Syria: Three Other Chemical Attacks by Rebels in Same Area

Smaller Attacks Followed the Major Wednesday Incident

The Syrian government is continuing to reject allegations that it launched the August 21 chemical weapons attack at the center of the so-called Jobar Incident, being used as an excuse for an impending US war on Syria. They say the rebels did it, and they’re putting forward evidence.

The Syrian government has also presented some evidence to the United Nations of three other, smaller rebel chemical attacks in the general vicinity of the first strike, carried out on the 22nd, 24th and 25th, and targeting Syrian soldiers.

Unfortunately the evidence, as with the US “evidence” of Syria’s guilt, isn’t being released to the public but just to the UN. There had been some reporting over the weekend that gives credence to this reports, however.

On Saturday the 24th, reports emerged of a Syrian government raid on tunnels in Jobar uncovering a rebel-run chemical lab, and soldiers involved in the raid were said to have been overwhelmed by fumes in those same tunnels. On Monday, there were reports of Hezbollah fighters returning to Lebanon to receive treatment after coming into contact with rebel chemical agents in Jobar over the weekend.

Indeed, Syrian Islamist rebel factions have long bragged about their makeshift chemical weapons program, a fact often ignored by Western officials. The UN investigation could likely ascertain whether the attacks were really advanced Syrian military arms or the more primitive rebel variety, but US officials have rejected calls to wait the few days it’ll take the UN to finish up with that.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.