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Syria & Russia Accuse U.S. Coalition, ‘White Helmets’, of Preparing Chemical Weapons Attacks in and Near Idlib

Syria & Russia Accuse U.S. Coalition, ‘White Helmets’, of Preparing Chemical Weapons Attacks in and Near Idlib

The Governments of Syria and Russia claim to have proofs that the U.S. coalition that has invaded and now occupies Syria has prepared chlorine and sarin gas attacks for Idlib and other areas where Syria and Russia are trying to destroy all jihadists — prepared attacks designed to be blamed against Syria’s Government.

Headlining on Friday, September 7th, “New details surface about terrorists’ preparations to stage chemical attack in Idleb and Hama”, the official Syrian Arab News Agency reports from its sources in both Idlib and Hama in Syria, that:

The White Helmets have picked three new locations for carrying out the attacks after information was leaked about the previously-planned locations, and the three locations are: al-Najia town in Jisr al-Shughour countryside, al-Hamawsh town in the northwestern countryside of Hama, and Kafr Nubbul town in Idleb countryside.

The sources affirmed that sarin gas and chlorine gas shipments have been transported to these three areas, and that dozens of children ages two to ten who had been abducted recently from a camp near Salqin now were transported from Jisr al-Shughour to an unknown location.

The sources suggest that it’s likely that the White Helmets and the armed groups will carry out a real massacre this time to avoid the inconsistencies that surfaced in the staged chemical incident in Douma.

The next day, SANA reported that Russian intelligence had confirmed that there was:

full readiness of participants in such provocations, the play [or set-up] would be completed by Thursday evening [September 13th?], stressing that terrorists “are waiting for a special order from foreign contacts as a signal to start the practical phase.” …

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Trump’s Neocon Conversion and the Syrian 180

Trump’s Neocon Conversion and the Syrian 180

You have to feel a little sorry for the folks who voted for Trump expecting him to live up to his promise to bring the troops home and stop killing people.

On Thursday Trump cleared up any doubt about his neocon conversion. Once again he made his supporters—or those interested in nonintervention at least—out to be fools, that is to say any principled supporters left after killing thousands in Syria.


President Donald Trump, who just five months ago said he wanted “to get out” of Syria and bring U.S. troops home soon, has approved a new strategy for an indefinitely extended military, diplomatic and economic effort there, officials said. https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/trump-approves-indefinite-us-presence-in-syria-1.546358 

Trump approves indefinite US presence in Syria

Although the military campaign against the Islamic State has been nearly completed, the Trump administration has redefined its goals to include the exit of all Iranian military and proxy forces from…

stripes.com


The CIA’s favorite newspaper reported:

President Trump, who just five months ago said he wanted “to get out” of Syria and bring U.S. troops home soon, has agreed to a new strategy that indefinitely extends the military effort there and launches a major diplomatic push to achieve American objectives, according to senior State Department officials.

These “American objectives” reflect those of Israel, which has worked diligently to undermine Syria for decades. The first objective is to replace Bashar al-Assad with a malleable client that takes orders from the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. 

Second, Trump—channeling Netanyahu—demands the removal of all Iranian troops in Syria. Both the Russians and Iranians were invited into the country to help al-Assad flight the CIA and Saudi Arabia’s bloody Wahhabi-infused terrorists.

Third, Trump wants more illegal US military outposts in occupied Syria.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

US Military Preparing For “Options” In Syria

Events are moving rapidly in Syria as Russian jets pound insurgent positions in Idlib Province and as the Syrian Army initiates a ground invasion which Damascus has described as coming in a “phased” approach.

The White House responded to the Syrian and Russian bombing campaign by vowing it would act “swiftly and vigorously” should chemical weapons be used, and a day ago claimed there’s “lots of evidence” chemical weapons are being prepared by the Syrian forces, citing intelligence of such activities. 

