<
http://www.infowars.com/exclusive-syrians-in-ghouta-claim-saudi-supplied-re
bels-behind-chemical-attack/> EXCLUSIVE: Syrians In Ghouta Claim
Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack
Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh
<
http://www.mintpressnews.com/witnesses-of-gas-attack-say-saudis-supplied-re
bels-with-chemical-weapons/168135/> Mint Press News
September 03, 2013
This article is a collaboration between Dale Gavlak reporting for Mint Press
News (also of the Associated Press) and Yahya Ababneh.
Ghouta, Syria - As the machinery for a U.S.-led military intervention in
Syria gathers pace following last week's chemical weapons attack, the U.S.
and its allies may be targeting the wrong culprit.
Interviews with people in Damascus and Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian
capital, where the humanitarian agency Doctors Without Borders said at least
355 people had died last week from what it believed to be a neurotoxic
agent, appear to indicate as much.
The U.S., Britain, and France as well as the Arab League have accused the
regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for carrying out the chemical
weapons attack, which mainly targeted civilians. U.S. warships are stationed
in the Mediterranean Sea to launch military strikes against Syria in
punishment for carrying out a massive chemical weapons attack. The U.S. and
others are not interested in examining any contrary evidence, with U.S
Secretary of State John Kerry
<
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/26/john-kerry-syria-statement-ful
l-transcript> sayingMonday that Assad's guilt was "a judgment . already
clear to the world."
However, from numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel
fighters and their families, a different picture emerges. Many believe that
certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief,
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the dealing
gas attack.
"My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that
he had been asked to carry," said Abu Abdel-Moneim, the father of a rebel
fighting to unseat Assad, who lives in Ghouta.
Abdel-Moneim said his son and 12 other rebels were killed inside of a tunnel
used to store weapons provided by a Saudi militant, known as Abu Ayesha, who
was leading a fighting battalion. The father described the weapons as having
a "tube-like structure" while others were like a "huge gas bottle."
Ghouta townspeople said the rebels were using mosques and private houses to
sleep while storing their weapons in tunnels.
Abdel-Moneim said his son and the others died during the chemical weapons
attack. That same day, the militant group Jabhat al-Nusra, which is linked
to al-Qaida, announced that
<
http://www.swissinfo.ch/ara/detail/content.html?cid=36742788> it would
similarly attack civilians in the Assad regime's heartland of Latakia on
Syria's western coast, in purported retaliation.
"They didn't tell us what these arms were or how to use them," complained a
female fighter named 'K.' "We didn't know they were chemical weapons. We
never imagined they were chemical weapons."
"When Saudi Prince Bandar gives such weapons to people, he must give them to
those who know how to handle and use them," she warned. She, like other
Syrians, do not want to use their full names for fear of retribution.
A well-known rebel leader in Ghouta named 'J' agreed. "Jabhat al-Nusra
militants do not cooperate with other rebels, except with fighting on the
ground. They do not share secret information. They merely used some ordinary
rebels to carry and operate this material," he said.
"We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the
fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions," 'J'
said.
Doctors who treated the chemical weapons attack victims cautioned
interviewers to be careful about asking questions regarding who, exactly,
was responsible for the deadly assault.
The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders added that health workers
aiding 3,600 patients also reported experiencing similar symptoms, including
frothing at the mouth, respiratory distress, convulsions and blurry vision.
The group has not been able to independently verify the information.
More than a dozen rebels interviewed reported that their salaries came from
the Saudi government.
Saudi involvement
In a recent article for Business Insider, reporter Geoffrey Ingersoll
<
http://www.businessinsider.com/saudis-russia-sochi-olympics-terrorism-syria
-2013-8> highlighted Saudi Prince Bandar's role in the two-and-a-half year
Syrian civil war. Many observers believe Bandar, with his close ties to
Washington, has been at the very heart of the push for war by the U.S.
against Assad.
Ingersoll referred to an article in the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph about
<
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/10266957/S
audis-offer-Russia-secret-oil-deal-if-it-drops-Syria.html> secret
Russian-Saudi talksalleging that Bandar offered Russian President Vladimir
Putin cheap oil in exchange for dumping Assad.
