casus belli

See also: Someone's Already Fighting ISIS: The Syrian Arab Army (15/9/14) by Tony Cartalucci.

To better understand the seemingly perplexing recent developments in Iraq and Syria, please read 1 Washington Menaces America with Its ISIS Creation (11/9/14) by Tony Cartalucci (aka Land Destroyer), 2 The ISIL Caliphate in Iraq and Syria, “Made in America” (13/9/14) by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya—included interview embedded here as Appendix 3—and 3 Australian-Syrian organisation begs Obama to work with Syrian Government against ISIL (13/9/14), including embedded interview with the Syrian Girl, here on candobetter.

At 7.29PM on Saturday 13 September, the Melbourne Age newspaper published the story Julie Bishop condemns Syria over use of toxic weapons. A search of the Internet revealed, the OPCW media release of 10 Sep in which the claim was originally made. 10 September 2014 is only 2 days after Syria's cache of chemical weapons was destroyed under a United Nations monitored program (see Appendix 2). That media release failed to show where, on the OPCW site, the report, upon which it was supposedly based, was located. Other stories, based on that media release, include:

(OPCW): Chlorine probably used in Syria (10 Sep), OPCW claims evidence of toxic chemical use in Syria (10 Sep), OPCW: Chlorine gas used as weapon in Syria (Kuwait News Agency, 10 Sep), Syrian government continues 'horrific chemical attacks' (Channel 4, 10 Sep), Chemical watchdog confirms "likely" use of chlorine in Syria attacks (Deutsche Welle, 10 Sep), Chlorine gas used in Syria attacks, says OPCW (Panorama, 13 Sep), Weapons watchdog: Chlorine likely used in Syria (Blackburn News, 10 Sep), OPCW confirms 'systematic' chlorine attacks in Syria (The Daily Star, Lebanon, 10 Sep), Syria crisis: Chlorine gas used in attacks, says OPCW (BBC, 10 Sep),OPCW: Compelling evidence that toxic chlorine was used in Syria (Memo Middle East Monitor, 13 Sep).

The press release of 10 September 2014 by the Organisation for the prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), referred to above, is OPCW Fact Finding Mission: "Compelling Confirmation" That Chlorine Gas Used as Weapon in Syria. It commences:

The fact-finding mission (FFM) appointed by the OPCW Director-General to examine alleged uses of chlorine gas as a weapon in Syria has found information constituting "compelling confirmation" that a toxic chemical was used "systematically and repeatedly" as a weapon in villages in northern Syria earlier this year.

The report that allegedly substantiates the above and other allegations in the remaining 4 paragraphs of the press release (see #app1">Appendix 1, below) is nowhere to be found.

The sudden appearance of 'evidence' of the use of chemical weapons only days after the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile (see #app2">Appendix 2) would seem most convenient for the Obama administration which has stated its intention to violate Syrian airspace to supposedly destroy the ISIS insurgency in Iraq and Syria.

Given that 88.7% of the 77.342% of eligible Syrian voters voted for President Bashar al-Assad in the certified elections of 4 June 2014 (see Syria's press conference the United Nations doesn't want you to see of 21 June 2014 for press conference by international observers who testified for the validity of the elections) what would President Assad have stood to gain by trying to kill Syrians whom he would have known had supported his government?

#app1" id="app1">Appendix 1: Media release of the OPCW of 10 September

OPCW Fact Finding Mission: "Compelling Confirmation" That Chlorine Gas Used as Weapon in Syria

Editorial comment: I could not find a copy of the report referred to in this media release anywhere on the page on which it was published or anywhere on the OPCW web-site.

The fact-finding mission (FFM) appointed by the OPCW Director-General to examine alleged uses of chlorine gas as a weapon in Syria has found information constituting "compelling confirmation" that a toxic chemical was used "systematically and repeatedly" as a weapon in villages in northern Syria earlier this year.

In its second report that includes key findings, the Mission states that "the descriptions, physical properties, behaviour of the gas, and signs and symptoms resulting from exposure, as well as the response of patients to the treatment, leads the FFM to conclude with a high degree of confidence that chlorine, either pure or in mixture, is the toxic chemical in question."

The report says chlorine was used in attacks on the villages of Talmanes, Al Tamanah and Kafr Zeta, all located in northern Syria. In May this year, the FFM had attempted to visit Kafr Zeta to gather on-site evidence in the aftermath of an alleged use there but was prevented from doing so when the convoy was attacked. The FFM then decided to carry out witness interviews in a safe location outside of Syria.

The FFM's report presents the key findings from dozens of interviews with victims, physicians, first responders and eyewitnesses to the attacks, together with a considerable amount of documentation such as video, medical records and other evidence collected since the publication of the FFM's first report in mid-June.

Following the establishment of the FFM in late April 2014, there was a marked reduction in reported chlorine attacks in the months of May, June and July. But there was a spate of new allegations in August. The Director-General has asked the FFM to continue its work.

#app2" id="app2">Appendix 2: Report from the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) of 8 September

Al-Moallem expresses appreciation to Kaag for success of OPCW-UN mission

Damascus, SANA – Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem met Head of the joint mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations Sigrid Kaag and the accompanying delegation.

The meeting came as part of Kaag's final visit to Syria since the joint mission, which deals with eliminating the chemical weapons in Syria, is winding up its work and will be concluded by the end of September.

Talks during the meeting touched upon the achievements made in terms of Syria implementing its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which Syria joined in September of 2013.

Minister al-Moallem expressed his deep appreciation and thanks to Kaag for the efforts she and her team put to have the mission of the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons accomplished.

For her part, Kaag said she was pleased with the achievements made and voiced her gratitude for the Syrian government's "constructive" and "fruitful" cooperation which led to those achievements.

She described the accomplishment of the mission as "unprecedented" achievement, which she said would not have succeeded without the Syrian authorities' cooperation with the joint OPCW-UN mission.

Kaag stressed that in light of this achievement, the Syrian state must be viewed as a member state in the CWC.

Haifa Said

#app3" id="app3">Appendix 3: Embedded video interview with Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

The above embedded video is from Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya's Global Research article The ISIL Caliphate in Iraq and Syria, "Made in America" (13/9/1)