Using a US State Senator, Iran is pushing a conspiracy theory to support a Russia-Assad regime offensive on Idlib Province, the last major opposition area in Syria.
Iran’s leading English-language outlet, Press TV, features remarks by the Iranian Ambassador to the Netherlands proclaiming “a fake chemical weapons attack in Syria by Britain’s MI6 spy agency to pin the blame on Damascus”.
The prop for Ambassador Alireza Jahangiri is Virginia State Senator Richard Black, who was hosted by the Assad regime this week to put out the false claim.
Black is a long-time supporter of the regime and has often been used by Damascus to proclaim that it has international support from politicians, even in Western countries.
US senator: Britain's #MI6 is planning a #fake chemical weapons attack on #Syria. This proves what has been said many times in the #OPCW’s meetings. If the world takes such statements seriously, we will not see any disasters like the Iraq war. https://t.co/4cOcBafjSl
— Dr Alireza Jahangiri (@jahangiri_ir) September 13, 2018
Following advances elsewhere in Syria this spring and summer, Russia and the Assad regime had hoped to overrun Idlib and northern Hama Provinces in the northwest. While deploying personnel for the assault, they had been setting up the pretext of a “false flag” chemical attack by rebels and White Helmets rescuers, supported by US and British special forces.
The “false flag” pretext has been used in previous Russia-regime offensives — including on eastern Aleppo city in late 2016 and on East Ghouta near Damascus this spring — to justify assaults and to provide cover for the regime’s own chemical attacks.
The latest campaign has been pressed by the Russian Defense Ministry and Russian State outlets with a series of false statements — including declarations of several “false flag” attacks that never occurred — and by pro-Assad and pro-Kremlin activists on social media.
Black has done his part with an interview with the Lebanese pro-Assad outlet al-Mayadeen: “Around four weeks ago, we knew that British intelligence was working towards a chemical attack in order to blame the Syrian government, to hold Syria responsible.”
The Senator, little known before his promotion of Bashar al-Assad, has also been interviewed by The Washington Post. He added to the Assad regime’s long-running effort to denigrate White Helmets rescuers:
From what I can tell, they have been planning a fake attack, not a genuine one, but one where they actually move people out of a town and they have trained people to portray victims of a gas attack. And the plan is to use the White Helmets who have always been involved in these notorious deceptions, to portray an attack.
Assad regime media are also headlining the comments of another backer, US Senator Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who ignored Idlib’s civilians — half of them displaced from other areas of Syria — and reduced all rebels to “Al Qa’eda” and “jihadists” in a statement to the chamber on Thursday:
But the Russian-regime offensive, despite the efforts of Black, Gabbard, and other supporters, is running into difficulties. Turkey is holding out against any assault on Idlib, as the UN warns of a “humanitarian catastrophe” that could displace up to 800,000 of the province’s estimated 3 million residents.
Syria Daily, Sept 15: 10,000s in Idlib Rallies Against Russia-Regime Offensive
“Assad regime media are also headlining the comments of another backer, US Senator Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who ignored Idlib’s civilians — half of them displaced from other areas of Syria — and reduced all rebels to “Al Qa’eda” and “jihadists” in a statement to the chamber on Thursday:”
Gabbard has been to Syria, spoken to Syrians and seen the situation first hand. It is no secret that HTS (aka Al Qaeda) is in control in Idlib, not to mention the fact all rebels who refused to reconcile with the SAA were given the option to go to Idlib, so the rebels that are there represent the most extreme factions.
As for conspiracy theories, where is the evidence from the US government claiming that Assad has given the go ahead for a CW attack in Idlib? What about Nikki Haley’s premonition that she knows who will carry out the next CW attack when the UN and OPCW has reported at least 6 such attacks by ISIS, and the fact that the DOD refuses to accept the positioning of the US State Deparment that the rebels have the capacity to launch a chlorine gas attack. Add to that the fact that the rebels in Idlib have a limitless supplies from Turkey, and that Erdogan is now appealing to the US for military support in the event of a Syrian/Russian offensive.
The US, France and Britain have been overt in guaranteeing there would be a military response to any CW incident and would not wait for the outcome of any investigation. It’s hard to imagine a more blatant green light for the rebels to carry out such an attack, safe in the knowledge they have nothing to lose and everything to gain in doing so.
There are numerous suspect assertions in this, but start with the error that US State Department has not said the “rebels” have capacity to chlorine gas attack, unless you are referring specifically to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (which makes a big difference in case of Idlib).
What is suspect specifically? Idlib has most certainly become the destination for the most hardened rebels/terrorists who rejected surrender after falling to the Assad regime and opted to flee to Idlib.
Yes I was referring to HTS with respect to the capacity for CW attacks, but in reality a chlorine gas attack does not require the same degree of sophistication as an attack invoving Sarin. Chlorine (be it gas, liquid or powder) is after all, a common industrial chemical. In the case of Idlib, we are talking about the remnants of rebel groups which have taken the hard line and refused to surrender to the SAA. I am sure you would accept that the term “rebels” is very broad and encompasses a both moderates and “violent extremist groups” which the state department states are known to employ “suicide bombers, kidnapping, small and heavy arms, improvised explosive devices, and chemical weapons. …”
The fact of the matter is that in spite of the admission these groups and HTS are present in Idlib and are are capable of launching a chlorine gas attack, , the DOD has taken the position that any CW that might ensure will be soley attributed to the Assad regime.
A useless tool in search of 2 mins of notoriety . Pathetic.