"Prince Bandar pledged to safeguard Russia's naval base in Syria if the
Assad regime is toppled, but he also hinted at Chechen terrorist attacks on
Russia's Winter Olympics in Sochi if there is no accord," Ingersoll wrote.
"I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The
Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by
us," Bandar allegedly told the Russians.
"Along with Saudi officials, the U.S. allegedly gave the Saudi intelligence
chief the thumbs up to conduct these talks with Russia, which comes as no
surprise," Ingersoll wrote.
"Bandar is American-educated, both military and collegiate, served as a
highly influential Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., and the CIA totally loves
this guy," he added.
According to U.K.'s Independent newspaper, it was Prince Bandar's
intelligence agency that
<
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-the-saudi-connect
ion-the-prince-with-close-ties-to-washington-at-the-heart-of-the-push-for-wa
r-8785049.html> first brought allegations of the use of sarin gas by the
regime to the attention of Western allies in February.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that
<
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323423804579024452583045962.h
tml> the CIA realized Saudi Arabia was "serious" about toppling Assad when
the Saudi king named Prince Bandar to lead the effort.
"They believed that Prince Bandar, a veteran of the diplomatic intrigues of
Washington and the Arab world, could deliver what the CIA couldn't:
planeloads of money and arms, and, as one U.S. diplomat put it, wasta,
Arabic for under-the-table clout," it said.
Bandar has been advancing Saudi Arabia's top foreign policy goal, WSJ
reported, of defeating Assad and his Iranian and Hezbollah allies.
To that aim, Bandar worked Washington to back a program to arm and train
rebels out of a planned military base in Jordan.
The newspaper reports that he met with the "uneasy Jordanians about such a
base":
His meetings in Amman with Jordan's King Abdullah sometimes ran to eight
hours in a single sitting. "The king would joke: 'Oh, Bandar's coming again?
Let's clear two days for the meeting,' " said a person familiar with the
meetings.
Jordan's financial dependence on Saudi Arabia may have given the Saudis
strong leverage. An operations center in Jordan started going online in the
summer of 2012, including an airstrip and warehouses for arms.
Saudi-procured AK-47s and ammunition arrived, WSJ reported, citing Arab
officials.
Although Saudi Arabia has officially maintained that it supported more
moderate rebels, the newspaper reported that "funds and arms were being
funneled to radicals on the side, simply to counter the influence of rival
Islamists backed by Qatar."
But rebels interviewed said Prince Bandar is referred to as "al-Habib" or
'the lover' by al-Qaida militants fighting in Syria.
Peter Oborne,
<
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10271248/The-rus
h-to-judgment-on-Syria-is-a-catastrophic-and-deadly-error.html> writing in
the Daily Telegraph on Thursday, has issued a word of caution about
Washington's rush to punish the Assad regime with so-called 'limited'
strikes not meant to overthrow the Syrian leader but diminish his capacity
to use chemical weapons:
Consider this: the only beneficiaries from the atrocity were the rebels,
previously losing the war, who now have Britain and America ready to
intervene on their side. While there seems to be little doubt that chemical
weapons were used, there is doubt about who deployed them.
It is important to remember that Assad has been accused of using poison gas
against civilians before. But on that occasion, Carla del Ponte, a U.N.
commissioner on Syria, concluded that the rebels, not Assad, were probably
responsible.
Some information in this article could not be independently verified. Mint
Press News will continue to provide further information and updates .
Dale Gavlak is a Middle East correspondent for Mint Press News and the
Associated Press. Gavlak has been stationed in Amman, Jordan for the
Associated Press for over two decades. An expert in Middle Eastern Affairs,
Gavlak currently covers the Levant region of the Middle East for AP,
National Public Radio and Mint Press News, writing on topics including
politics, social issues and economic trends. Dale holds a M.A. in Middle
Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago. Contact Dale at
dgavlak_at_mintpressnews.com
Yahya Ababneh is a Jordanian freelance journalist and is currently working
on a master's degree in journalism, He has covered events in Jordan,
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Libya. His stories have appeared on Amman
Net, Saraya News, Gerasa News and elsewhere.
Received on Tue Sep 03 2013 - 19:26:04 EDT