Syria: Chemical Attack in Ghouta "an Accident [sic] Caused by Free Syrian Army"
Syria: Chemical Attack in Ghouta 'an Accident Caused by Free Syrian Army' - The attack that killed over 200 people in the Damascus suburbs could be an accident caused by a riot control agent, and those responsible may be a faction of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and not the Assad regime, according to a chemical weapons specialist. Gwyn Winfield, editorial director at CBRNe World, a magazine specialising in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive weapons, told IBTimes UK [that]
● We can say there is some form of chemical used. But until we take blood samples, samples of the soil and the water in the area we can't say that a chemical agent has been used," he said. "It can be a riot control agent, like in the recent Egyptian case of the tear gas used in the back of a van that killed 36 prisoners. We have the same symptoms in the children and casualties.
● Winfield said he finds it "suspicious" that in the week UN inspectors enter the country with the acquiescence of Assad, the Government welcomes them with a chemical weapons missile barrage. "It is not impossible that some faction in the Free Syrian Army did it to get attention or maybe it was an accident by an inexperienced operator who may have not realised what he was doing." The security expert said there are numerous cases of riot agent used in a lethal way, for example in confined spaces and not to disperse a crowd.
Gwyn Winfield: Reflections on Ghouta [22 August 2013]
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