And now America’s top general has confirmed the Pentagon is drawing up military options to attack Syria and is in currently in close discussion with the White House over the plans.  Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters on Saturday during a trip to India, according to Reuters:

he was involved in “routine dialogue” with the White House about military options should Syria ignore U.S. warnings against using chemical weapons in an expected assault on the enclave of Idlib.

President Trump has already ordered Tomahawk missile attacks on Syria twice, in the past 2 Aprils.

However, Gen. Dunford noted that no decision has been made to intervene militarily in response to Idlib.

“But we are in a dialogue, a routine dialogue, with the president to make sure he knows where we are with regard to planning in the event that chemical weapons are used,” he told a group of reporters.

Dunford added in reference to his talks with President Trump: “He expects us to have military options and we have provided updates to him on the development of those military options.”

Trump had previously bombed Syria twice after allegations that Assad ordered a chemical weapons attack  in April 2017 and April 2018 the former was in response to a claimed sarin attack on Idlib.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Washington Announces Sanctions On Syrian Oil Industry

Washington Announces Sanctions On Syrian Oil Industry

Oil rig

The U.S. Department of Treasury announced sanctions against five Syrian companies and four individuals on allegations of facilitating crude oil shipments and financing to the Assad government, Reuters reports, citing a statement by the department.

One of the targets of the sanctions are businessman Muhammad al-Qatirji and a trucking company he owns, that, the Treasury said, facilitated trade in fuels between the Syrian government and Islamic State, even though the government, with the assistance of Russia, is officially fighting this same Islamic State and most of it has been driven out of territories it occupied in Syria previously.

According to the Treasury statement, Al-Qatirji’s company was also involved in weapons shipments from Iraq to Syria.

Another target of the sanctions is a fuel trade network that spans Syria, the UAE, and Lebanon, securing fuel supplies to the war-torn country. One of the companies participating in this network, Abar Petroleum Service SAL, last year took part in the sale of fuels worth US$430 million to the Syrian government.

Two other companies in the network, “Lebanon-based Nasco Polymers and UAE-based Sonex Investments were designated for facilitating shipments to Syrian ports by serving as consignees and chartering the vessels,” the statement also said.

The Syrian army is currently preparing for an offensive against Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold controlled by groups involving radical Islamists recognized as terrorist groups by the international community.

The offensive once again put Washington at odds with Moscow, since Russian forces began bombing the town ahead of the Syrian offensive despite a warning from President Trump that the offensive could end in tragedy. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred to Idlib, to where Russian and Syrian forces earlier in the conflict provided passage for militants from other parts of Syria that government forces took control of, as “a pocket of terrorism” and a problem that needs to be solved.

Top US Envoy Says “Lots Of Evidence” Assad Prepping Chemical Weapons; Russia Threatens Attack On US Base

While Syria seemed to have dropped from the Western media’s radar over the past months as the Syrian Army and its Russian and Iranian allies made rapid gains, multiple huge developments this week have returned the war to center stage in Washington and the dangerous rhetoric of escalation.

In just the last 24 hours alone, we’ve learned:

  • Trump has reportedly done a 180 shift, departing from his prior statements of “bring our troops home” made only months ago, and has approved “an indefinite military and diplomatic effort in Syria” according to a bombshell Washington Post report.
  • Russia has put the US military on notice, telling American commanders that Russian and Syrian forces are prepared to attack At Tanf — a key US garrison along the Syrian-Iraq border.
  • A top US Syria policy representative says there’s “lots of evidence” chemical weapons are being prepared by the Syrian Army for use in its impending Idlib ground assault.

Perhaps most alarming concerning all of the above is that the threatened US “response” and rhetoric over potential future use of chemical weapons in Idlib is dramatically escalating by the day.

On Thursday night Reuters reported:

There is “lots of evidence” that chemical weapons are being prepared by Syrian government forces in Idlib region in northwest Syria, the new US representative for Syria said on Thursday, warning any attack on the last big rebel enclave would be a “reckless escalation.”

