Russia releases key findings on chemical attack

[Serpo]

Russia releases key findings on chemical attack near Aleppo indicating similarity with rebel-made weapons Published time: September 04, 2013 17:02
Edited time: September 04, 2013 19:00 Get short URL (http://rt.com/news/chemical-aleppo-findings-russia-417/)

http://rt.com/files/news/20/54/10/00/syria.si.jpg People injured in what the government said was a chemical weapons attack, breathe through oxygen masks as they are treated at a hospital in the Syrian city of Aleppo March 19, 2013 (Reuters / George Ourfalian)






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Probes from Khan al-Assal show chemicals used in the March 19 attack did not belong to standard Syrian army ammunition, and that the shell carrying the substance was similar to those made by a rebel fighter group, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.
RT's LIVE UPDATES on Syrian 'chemical weapons' crisis (http://rt.com/news/syria-crisis-live-updates-047/)

A statement released by the ministry on Wednesday particularly drew attention to the “massive stove-piping of various information aimed at placing the responsibility for the alleged chemical weapons use in Syria on Damascus, even though the results of the UN investigation have not yet been revealed.”
By such means “the way is being paved for military action” against Damascus, the ministry pointed out.
But the samples taken at the site of the March 19 attack and analyzed by Russian experts indicate that a projectile carrying the deadly nerve agent sarin was most likely fired at Khan al-Assal by the rebels, the ministry statement suggests, outlining the 100-page report handed over (http://rt.com/news/syria-chemical-attack-rebels-848/) to the UN by Russia.
The key points of the report have been given as follows:
• the shell used in the incident “does not belong to the standard ammunition of the Syrian army and was crudely according to type and parameters of the rocket-propelled unguided missiles manufactured in the north of Syria by the so-called Bashair al-Nasr brigade”;
• RDX, which is also known as hexogen or cyclonite, was used as the bursting charge for the shell, and it is “not used in standard chemical munitions”;
• soil and shell samples contain “the non-industrially synthesized nerve agent sarin and diisopropylfluorophosphate,” which was “used by Western states for producing chemical weapons during World War II.”

The findings of the report are “extremely specific,” as they mostly consist of scientific and technical data from probes’ analysis, the ministry stressed, adding that this data can “substantially aid” the UN investigation of the incident.
While focusing on the Khan al-Assal attack (http://rt.com/news/syria-chemical-weapon-rebels-546/) on March 19, in which at least 26 civilians and Syrian army soldiers were killed, and 86 more were injured, the Russian Foreign Ministry also criticized the “flawed selective approach” of certain states in reporting the recent incidents of alleged chemical weapons use in August.
The hype around the alleged attack on the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta (http://rt.com/news/syria-chemical-weapons-un-775/) showed “apparent attempts to cast a veil over the incidents of gas poisoning of Syrian army soldiers on August 22, 24 and 25,” the ministry said, adding that all the respective evidence was handed (http://rt.com/news/syria-investigate-un-chemical-116/) to the UN by Syria.
The condition of the soldiers who, according to Damascus, suffered poisoning after discovering tanks with traces of sarin (http://rt.com/news/rebel-tunnel-damascus-chemical-940/), has been examined and documented by the UN inspectors, the ministry pointed out, adding that “any objective investigation of the August 21 incident in eastern Ghouta is impossible without the consideration of all these facts.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said the UN investigators are set to return to Syria to investigate several other cases of alleged chemical weapons use, including the March 19 incident in Khan al-Assal.


http://rt.com/news/chemical-aleppo-findings-russia-417/

[Serpo]

Russia (http://world.time.com/category/europe/russia/)
Putin Sets Uncompromising Tone Ahead of G-20 Summit By Simon Shuster / Moscow (http://world.time.com/author/simonshuster/) @shustry (http://www.twitter.com/shustry)Sept. 04, 201381 Comments (http://world.time.com/2013/09/04/putin-sets-uncompromising-tone-ahead-of-g-20-summit/#comments)











Read Later (http://world.time.com/2013/09/04/putin-sets-uncompromising-tone-ahead-of-g-20-summit/?iid=gs-main-lead#)


http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/179418178.jpg?w=360&h=240&crop=1
Sasha Mordovets / Getty ImagesRussian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan September 3, 2013 in Moscow.




