UN Official, Syrian Rebels Used Sarin Nerve Gas, Not Assad’s Army

   

Testimony from victims now strongly suggests it was the rebels, not the Syrian  government, that used Sarin Nerve Gas during a recent incident in the revolution-wracked nation, a senior UN diplomat said Monday.

Carla del Ponte, a member of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told Swiss TV there were “strong, concrete  suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof,” that rebels seeking to oust  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had used  the nerve agent.

But she said her panel had not yet seen any evidence of Syrian government forces using chemical weapons (CW), according to the BBC, she added that more investigation was needed.

Damascus is facing growing Western accusations that its forces used  such weapons, which US President Obama has described as crossing a Red Line. But Ms. del Ponte’s remarks may serve to shift  the focus of international concern.

Ms. del Ponte, who in Y 1999 was  appointed to head the UN was crimes tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda, has sometimes been a controversial figure. She was removed from her Rwanda post by the UN Security Council in Y 2003, but she continued as the Chief prosecutor for the Yugoslav tribunal until  Y 2008.

Rebel Free Syrian Army spokesman Louay Almokdad denied that rebels had use chemical weapons (CW).

Western attack to punish Syria likely to begin with barrage of more than 100 missiles in 48 hour blitz

A Royal Navy Trafalgar class submarine will join forces with American warships in the Mediterranean to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles in an attack that is likely to begin within days.

The missiles would be unleashed to destroy Mr Assad's command and control facilities, weapons delivery centres, intelligence bases and militia training camps.

Military commanders sealed agreement on the scope of attacks with regional allies and the Syrian opposition, officials at a two-day summit in Amman said last night.

The two day meeting in Jordan saw Gen Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US joint chiefs, and Gen Sir Nick Houghton, the head of Britain's Armed Forces, set out detailed war plans to service chiefs from 10 countries.

A Jordanian official said: "There was consensus that the international community must take action in Syria and that missile strikes by naval or air forces would be the best response."