“Any offensive is to us objectionable as a reckless escalation,” the envoy, Jim Jeffrey, told reporters. “There is lots of evidence that chemical weapons are being prepared.”

This comes days after US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley gave a similar warning, while also claiming to somehow predict the future, and assuring the world that “Assad is guilty” before anything actually happens.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Psychic Nikki Haley: If There Is A Future Chemical Weapons Attack, Assad Did It

Psychic Nikki Haley: If There Is A Future Chemical Weapons Attack, Assad Did It

UN Ambassador and Clairvoyant Prognosticator of the Transmundane Nikki Haley has foreseen that, if there are any future chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian province of Idlib, it will most definitely be the Syrian government that is responsible and not the multiple terrorist factions in the area.

“If they want to continue to go the route of taking over Syria, they can do that,” said Nikki Haley at a UN press conference today, without explaining how a nation’s only recognized government can ‘take over’ the country it governs. “But they cannot do it with chemical weapons. They can’t do it assaulting their people. And we’re not gonna fall for it. If there are chemical weapons that are used, we know exactly who’s gonna use them.”


More extended context, from my initial transcription of her presser: pic.twitter.com/YGAq7ZFPBJ

View image on Twitter

Here’s video of Nikki Haley saying this of the Syrian regime: “If they want to continue to go the route of taking over Syria, they can do that, but they can not do it with chemical weapons.” pic.twitter.com/F7y1bNvO2n


Haley was referring to the Syrian government’s impending push to complete its military campaign of recapturing its land from the terrorist factions and militias who, with extensive help from the US and its allies, have been holding communities hostage in a failed attempt to take over Syria. Her supernatural prophecy is just the latest in an increasingly bizarre string of claims being advanced by political figures and establishment media that the Assad government is planning to use chemical weapons to complete that campaign in Idlib.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Washington’s Belligerence Can Produce A World Holocaust

Washington’s Belligerence Can Produce A World Holocaust

Recently I have been receiving a number of requests for my opinion of the Jewish holocaust. These requests are a puzzle to me as it is a topic unrelated to my commentaries on economics, law, current foreign affairs, and a looming showdown between Washington and Russia in Syria. I don’t know whether to be flattered that readers think that I know everything about everything, or whether these requests are efforts to set me up as a “Holocaust Denier,” a charge that can be used to discredit and close down my website.

The holocaust that I am interested in is the one that Washington’s aggression against Russia, aggression aided by Europe, is preparing for our future. This would not be a holocaust of a few million people but of a few billion and perhaps the entirety of planet Earth. I haven’t the time or energy to investigate the holocaust associated with the Second World War, but Ron Unz, a remarkable person and a Jew, whose website you should daily visit—http://www.unz.com — has, as an objective outsider, had a good look, and you can read it here: http://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-holocaust-denial/

He has also posted this early work on the subject: http://www.unz.com/book/arthur_r_butz__the-hoax-of-the-twentieth-century/

I am focused on trying to make people aware that Washington’s belligerence toward Russia is driving the world to nuclear war, and that Washington has used various false flag events, dating from September 11, 2001, to destroy the US Constitution and to accumulate all power over the American people in the executive branch.

This task exhausts my time and my energy. I cannot take on more controversies. As I have said in my defense of Noam Chomsky, who many denounce for not disputing the 9/11 official story, no person who has taken on so many controversial issues as Chomsky can afford to take on yet another.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How US Government Relies on Lying Media

How US Government Relies on Lying Media

How US Government Relies on Lying Media

On Friday, August 31st, the neoconservative US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “The 3 million Syrians who have already been forced out of their homes and are now in #Idlib, will suffer from this aggression. Not good. The world is watching.”

