LATEST: Video & Translation: Assad To Russian TV – August 21 Chemical Weapons Attack Was US Provocation

KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

POLITICAL
*Putin takes Russia’s case on Syria to the opinion page of The New York Times
*Assad To Russian TV : I’m Placing Chemical Weapons Under International Control Because Of Russia, Not US
*Senior Western Official”: UN Report Will Blame Assad for Chemical Weapons Attacks

MILITARY
*Salim Idriss Rejects Russian Chemical Weapons Proposal
*Regime’s 4th Armored Division Strikes Homes In Muadamiyyat Ash Sham
*Reality or Propaganda? “CIA Begins Delivering Weapons to Insurgents


Video: Assad To Russian TV – August 21 Chemical Weapons Attack Was US Provocation

In an interview with Russian TV channel Rossiya 24, Syrian President Bashar Al Assad said that the August 21 chemical weapons attacks were a “US provocation”.

For Russian-speakers, here is the full video of the interview (in Russian).

Assad said that US threats of military intervention were, “based on provocation, this was arranged with the use of chemical weapons in the suburbs of Damascus, the Ghouta [region], and the US government has implemented a provocation.”

The Syrian President said that it was Syria who originally made a proposal to rid the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction, a move that could “stabilize the situation in our region”.

“We are always thinking about stability,” Assad added. The Syrian President continued by saying that Damascus did not want the region to enter into “another crazy war, which several parties including the US, want to start in the Middle East”.

“Another war against Syria will destroy the entire region….and will lead to decades of instability,” he said.

The Syrian President said that the Russian proposal had also led them to agree to place their chemical weapons stocks under international control, and praised Russia for its support and knowledge of the region.

The interviewer then asked Assad what he thought of the American position, that Syria had only decided to place its chemical stocks under international control following the threat of US airstrikes.

Assad said that Damascus’s decision had nothing to do with the August 21 attacks, and that the threat of US strikes were part of “provocation” by Washington, of which the attacks in the Ghouta region were a part. So, Assad continued, the allegation that the US threat of strikes had motivated Damascus was “not true”.

Assad said, “What really pushed us to that, it was only the Russian proposal and the talks we held with the Russian side. I want to repeat that if it had not been for the Russian proposal, we would never have considered that issue….that is simply American propaganda.

The Syrian President, asked to describe the mechanism by which the regime’s chemical weapons could be placed under international control, said that in the next few days, Damascus was prepared to provide the UN with technical documents regarding its chemical weapons.

1st-Hand: The Fighting in Maaloula With Reporters Caught in Fire

Bill Neely of Britain’s ITV:

Report: Fighting Continues Around Maaloula, Christian Sites Undamaged

Report: Fighting Continues Around Maaloula, Christian Sites Undamaged

Report: Fighting Continues Around Maaloula, Christian Sites Undamaged

BBC correspondent Jeremy Bowen reports from Syria that heavy clashes between regime troops and insurgents continues around Maaloula, despite claims by the regime that pro-Assad forces had retaken the ancient Christian town.

Bowen said that he had “not seen evidence confirming religious sites had been damaged” by Islamist factions.

This footage from Wednesday claims to show bodies of regime troops killed in clashes with insurgents at the entrance to Maaloula (WARNING — GRAPHIC):

Video: Regime Drops “Chlorine Gas” On Jobar, Damascus

Activists in Jobar, Damascus are claiming that the regime has used chlorine gas against civilians in an early morning attack on Thursday. Jobar is one of the neighborhoods in the Damascus suburbs hit by the August 21 chemical weapons attacks.

This footage, posted on Thursday, shows one of the victims (English subtitles).

The Shaam News Network, a citizen journalist and activist network, reported at around 03:45 GMT:

Assad forces dropped poisonous gas bombs near Jobar district’s police station about an hour ago, causing several non-life threatening injuries. The bombs seem to contain a chlorine substance which caused suffocation, convulsions and extreme sweating. Residents at first feared sarin had been released once again in the area, causing panic to ensue as a result of the last chemical weapons attack on the area by the Assad regime three weeks ago.

Regime forces continue to clash with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the area on the Southern Bypass near Zamalka city, Jobar district and the Abbasiyeen front line. Regime forces are also shelling the area with artillery.

SNN add of the attack:

Regime forces fired a poisonous gas which caused suffocation, skin irritation and involuntary twitching in those hit. While the doctor in the second part of this footage states it was not sarin or VX, he indicates it is the second time this particular gas was used on the area since the regime’s August 21, 2013 sarin attack which killed over 1,500 people. This attack comes the very week the Assad regime promised it would hand over its chemical weapons stores to the international community to avoid military strikes by the United States.

Assad To Russian TV : I’m Placing Chemical Weapons Under International Control Because Of Russia, Not US

Syrian President Bashar Al Assad told the Rossiya 24 TV channel on Thursday that he had agreed to place his chemical weapons under international control because of Russia, not because of any threat of a US strike.

“US threats did not influence our decision to put the chemical weapons under [international] control,” Interfax quotes Assad as saying.

Assad said that he was prepared to give the UN the necessary documents to prepare an agreement for such a move.

Video: Aftermath of Regime Attack on Al-Bab, Aleppo

Footage from Thursday shows the aftermath of a heavy regime rocket strike on Aleppo’s Al Bab neighborhood. Activists said that at least six civilians have been killed in the attack.

WARNING — GRAPHIC IMAGES OF INJURED AND DYING CIVILIANS.