Follow @TIMEWorld (http://twitter.com/TIMEWorld)




It was not the most diplomatic way to start a summit of world leaders. On Sept. 4, the day before Russian President Vladimir Putin (http://topics.time.com/vladimir-putin/) begins hosting the G20 summit in his hometown of St. Petersburg, he accused the Obama Administration of lying to Congress, and said U.S. lawmakers were being suckered into approving a military strike against Syria. “We talk with these people. We assume that they are decent. But he lies,” Putin said of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (http://topics.time.com/john-kerry/). “And he knows that he lies. That’s pathetic.”
The remarks, which seemed more fitting for a bar-room scrap than a Kremlin statement, came on the eve of an urgent global debate about how to respond to the Syrian regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons near Damascus last month. At least with regards to that issue, Putin’s tone left little room to hope for compromise, or even civility, at the G20 or on its sidelines. President Barack Obama (http://topics.time.com/barack-obama/) still put on a brave face as he headed to St. Petersburg on Wednesday, retaining some optimism about the prospects of the Kremlin changing its line on the Syrian question. “Do I hold out hope that Mr. Putin may change his position on some of these issues? I’m always hopeful, and I will continue to engage him,” Obama told a press conference in Sweden, which he was visiting before continuing on to Russia.
(MORE: International Community Hedges Bets as Senate Readies for Syria Vote (http://world.time.com/2013/09/04/international-community-hedges-bets-as-senate-readies-for-syria-vote/))
In the lead up to G20, there has been considerable tension between the White House and the Kremlin. Last month, Obama cancelled a meeting with Putin that was scheduled for the eve of the summit, the first time that talks between the U.S. and Russian leaders had been called off in 53 years. Citing deadlock on everything from human rights to nuclear nonproliferation — as well as Russia’s decision in July to grant asylum to the fugitive American whistleblower Edward Snowden — Obama said his administration was taking a “pause” in relations with Russia. Adding insult to injury, he said that Putin’s slouching posture at their previous meetings was like that of a “bored kid in the back of the classroom.”
For weeks, Putin avoided hitting back, with the Kremlin saying only that it was “disappointed” by Obama’s decision. On Tuesday, Putin even seemed to extend an olive branch. In an interview (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/ap-interview-putin-warns-west-on-attacking-syria-wants-convincing-evidence-on-poison-gas/2013/09/04/5327a486-151f-11e3-b220-2c950c7f3263_story.html?hpid=z4) with the Associated Press, Putin said he did not “rule out” Russia backing a military strike against Syria, a longtime Russian ally. But he set one “absolutely principled condition” for such a move — the U.N. Security Council, where Russia has veto power, must be shown incontrovertible proof that the chemical attack near Damascus was orchestrated by the Syrian government, as the White House has claimed. Any foreign attack against Syria that does not have U.N. approval, Putin said, “cannot be qualified as anything other than aggression.”
But the overall message of that interview – in which Putin advised the U.S. to “not get annoyed, store up some patience and work towards finding solutions” – left the door open for reconciliation at the G20. The next day, however, that seemed to go out the window. At a meeting with his human rights council in the Kremlin, Putin said he had watched Kerry make his case for a strike against Syria to U.S. lawmakers, who are expected to vote on whether to allow the attack in the coming days. “Of course he lied. And that’s not pretty,” Putin said.
(MORE: How Standing Tough on Syria Helps Putin at Home (http://world.time.com/2013/06/10/how-standing-tough-on-syria-helps-putin-at-home-2/))
He claimed that Kerry misled U.S. lawmakers by asserting that al-Qaeda was not present in Syria — an assertion that Kerry did not actually make during his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. According to Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/04/us-syria-crisis-russia-congress-idUSBRE9830N620130904), a senator asked Kerry whether it was “basically true” that Syria’s rebels had “become more infiltrated by al-Qaeda over time,” to which Kerry responded, “No, that is actually basically not true. It’s basically incorrect.” But the impression that Putin got from that exchange was “not very pleasant for me,” the Russian President said.
Even less pleasant, perhaps, will be the job of trying to get something done at the G20 summit amid all the backbiting. While many of the top delegates will be tangled up in the Syria debate on the sidelines, the summit’s formal agenda has set out to reach global accord on how to fight tax havens, create jobs and boost the world’s sluggish economic recovery. The responsibility for making delegates pay attention to these goals will fall in large part on Ksenia Yudaeva, Russia’s representative at the G20. About two weeks before the summit commenced she took TIME on a golf-cart ride around the Konstantin Palace, the former residence of the Russian czars that will serve as the venue for the summit, and as the palace gardens flitted past, Yudaeva was still holding out hope that the G20 could focus on the global economy. “At least the last couple of times, the whole agenda was pushed to the background because something exploded,” she said.
Previously that had been the financial meltdown in Greece, which occupied the attention of the G20 leaders’ summit last year. “This year we did everything we could to avoid that,” said Yudaeva. But with U.S. missiles poised to strike at a key Russian ally, keeping the focus on the G20′s economic agenda may be a lost cause – about as likely as making Putin and Obama see eye to eye at the summit. And although the weather is forecast to be clear this week in St. Petersburg, the mood inside the Konstantin Palace will likely be as cold as a Russian winter.
MORE: How Obama’s Putin Snub Is Playing Out in Russia (http://world.time.com/2013/08/08/how-obamas-putin-snub-is-playing-out-in-russia/)

