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The Poison Gas War on the Syrian People
(Der Spiegel-Germany) Hans Hoyng and Christoph Reuter - What happened last Wednesday in the suburbs of Damascus was mass murder, a crime against humanity that is outlawed for good reason. Poison gas doesn't just target soldiers, it affects civilians, including women and children - giving them no opportunity to defend themselves or flee. One of the rockets, which struck near the town of Zamalka, left no crater and remained largely intact. It was the same type of rocket that had been used in earlier presumed chemical attacks. Rescuers later pulled only dead bodies out of undamaged houses near the impact site. Barns contained dead chickens and in the gardens, dead sheep. A volunteer from Douma had already taken 13 wounded and dead victims to the hospital in his pickup truck when he too collapsed. "I was wearing a gas mask, but I didn't know that skin contact can also be deadly. Men wearing gloves tore off my clothes, hosed the others and me down with the hose from a fire truck, and gave us atropine injections. I was unconscious for an hour." According to a general in Syrian intelligence who fled to Jordan a few months ago, the Wednesday gas attack "happened for internal reasons. For weeks, the rebels have threatened Assad's home province of Latakia, where they have captured several villages....Many of the irregular fighters, which the government has used instead of the army, are Alawites from the region. Now they're going back to protect their villages." According to the general, the gas attack helped the regime hold the thinned-out front around Damascus.