By “this aggression,” he was referring to the completion, by the Syrian Government and its allies Russia and Hezbollah, of their elimination of jihadist terrorists from Syria. Pompeo’s remark was a veiled threat, especially to Russia, not to intervene in the US-led invasion of Syria, which Pompeo and his boss, US President Donald Trump, and the US ‘Defense’ Department, have planned, in continuation of the policies of aggression against Syria, by the prior US President, Barack Obama, and by his Administration — their policies to protect and train and arm those terrorists, so as to overthrow and replace Syria’s Government.

Pompeo, as a politician, can say things like that — pontificate ‘morality’, to the portion of the world that’s deceived by their national ‘news’-media to believe the opposite of what is about to be documented here. He can do it only because of what the US-and-allied ‘news’-media have assiduously kept hidden from their respective publics. The Syrian people blame US — not Assad — for the ‘civil war’ there, which they know actually has been a US-Saud-led invasion of Syria, an invasion and military occupation so as to overthrow Syria’s Government, and to replace it by the Sauds’ s‘elected’ stooges.

So that the publics in the US and its allied countries can know the truth here, they must be informed, finally, of truths hidden by the media, truths such as these:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Can’t We Just Leave Syria Alone?

Can’t We Just Leave Syria Alone?

Assad was supposed to be gone already. President Obama thought it would be just another “regime change” operation and perhaps Assad would end up like Saddam Hussein or Yanukovych. Or maybe even Gaddafi. But he was supposed to be gone. The US spent billions to get rid of him and even provided weapons and training to the kinds of radicals that attacked the United States on 9/11.

But with the help of his allies, Assad has nearly defeated this foreign-sponsored insurgency.

The US fought him every step of the way. Each time the Syrian military approached another occupied city or province, Washington and its obedient allies issued the usual warnings that Assad was not liberating territory but was actually seeking to kill more of his own people.

Remember Aleppo, where the US claimed Assad was planning mass slaughter once he regained control? As usual the neocons and the media were completely wrong. Even the UN has admitted that with Aleppo back in the hands of the Syrian government hundreds of thousands of Syrians have actually moved back. We are supposed to believe they willingly returned so that Assad could kill them?

The truth is Aleppo is being rebuilt. Christians celebrated Easter there this spring for the first time in years. There has been no slaughter once al-Qaeda and ISIS’ hold was broken. Believe me, if there was a slaughter we would have heard about it in the media!

So now, with the Syrian military and its allies prepare to liberate the final Syrian province of Idlib, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo again warns the Syrian government against re-taking its own territory. He Tweeted on Friday that: “The three million Syrians, who have already been forced out of their homes and are now in Idlib, will suffer from this aggression. Not good. The world is watching.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Despite Trump Warning, Russia Resumes Major Airstrikes On Idlib

lt doesn’t appear that Syrian and Russian forces are overly concerned with the Monday evening threats from both President Trump and Nikki Haley warning Assad and Russia against attacking Idlib Province, as Middle East sources now report that Russia has resumed an intense air campaign over Idlib for the first time in 22 days.

Beirut-based Al Masdar News reports, citing Syrian military sources, the Russian Air Force has begun its largest bombing campaign of the year in the Idlib Governorate.

Image via VOA News

Moments ago at least ten Russian Sukhoi jets launched dozens of airstrikes over the southern and western parts of the Idlib Governorate.

Al Masdar’s sources said the Russian Air Force specifically targeted the Jisr Al-Shughour District, including the towns of Al-Shughour, Mahambel, Basnqoul, Zayzooun, Ziyarah, Jadariyah, Kafrdeen, Al-Sahn, Saraseef, and dozen others. The source added that the Russian airstrikes numbered over 50 thus far.

With the large Russian bombardment, the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) long-awaited ground offensive is bound to start in the next few days.


Meanwhile the Kremlin has responded to President Trump’s Monday evening tweet. According to Reuters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “Just to speak out with some warnings, without taking into account the very dangerous, negative potential for the whole situation in Syria, is probably not a full, comprehensive approach.”

