discovered in a soil sample smuggled out of Syria, The Times of London reported on Saturday.

The report quoted anonymous British defense sources who said that “some kind of chemical weapon” was used in Syria but they could not tell whether the chemicals were used by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces or by the rebels.

The finding was established by the British Ministry of Defense’s chemical and biological research establishment at Porton Down in in Wiltshire. The sources ruled out that the chemical traces found in the soil were from substances used to control riots with one saying, “There have been some reports that it was just a strong riot-control agent but this is not the case — it’s something else, although it can’t definitively be said to be sarin nerve agent.”

The soil sample was smuggled out of Syria in a secret British operation that was revealed by a report in The Times in March.

Is Bashar Assad preparing to use chemical weapons on rebels?

Israeli Intelligence Chief claims Assad is preparing to use chemical weapons against Syrian Rebels…

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military intelligence chief says Syria’s embattled president, Bashar Assad, is preparing to use chemical weapons.

Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi told a security conference in the coastal town of Herzliya that Assad is stepping up his offensive against rebels trying to oust him.

Kochavi claims Assad is making advanced preparations to use chemical weapons, but has not yet given the order to deploy them.

He did not disclose information about why he thinks Assad is preparing to use them.

Report: Syria mixing up sarin gas

This could get ugly fast...

Via CNN:

Syrian forces began combining chemicals that would be used to make deadly sarin gas for use in weapons to attack rebel and civilian populations, a U.S. official tells CNN.
The United States obtained intelligence over the weekend indicating this development, according to the official who had direct knowledge of the latest information.

The intelligence, the official said, came from multiple sources but declined to provide any more details about how the United states learned of it.

Sarin gas, the source said, could most readily be used to fill artillery shells.
Syrian State TV cited a Foreign Ministry official on Monday as saying the country would never use chemical weapons on its own people.

CNN reported on Sunday that U.S. intelligence is concerned about the Syrian government’s intent regarding its vast chemical weapons stockpiles after what one senior American official described as “worrying signs” of activity in “the last few days.”

Time for Obama to fire off another sternly worded letter...

Col. Moammar Gadhafi prepares to use chemical weapons

Are we supposed to be shocked?

(Washington Times) — Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s troops in and around the rebel-held western Libyan city of Misrata have been issued gas masks, a sign that the regime may be preparing to use chemical weapons, rebels told The Washington Times on Wednesday.

The regime is thought to have about 9 tons of poisonous mustard gas at a secret desert location near Col. Gadhafi’s hometown, Sirte, multiple sources in Libya said.