http://world.time.com/2013/09/04/putin-sets-uncompromising-tone-ahead-of-g-20-summit/?iid=gs-main-lead

[Horn]

I haven't seen any kind of investigation evidence from the other side, have you?

Is there anything but hearsay?

[Cebu_4_2]

What if it's all hearsay?

[Horn]

What if it's all hearsay?

These Russians say they have weapon parts that point elsewhere. If there were even more investigation as to the trajectory they might be able to even find where launched from, and such.

Now it seems the MSM is painting the rebels as sic too, the overall media opinion will spun as they're all worth a missile strike, or more.

[mamboni]

Footage of chemical attack in Syria is fraud



Published time: September 06, 2013 12:29


An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube by the Arbeen unified press office on August 21, 2013 shows a man comforting a Syrian girl in shock as she screams in Arabic "I am alive" following an attack in which Syrian opposition claim the regime used chemical weapons in eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus (AFP Photo)



There is proof the footage of the alleged chemical attack in Syria was fabricated, Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib, mother superior of St. James Monastery in Qara, Syria, told RT. She says she is about to submit her findings to the UN.

Mother Agnes, a catholic nun, who has been living in Syria for 20 years and has been reporting actively on what has been going on in the war-ravaged country, says she carefully studied the video featuring allegedly victims of the chemical weapons attack in the Syrian village of Guta in August and now questions its authenticity.

In her interview with RT, Mother Agnes doubts so much footage could have been taken in so little time, and asks where parents of the supposedly dead children are. She promises to send her report to the UN.

The nun is indignant with the world media for apparently turning a blind eye to the Latakia massacre by rebel extremists, which left 500 civilians including women and children dead.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has called on the international community to pay attention to revelations made by Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib.

RT: The United States has used internet photos and video footage of the supposed chemical weapons attack in Eastern Guta to build a case against the Syrian government. Have you been able to look at these files? What do you have to say about them?

Mother Agnes: I have carefully studied the footage, and I will present a written analysis on it a bit later. I maintain that the whole affair was a frame-up. It had been staged and prepared in advance with the goal of framing the Syrian government as the perpetrator.

The key evidence is that Reuters made these files public at 6.05 in the morning. The chemical attack is said to have been launched between 3 and 5 o’clock in the morning in Guta. How is it even possible to collect a dozen different pieces of footage, get more than 200 kids and 300 young people together in one place, give them first aid and interview them on camera, and all that in less than three hours? Is that realistic at all? As someone who works in the news industry, you know how long all of it would take.

The bodies of children and teenagers we see in that footage – who were they? What happened to them? Were they killed for real? And how could that happen ahead of the gas attack? Or, if they were not killed, where did they come from? Where are their parents? How come we don’t see any female bodies among all those supposedly dead children?