The Kremlin added that the area was a “nest of terrorists” in what’s a clear dismissal of Trump’s warnings of Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don’t let that happen!”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Israel Warns It Could Attack Iranian Military Assets In Iraq

In response to what could soon be a big headache for Israeli PM Netanyahu and US “military advisors” to Baghdad, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman indicated on Monday that it could launch air strikes on suspected Iranian military assets in Iraq, as it has widely done in war-torn Syria, Reuters said.

Last week we reported that according to Reuters, Iran had transferred short-range ballistic missiles to allies in Iraq over the last several months. This revelation comes as tensions between Washington and Tehran are at their highest point in years as aggressive sanctions continue crippling Iran’s economy, and after threats and counter-threats over Tehran laying claim to the vital Strait of Hormuz oil waterway over the past weeks, through which one-third of the world’s oil passes.

Israel views Iran’s regional expansion as dangerous for its well-being, and has frequently launched air strikes in Syria to thwart any Iranian forces defending Damascus in the war.

“We are certainly monitoring everything that is happening in Syria and, regarding Iranian threats, we are not limiting ourselves just to Syrian territory. This also needs to be clear,” Lieberman told reporters Monday.

Explicitly asked if this included new operations in Iraq, Lieberman answered: “I’m saying we will handle any Iranian threat, no matter where it comes from. We are maintaining the right to act… and any threat or anything else that comes up is dealt with.”

Reuters said there was no response from the government of Iraq – which is technically at war with Israel – nor from the Pentagon, which oversees US military operations in the country.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Is a ‘Suez’ Event Being Prepared for Syria?

Is a ‘Suez’ Event Being Prepared for Syria?

Is a ‘Suez’ Event Being Prepared for Syria?

So, the metamorphosis is done. President Trump has finally, fully, shed his 2016 Campaign ‘skin’ of loosely imagining a grand foreign policy bargain that could be the foundation for “WORLD PEACE, nothing less!” as Trump tweeted when imposing sanctions on Iran.  We wrote, on 3 August, quoting Prof Russell-Mead, that Trump’s ‘8 May metamorphosis’ (the US exit from JCPOA), constituted a step-change of direction: one that reflected “[Trump’s] instincts, telling him that most Americans are anything but eager, for a “post-American” world. Trump’s supporters don’t want long wars, “but neither are they amenable to a stoic acceptance of national decline”.

It all began, very precisely, with Trump’s ‘8 May metamorphosis’ – which is to say, to the moment when the US president definitively took the Israeli ‘line’: exiting from the Iranian nuclear accord, deciding to sanction and to lay siege to Iran’s economy, and when he endorsed the (old, never materialized) idea of a Sunni ‘Arab NATO’, led by Riyadh, that would confront Shi’a Iran.

In practical terms, Trump’s Art of the Deal geo-strategy, as we now see, became thus transformed into the search for radical US leverage (through weaponising a strong dollar and tariffs) — looking always to the means to force the capitulation of the counter-party.  This cannot be rightly termed negotiation: It is rather, more as if the script has been lifted from The Godfather.

But, when Trump unreservedly took the Israeli (or, more properly the Netanyahu) ‘line’, he assumed to himself all ‘the baggage’ that comes with it, too. The 1996 Clean Break document, prepared by a study group led by Richard Perle for Binjamin Netanyahu, meshed the Israeli and US neocon camps into one.  And they are still umbilically linked.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

US Strategy in Syria: ‘Create Quagmires Until We Get What We Want’

US Strategy in Syria: ‘Create Quagmires Until We Get What We Want’

In seeking to control post-war Syria, US determined to keep war going

In 2013, top Obama Administration officials described their policy in the Syrian War as one of keeping the war going. The administration wanted a big seat at the table for a political settlement, which officials clarified meant ensuring that the war kept going so that there was never a clear victor.

The Trump Administration seems to be slipping into that same destructive set of priorities in Syria. TheWashington Post this week quoted an unnamed Administration official as saying that “right now, our job is to help create quagmires [for Russia and the Syrian regime] until we get what we want.”