This video shows smoke billowing from a burning house following the strike:

Video: Regime’s 4th Armored Division Strikes Homes In Muadamiyyat Ash Sham

Regime strikes continue on Thursday on the West Ghouta town of Muadamiyyat Ash Sham, one of the sites hit in the August 21 chemical weapons attacks, and which is under a siege. This footage claims to show strikes by Assad’s Fourth Armored Division.

Among the insurgent groups fighting on the front lines in Muadamiyyat Ash Sham is the Shuhada Al Islam Brigade. This footage from Thursday shows the brigade’s snipers targeting regime forces.

Video: Insurgent In Deir Ezzor To FSA: “Don’t Depend On A US Strike”

Citizen journalists in the besieged town of Deir Ezzor have made a video report — partly in English, and with English subtitles, surveying local opinion about a possible US strike against President Assad.

The reporter asks a Free Syrian Army insurgent in the city what he thinks. His response: “We don’t depend on the US or Europe… from the beginning we asked for a no-fly zone….I want to say again, don’t depend on a strike, because in the past we waited in vain for a no-fly zone.”

Idriss Rejects Russian Chemical Weapons Proposal

A video statement by Salim Idriss, Chief of Staff of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) of the Free Syrian Army, in which refuses the Russian proposal that the Assad regime place its chemical weapons stocks under international control, is circulating on YouTube.

Dear Brothers and sisters from the free Syrian People, Heroes of the free Syrian Army, All Honorable people in the whole world, Mercy and blessings of God be upon you:

The blessed Syrian Revolution continues among extremely difficult circumstances, and still our people are paying with their lives and everything they have to gain their freedom and to remove the injustice.

Today, with the Assad Regime’s continued killing, destruction, used of chemical weapons, and other things against our people, crossing all red lines, because of the long silence of the international community, we are seeing some practical steps from the international community which our people paid their lives against it; some signs began to appear on the horizon for the falling of Al-Assad criminal gang.

The Presidency of the General Staff of the Syrian Revolution emphasizes that the Syrian people are the origin and foundation of victory, the focus of the solution and the primary goal of our Revolution. So, we declare our unequivocal rejection of the Russian initiative to put the regime’s chemical arsenal under international trusteeship, and request not only to put the regime’s chemical arsenal which is a criminal weapon, under international trusteeship, but to punish the perpetrators of the crime, and to try them before the International Criminal Court, after they confess to possessing of the crime weapon….

Also, the Presidency of the General Staff of the Syrian Revolution calls on all supporting and friendly countries to increase the amounts of arms and ammunition, and asks our Free Syrian Army heroes to keep fighting for the liberation of our country from the hatred and tyranny of Assad’s gang, and to accelerate military operations on all fronts….

Reality or Propaganda? “CIA Begins Delivering Weapons to Insurgents”

A significant development or merely propaganda to cover President Obama’s step-back from airstrikes? From this morning’s Washington Post:

The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria, ending months of delay in lethal aid that had been promised by the Obama administration, according to U.S. officials and Syrian figures. The shipments began streaming into the country over the past two weeks, along with separate deliveries by the State Department of vehicles and other gear.

In fact, the CIA has been involved in covert supplies of weapons to insurgents since the end of 2012, although co-ordination with other countries such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey has been limited by US concerns over “extremist” factions.

In June, the Obama Administration finally promised overt supply of arms. However, it ruled out deliveries of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons and then retreated: no US arms reached opposition fighters between June and September.

Even today’s leak has a caveat: the supplies are “limited to light weapons and other munitions that can be tracked”.

“Senior Western Official”: UN Report Will Blame Assad for Chemical Weapons Attacks

“A senior Western official” has put out the spin that United Nations inspectors have collected a “wealth” of evidence pointing to the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime.

The inspectors, who were allowed limited access to the sites of the August 21 attacks, do not have the mandate to determine responsibility.

However, the official said the team will provide a strong circumstantial case — based on an examination of spent rocket casings and ammunition, and on laboratory tests of soil, blood, and urine samples — that points toward the regime’s culpability.

“I know they have gotten very rich samples — biomedical and environmental — and they have interviewed victims, doctors and nurses,” said the Western official. “It seems they are very happy with the wealth of evidence they got.”

Casualties

The Local Coordination Committees claim 72 people were killed on Wednesday, including 24 in Aleppo and 18 in Damascus and its suburbs.

The Violations Documentation Center put the number of dead at 72,791 since the conflict began in March 2011, an increase of 66 from Wednesday. Of the dead, 54,789 are civilians, a rise of 29 from yesterday.

Thursday Summary

SUMMARY: After its sudden move on Monday that changed the diplomacy of the Syrian conflict — proposing that Syria hand over its chemical weapons in return for a suspension of US airstrikes — Russia tried to keep the initiative on Wednesday.

Moscow faces the challenge of a tough French resolution, to be presented to the United Nations Security Council, which condemns Damascus for use of chemical weapons and threatens force if President Assad does not comply with inspections and hands over his arsenal.

The Russians, including President Vladimir Putin, made clear that they will not accept those measures, and they also put out other military and diplomatic signals. Another Russian warship, the guided-missile cruiser “Moskva”, was sent towards the Syrian coast, while State media emphasized that Moscow had given Washington a detailed plan to bring Syria’s chemical weapons stocks under international control.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet US Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva on Thursday to work out the details of the plan, the Foreign Ministry announced.

And now President Putin has taken Russia’s case to the opinion page of The New York Times:

Recent events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies….

The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Pointing to “more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government”, Putin then plays a card of warning to Americans: “Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria?”