I am not saying that no chemical agent was used in the area – it certainly was. But I insist that the footage that is now being peddled as evidence had been fabricated in advance. I have studied it meticulously, and I will submit my report to the UN Human Rights Commission based in Geneva.

RT: Recently you’ve visited Latakia and the adjacent areas, you’ve talked to the eyewitnesses to the massacre of civilians carried out in Latakia by Jabhat al-Nusra. What can you tell us about it?


MA: What I want to ask first of all is how the international community can ignore the brutal killing spree in Latakia on Laylat al-Qadr early in the morning of August 5, an attack that affected more than 500 people, including children, women and the elderly. They were all slaughtered. The atrocities committed exceed any scale. But there was close to nothing about it in the international mass media. There was only one small article in “The Independent”, I believe.

We sent our delegation to these villages, and our people had a look at the situation on-site, talked to the locals, and most importantly – talked to the survivors of the massacre.

I don’t understand why the Western media apply double standards in this case – they talk about mass murder that the use of chemical weapons resulted in non-stop, but they keep quiet about the Latakia massacre.

RT: Do you know anything about the fate of hostages captured in Latakia?



A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on August 20, 2013 shows soldiers loyal to the regime forces wrapping a decomposed body that was allegedly discovered in a mass grave in northern Latakia, a province on the Mediterranean coast (AFP Photo)


MA: In the village of Estreba they massacred all the residents and burnt down their houses. In the village of al-Khratta almost all the 37 locals were killed. Only ten people were able to escape.
A total of twelve Alawite villages were subjected to this horrendous attack. That was a true slaughterhouse. People were mutilated and beheaded. There is even a video that shows a girl being dismembered alive – alive! – by a frame saw. The final death toll exceeded 400, with 150 to 200 people taken hostage. Later some of the hostages were killed, their deaths filmed.
At the moment we are looking for the hostages and negotiating their release with the militants, but so far we haven’t managed to achieve that.


RT: We often hear reports of Christians being persecuted by the militants. Just the day before yesterday there was an attack in the village of Maaloula, where the majority of population is Christian. Are Christians in Syria facing grave danger?


MA: Everyone in Syria is facing grave danger. There was a case of Muslim religious leaders being kidnapped and beheaded. They were humiliated and tortured. Ismailis, the druze, Christians – people from all parts of Syrian society – are being mass murdered. I would like to say that if these butchers didn’t have international support, no one would have dared to cross the line. But today, unfortunately, the violation of human rights and genocide in Syria is covered up on the international level. I demand the international community stops assessing the situation in Syria in accordance with the interests of a certain group of great powers. The Syrian people are being killed. They fall victim to contractors, who are provided with weapons and sent to Syria to kill as many people as possible. The truth is, everywhere in Syria people are being kidnapped, tortured, raped and robbed. These crimes remain unpunished, because the key powers chose international terrorism as a way to destroy sovereign states. They’ve done it to other countries. And they will just keep doing it if the international community doesn’t say “Enough!”

RT: You’ve managed to get hold of some sensitive information. Does this make you fear for your life as someone who keeps documents that may compromise the militants? Has anyone threatened you?


MA: You are right. I do get threatened. They are trying to discredit me. I know there is a book coming out soon in France that labels me as a criminal who kills people. But any believer should first and foremost trust their conscience, their belief in God, and that will help them save innocent lives. I don’t care much about my own life. My life is no more precious than that of any Syrian child, whose body could be used as evidence to justify wrongdoing. This is the biggest crime ever perpetrated in history.

RT: What should the Syrians do to stop the tragedy they are going through?


MA: The Syrians themselves can do nothing to stop it. They can only rely on the international community, friendly nations, world powers, such as Russia, China, and India. With a lot of enthusiasm we did welcome the news that the British parliament voted against the participation of their country in the possible war against Syria. There is a terrorist war going on against Syria right now. The international community and Syria’s friends should join forces and say: Enough! And they need to use every opportunity to do that. Otherwise this threat Syria is facing now will turn into a threat to universal peace.

RT: What should the Vatican and other hubs of Christianity do to put an end to this tragedy?