As ever, hat the US really wants is to have a dominant position in post-war negotiations, so they can dictate the form that post-war Syria takes. This means ensuring that the Syrian government doesn’t win the war outright.

That’s not as realistic as it once was, with the Assad government, backed by Russia, having retaken virtually all of the rebel-held territory except for a far north bastion in Idlib, dominated by al-Qaeda. This means the US now has to save al-Qaeda to keep the war going, which if we’re being honest has been a recurring undercurrent in US policy in Syria for years.

It is this desire that has the US repeatedly threatening Syria and warning them not to attack Idlib. It is this desire that is sparking almost daily US threats to intervene militarily if the Idlib offensive involves chemical weapons. Most importantly, it is this desire that has Russia very much believing media reports that the rebels could “stage” a fake chemical attack just to suck the US into the war, and be fairly confident it would work.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Russia Squelches Trump’s New Plan to Invade Syria

Russia Squelches Trump’s New Plan to Invade Syria

On Friday, August 31st, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Russia has handed to the OPCW (Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons), and to the U.N., “proof” that the U.S. Government has been working with Al Qaeda to set up a chemical incident that the U.S. and its allies can then use as a supposed justification for invading Syria as a ‘humanitarian’ response to a chemical attack allegedly by Syria’s Government, but actually done by U.S.-backed forces, to re-ignite the 7-year-old ‘civil war’ between Syria’s Government and U.S.-backed ‘rebels’, who consist almost exclusively of fundamentalist-Sunni jihadists that are trained and led by Al Qaeda in Syria, with U.S. help and Saudi financing.

On August 29th Global Research headlined “Video: US Creates Strike Force to Attack Syria”, and posted an August 28th report from South Front saying:

Reports are appearing that the Syrian Air Defense Forces (SADF) have already started preparing to repel an expected US-led missile strike by deploying additional specialists and air defense systems near the crucial objects of the infrastructure, which they expect may be targeted.

On August 22, US National Security Advisor John Bolton claimed that

“if the Syrian regime uses chemical weapons, we will respond very strongly and they really ought to think about this a long time.”

This was only one of a series of threats to the Syrian government issued by the US, the UK and France. While all these threats are clearly exploiting the chemical weapons narrative, their main goal is to prevent the defeat of the terrorists in Idlib by delaying the Syrian Army operation.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

UK: Syrian Terrorists Can’t Possibly Be Planning Chemical Weapons False Flag, Because Russia Said They Are

UK: Syrian Terrorists Can’t Possibly Be Planning Chemical Weapons False Flag, Because Russia Said They Are

In a recent meeting with the press, British ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce told reporters that it is absolutely unthinkable that the terrorist factions in the terrorist-held Syrian province of Idlib could possibly be planning a terrorist attack using chemical weapons with the intention of blaming it on the Syrian government.

Her reasoning? Since the Russian government has been warning of this possibility, the exact opposite must necessarily therefore be true.

Yes, really.

“There are many terrorist organizations in Idlib,” a reporter asked as a follow-up to previous questions regarding Russia’s allegations that terrorist factions had received a large batch of chemical weapons which they intend to use in a false flag attack. “Why do you rule out that they would perpetrate such an attack?”

“Because this story is coming from the Russians,” Pierce responded, with a straight face, and without honking a novelty-sized bicycle horn and saying “Wocka wocka!”

“It is much more likely for this to be a smoke screen for things that the Syrian authorities are planning to do,” Pierce continued. “The way to deal with any terrorists who are in Idlib is to ask the UN to negotiate safe passage, such as has been done before.”

So let’s recap: it is the British government’s official public position that the extremist jihadist factions who have been holing up in their final stronghold preparing for the long-awaited military confrontation in Idlib would have no incentive whatsoever to stage a false flag chemical attack in order to rally western reinforcements against the Syrian government and thereby escape defeat.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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