Suspected chlorine gas attack in Aleppo kill at least four

A suspected chlorine gas attack in Aleppo in Syria has led to at least four deaths. It is believed that the gas was dropped alongside barrel bombs on the Zubdiya neighborhood. This is in the rebel-held part of the city. A manager of the Al Quds hospital has indicated that he had recorded four deaths and 55 injuries and was preserving pieces of patients' clothing and pieces of the bombs as evidence.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has confirmed that a woman and her child were among the dead.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 11 August 2016.

A video posted by an opposition news portal showed a child and adults wearing breathing apparatus. Moreover, two of the men reported about the strong smell of gas. They also said about seeing barrel bombs before people began to suffer breathing and eye problems.
It seems both the sides have denied using chemical weapons but United Nations investigators say that sarin gas was used in Eastern Ghouta three years ago. This had killed an estimated 1,429 people, including at least 426 children. Subsequently, in late 2015, mustard gas was used in the conflict. This was confirmed by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Aleppo is Syria's most populous city before the war and has been the subject of a bitter fight between rebel forces and those under the command of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.


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Morocco warns that ISIS could unleash chemical warfare on Europe

Morocco has cautioned Europe that ISIS terrorists have tried to create chemical weapons abroad and could launch attacks on Europe. This has been indicated by Morocco's head of counter terrorism. As per his claims, his unit has already nullified 25 ISIS plots in his country in the past year alone - one of these, in February, involved mustard gas.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 4 April 2016.

It seems the ISIS cell had smuggled in weapons from nearby Libya and had worked out planning of chemical attacks on four cities apart from a suicide bomber strike. The materials used in the plot were common items readily available in shops all over Britain, and even Europe.
In the opinion of the team of Moroccan Bureau Central d'Investigations Judiciares, the ISIS group that had been apprehended in February was trying to create mustard gas.
Incidentally, U.S. Special Forces had captured the chemical weapons chief of ISIS and he admitted that the group harbored plans of using mustard gas in future attacks. The capture of this operative was confirmed by an American official and he has admitted that interrogation had yielded 'good things'. He was captured by special forces deployed by the Pentagon ans is, at present, detained in Iraq.
ISIL has used chemical weapons on multiple occasions in Iraq and Syria and sources close to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has confirmed that mustard gas had been used in fighting in August in northern Iraq. Mustard gas had also been used in August 21 attack in Marea in Syria - of course, the perpetrator of the attacks is not named.
Mustard gas or 'sulfur mustard' can lead to respiratory distress, momentary blindness and painful blisters and had first been used by Germany in Belgium in 1917 and was banned by the UN in 1993.


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CIA reveals - ISIS have used chemical weapons and can make chlorine and mustard gas

#ISIS #peshmerga #mustardgas #chlorinegas CIA director John Brennan has revealed that Islamic State fighters have used chemical weapons in the past and are capable of making small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas. Last year, officials in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan had indicated that blood tests had shown that IS fighters had made use of mustard agent in an attack on Kurdish peshmerga forces in August. As many as 35 Peshmerga fighters had been exposed and some of them were taken abroad for treatment. At that time, there were apprehensions that IS had used mustard agent.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 12 February 2016.

The director of CIA has indicated that there has been several instances of where ISIL has used chemical munitions on the battlefield. The CIA also believes that the IS group has the ability to make small amounts of mustard or chlorine gas for weapons. Moreover, there are possibilities that the Islamic State group could export the weapons to the West for financial gain.
Hence, it is necessary to cut off the various transportation routes and smuggling routes that they have used to carry on their activities. President Bashar al-Assad`s regime and rebel forces have accused each other of using chemical agents in the nearly five-year war that has killed more than 250,000 people.


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ISIS getting ready to launch chemical warfare

#ISIS #Parisattacks #chemicalweapon #mustardgas With the focus of the world on trying to keep the ISIS in check, the Islamic State group is believed to be aggressively pursuing the development of chemical weapons. It is setting up a branch dedicated to research and experiments with the help of scientists from Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the region. This is the feedback of Iraqi and U.S. intelligence officials as reported in foxnews.com dated 20 November 2015.

These developments have given rise for an alarming scenario for the West because ISIS has made its intentions clear by attacking major cities as they have shown with its attack last week in Paris.
The United States intelligence officials do not believe that the IS has the capability to develop sophisticated weapons like nerve gas that are most suited for a terrorist attack on a civilian target. The group has, till now, used mustard gas on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria.
However, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has warned that Islamic extremists might at some point use chemical or biological weapons. He made these comments in the lower house of Parliament.
Intelligence reports indicate that the ISIS now enjoys complete freedom to select locations for their labs and production sites and have a wide range of experts, both civilians and military, at their disposal to aid them. Till now, the only sign of the group's chemical weapons program has been the apparent use of mustard gas against Iraqi Kurdish fighters and in Syria. This is confirmed from mortars that had struck Kurdish forces in northern Iraq earlier this year - preliminary tests on these by the U.S. showed traces of the chemical agent sulfur mustard.

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