MA: The Pope says he has no planes, no bombs, and no armed forces. Instead, he has the power of the truth, and the truth he has told. There are messages coming from everywhere in the world urging against a military intervention in Syria. Those who want to hear them will. The Pope, the patriarchs, Nobel Prize winners, including women, keep saying the same in unison: Let’s stop fighting. No conflict can be solved by military means. Stop adding fuel to the flame!
All the prominent public figures in the world have risen to speak against the war. Everyone has spoken their mind, but the US prefers to turn a deaf ear. The world public opinion has turned against the US. It’s the first time in history that America is alone. They are claiming that they are backed by ten countries. But I insist they aren’t, because the people of these countries disagree with their governments. Even the American people disagree with their government.


RT: Do you believe that this tragedy will end and Syria will remain a homeland for all Syrians, regardless of their ethnical or religious identity?


MA: I’m not Syrian myself, but I’ve been living in Syria for 20 years. I’d like to remind everyone that Damascus is the most ancient capital in the world. I would like to remind everyone that Syria is the cradle of civilization. I would like to remind everyone that this is the holy land that gave birth to the main world religions. What is happening in Syria should serve as a lesson for everyone. I mean that in existential rather than political sense. I am convinced that with God’s help the Syrian people will be able to remain strong, heal their wounds, reconcile and chase out all the foreign mercenaries and terrorists. I believe there will be peace in Syria. But for that we need help from the international community.

http://rt.com/op-edge/mother-chemical-attack-footage-fraud-509/

[Spectrism]

Since it is likely that the mercenary, savage invading non-Syrian "rebels" did this and since are so much against the use of chemical weapons, shouldn't we then attack the "rebels" and those who support them? We can start by sending a dozen cruise missiles to Washington DC.

[mamboni]

al-Qaeda and Related Extremist Groups Represent Over 50% of Opposition Forces in Syria

TND Media Context Review / By Eric Dubin /


Secretary of State John Kerry appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee early this week to make the case for military strikes against Syria. Skepticism ran high. Several lawmakers were concerned about Islamic extremists among the ranks of the forces opposed to the Syrian government. Kerry told the committee that the “bad guys” only constitute “maybe 15 to 25 percent” of the opposition forces.


NBC News reports that Defense department officials estimate that al Qaeda and related groups represent “more than 50 percent” of the opposition forces, and at least 70 factions are up and running.


One of the factions that are supposedly not among the “bad guys” has a Facebook page with a graphic image of their forces marching away from a burning U.S. Capital building. Click here (http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/06/.Uin0pvyuNC8.facebook) to read NBC’s investigative report.


http://thenewsdoctors.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/not-bad-guys-nbc.jpg (http://thenewsdoctors.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/not-bad-guys-nbc.jpg)


http://thenewsdoctors.com/al-qaeda-and-related-extremist-groups-represent-over-50-of-opposition-forces-in-syria/

[Jewboo]

NBC News reports that Defense department officials estimate that al Qaeda and related groups represent “more than 50 percent” of the opposition forces, and at least 70 factions are up and running.




http://www.science-store.com/gt-transportaion/aviation/images/USAF-Strategic-Bombers-Poster.jpg

al Qaeda's Air Force



:rolleyes: pay ur income taxes goyim

[old steel]

Ragheads killing ragheads so what's the problem?

[Twisted Titan]

Ragheads killing ragheads so what's the problem?

We are actively fomenting that mayhem.

They people wouldnt be at each others throats if we learned to mind our effing business.

But a major blacklash is brewing the likes of which just might get our head lopped off.

Russia is actively calling out the US and we are knuckling under cause we dont have a dayum leg to stand on and every day another story breaks to make that position even weaker.

[aeondaze]

We are actively fomenting that mayhem.

They people wouldnt be at each others throats if we learned to mind our effing business.

But a major blacklash is brewing the likes of which just might get our head lopped off.

Russia is actively calling out the US and we are knuckling under cause we dont have a dayum leg to stand on and every day another story breaks to make that position even weaker.

Sheesh, I worry about you guys over there.

When it all goes down everyone will be saying "good ridance US!" not knowing who has really been pulling the strings. The only thing in my mind that is actually standing between the formal ushering in of the NWO is decent Americans who support the 2nd amendment. Everyone else in the west are just a bunch of disarmed pathetic pussies (oz included).

