In Syria, chlorine dropped from helicopters, and... full stop!

In Syria, chlorine dropped from helicopters, and... full stop!
Kathryn Harkup wrote in The Guardian on September 16, 2016 on chlorine as being the gas of war crimes. Harkup’s article covered the news of the latest chlorine attacks in Syria that targeted opposition-held residential areas, causing the death of tens of civilians.

Yes, chlorine is the gas of war crimes since its dark history in conflicts stretches back to the First World War and if this gas is inhaled, then it will turn to hydrochloric acid in the lungs and can kill by burning the lungs and drowning victims in the resulting body fluids, causing agonizing pain until the body gives up to the internationally banned weapon. 

Harkup, in her report, abstained from identifying the perpetrator of such war crimes in Syria. Even though she stated that “the most recent gas attacks in Aleppo are said to have come in the form of barrel bombs dropped from a helicopter,” she made no mention of the one(s) behind them.

The world is fully aware by now that only the Assad regime owns and uses helicopters and warplanes – alongside its mortal ally, Russia. Even the US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, tweeted in response to a report by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) about the use of chlorine gas in Syria, that “only Syrian regime uses ”.

What was it that Harkup aimed for when she wrote a detailed article about the harrowing effects of the use of chlorine gas without mentioning the party responsible for such war crimes?

On the same day this article was published, a Western diplomat told Reuters that an international inquiry identified two Assad-owned air force helicopter squadrons and two other military units responsible for chlorine gas attacks on civilians. 

“It was the 22nd Division, the 63rd Brigade and the 255 and 253 squadrons of the Syrian government,” Middle East Eye quoted the envoy as saying, adding that the finding is set to be published next week by the United Nations and the OPCW.

In addition, all of the chlorine gas attacks were reported to have taken place in residential areas under the control of the opposition and most of its victims have been civilians – mainly innocent children.

Since 2012 and long before, the rights of the Syrian people have been breached, violated and crushed in every way possible by the Assad regime. Hundreds of thousands of people have died as they sought to gain back their dignity and freedom as the world sat by and watched in silence, and its media not going the extra sentence that points at the killer.

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