Syria watch...

[johnhemming2]

It is not possible for governments to fully assess the impact of the overnight attacks. Anyone else who claims to do this clearly does not know enough to make that assessment. It will take time.

[Lurkalot]

So, more symbolic strikes against what are called chemicals weapons production and storage sites. I hope thejntelligence a d targeting were good. This is the smallest imaginable military response. .

A question for those with more knowledge than I .
If we've bombed chemical weapons storage sites what happens to those chemicals ? Are the destroyed in the explosions or do they end up drifting in lethal clouds from the shattered ruins? Are we going to see inspectors visiting those bombed sites to test if chemical agents have been released in the bombings?

[Mr. Fox]

The French are happy to attribute blame for the Douma 'attack' based on having watched some youtube videos or something...

[Mr. Fox]

UNSC meeting today (video).

Vassily Nebenzia starts at 7 mins in.

[PS_RalphW]

So, more symbolic strikes against what are called chemicals weapons production and storage sites. I hope thejntelligence a d targeting were good. This is the smallest imaginable military response. .

A question for those with more knowledge than I .
If we've bombed chemical weapons storage sites what happens to those chemicals ? Are the destroyed in the explosions or do they end up drifting in lethal clouds from the shattered ruins? Are we going to see inspectors visiting those bombed sites to test if chemical agents have been released in the bombings?

Most nerve agents are so called binary. They are stored as two less toxic chemicals which are then mixed just before use, or are loaded into separate vials within the bomb, for obvious safety reasons, and to improve shelf life. Generally the nerve agents are not difficult to destroy in controlled conditions, but obviously bombing is less than ideal . Syria appears to have been using both nerve agents and more primative chemicals.

[Lurkalot]

Makes sense . As you say bombing is a less than ideal way to destroy those chemicals and I would suspect residues or traces to be still detectable which does make me wonder it he OPCW would be requesting visits to those sites to confirm we have actually bombed the right targets.

[raspberry-blower]

Craig Murray: The British Government's legal justification is entirely false and without merit

But the evidence that Assad used chemical weapons against Douma is non-existent, and the OPCW did not conclude that the Assad government was responsible for the attack on Khan Sheikhoun. There is no evidence whatsoever that military action was urgently required to avert another such “immediate� attack. Nor is it true that the UK’s analysis of the situation is “generally accepted� by the international community, as witness China and Russia voting together in the Security Council yesterday to condemn the attack.

So the British government sets up its own “three tests� which have no legal standing and are entirely a British concoction, yet still manages to fail them.

[Little John]

The bombing of the "chemical plants" was done, arguably, in order to make the erstwhile upcoming inspection of them by the relevant international bodies not now possible.

[raspberry-blower]

It is not possible for governments to fully assess the impact of the overnight attacks. Anyone else who claims to do this clearly does not know enough to make that assessment. It will take time.

So why, then, the rush to attack Syria without first ascertaining what happened in Douma?

Was it to prevent the OPCW from actually verifying what actually happened?

As for the missile attacks - even the "go - to" source for Western MSM the SOHR is reporting that more than 65 missiles were intercepted.

[johnhemming2]

It is not possible for governments to fully assess the impact of the overnight attacks. Anyone else who claims to do this clearly does not know enough to make that assessment. It will take time.

So why, then, the rush to attack Syria without first ascertaining what happened in Douma?

What I said was it will take time to assess the impact of the air strikes.

[Mr. Fox]

A story that keeps cropping up turned up on Veterans Today a while ago, now appeared on Sputnik (and was reported in the Daily Mail, Sun etc as 'fake', c/w MOD denial):

A number of British forces have been captured by the Syrian army during military operations in Eastern Ghouta, according to reports by local media.

https://sputniknews.com/military/201804 ... ia-ghouta/

(Neither are reliable sources... but very interesting if confirmed) It meshes with this:

https://ejmagnier.com/2018/04/15/the-us ... -revealed/

Which again, I can't vouch for, but might give some insight.

A source I do trust offers some interesting background reading (2014 vintage Seymour Hersh):

https://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m ... e-rat-line

A murky world.

[fuzzy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgYs0_kT36Q

[raspberry-blower]

What I said was it will take time to assess the impact of the air strikes.

Who for - the politicians or the military?

For the first option I would say yes, the second no.

[raspberry-blower]

We should also have waited until there was conclusive evidence that (a) a chemical attack actually took place and (b) who was responsible for it.

This is not just my view but also that of senior retired Naval chief Lord Alan west:

talk radio: ex-Naval chief: Syria attack "could be propaganda"

[fuzzy]

I don't know who 'we' is, but Syria is nothing to do with the UK people. It may be graft and gravy train for the PPE oicks in whitehall, the 3rd sector, the tax dodgers in the city of london, the lobbyists, westminster clowns, the MIC, the rentiers etc, but not the UK people.