So yeah, I think about you guys in that context a lot, and it bothers me what will happen when they try to destroy the constitution, I look up to you guys as supporters of global liberty, not just in the US.

My fear is they are using the last 15 years of agressive pre emptive millitary action to utterly destroy the US's reputation globally along with economic anihalation so that no one will stand up for you guys when they come to shut the place down and send everyone off to work camps. This is what worries me...:(

[mamboni]

Obama Warned on Syrian Intel (http://us-mg5.mail.yahoo.com/neo/Obama%20Warned%20on%20Syrian%20Intel)
http://consortiumnews.com/2013/09/06/obama-warned-on-syrian-intel/
September 6, 2013


Exclusive: Despite the Obama administration’s supposedly “high confidence” regarding Syrian government guilt over the Aug. 21 chemical attack near Damascus, a dozen former U.S. military and intelligence officials are telling President Obama that they are picking up information that undercuts the Official Story.
Read more » (http://us-mg5.mail.yahoo.com/neo/Read%20more%20%C2%BB)


http://consortiumnews.com/2013/09/07/congress-denied-syrian-facts-too/
Congress Denied Syrian Facts, Too (http://us-mg5.mail.yahoo.com/neo/Congress%20Denied%20Syrian%20Facts,%20Too)
September 7, 2013


Exclusive: While seeking authority for a limited war with Syria, the Obama administration withheld from the American people the U.S. intelligence on the alleged chemical weapons attack of Aug. 21, amid assurances that Congress got all the secret details. But that doesn’t appear to be true, reports Robert Parry.
Read more » (http://us-mg5.mail.yahoo.com/neo/Read%20more%20%C2%BB)


from ZH:

And 12 very high-level former intelligence officials wrote (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/09/12-u-s-intelligence-officials-tell-obama-it-wasnt-assad.html) the following memorandum to Obama today:





We regret to inform you that some of our former co-workers are telling us, categorically, that contrary to the claims of your administration, the most reliable intelligence shows that Bashar al-Assad was NOT responsible for the chemical incident that killed and injured Syrian civilians on August 21, and that British intelligence officials also know this. In writing this brief report, we choose to assume that you have not been fully informed because your advisers decided to afford you the opportunity for what is commonly known as “plausible denial.”

***

There is a growing body of evidence from numerous sources in the Middle East — mostly affiliated with the Syrian opposition and its supporters — providing a strong circumstantial case that the August 21 chemical incident was a pre-planned provocation by the Syrian opposition and its Saudi and Turkish supporters. The aim is reported to have been to create the kind of incident that would bring the United States into the war.

According to some reports, canisters containing chemical agent were brought into a suburb of Damascus, where they were then opened. Some people in the immediate vicinity died; others were injured.

We are unaware of any reliable evidence that a Syrian military rocket capable of carrying a chemical agent was fired into the area. In fact, we are aware of no reliable physical evidence to support the claim that this was a result of a strike by a Syrian military unit with expertise in chemical weapons.

In addition, we have learned that on August 13-14, 2013, Western-sponsored opposition forces in Turkey started advance preparations for a major, irregular military surge. Initial meetings between senior opposition military commanders and Qatari, Turkish and U.S. intelligence officials took place at the converted Turkish military garrison in Antakya, Hatay Province, now used as the command center and headquarters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and their foreign sponsors.

Senior opposition commanders who came from Istanbul pre-briefed the regional commanders on an imminent escalation in the fighting due to “a war-changing development,” which, in turn, would lead to a U.S.-led bombing of Syria.

At operations coordinating meetings at Antakya, attended by senior Turkish, Qatari and U.S. intelligence officials as well as senior commanders of the Syrian opposition, the Syrians were told that the bombing would start in a few days. Opposition leaders were ordered to prepare their forces quickly to exploit the U.S. bombing, march into Damascus, and remove the Bashar al-Assad government

The Qatari and Turkish intelligence officials assured the Syrian regional commanders that they would be provided with plenty of weapons for the coming offensive. And they were. A weapons distribution operation unprecedented in scope began in all opposition camps on August 21-23. The weapons were distributed from storehouses controlled by Qatari and Turkish intelligence under the tight supervision of U.S. intelligence officers