Iraq & Syrian Civil Wars - Page 30

On December 05 2012 00:52 JinDesu wrote:
If so, he is the rest of the ruling class' scapegoat.

On December 05 2012 07:40 wtfSurprise wrote:
Nytimes reporting that Assad is losing the support of Russia and also that Russians that met with him 2 weeks ago described "a man without hope of victory or escape".

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/world/middleeast/syrian-government-beset-by-battles-and-diplomatic-setbacks.html?ref=syria&_r=0

Nytimes has been constantly tolling the death knell for Assad for over a year now, but it seems now that he only has a few months left at best, depending on how long the regime can withstand a losing struggle before imploding.

On December 05 2012 07:45 dUTtrOACh wrote:


He should settle with exile and hand over control, for the sake of his party and the future of his people. Sadly, his cling to power will only cost more lives, and further divide his country into warring factions.

On December 05 2012 07:45 dUTtrOACh wrote:
He should settle with exile and hand over control, for the sake of his party and the future of his people. Sadly, his cling to power will only cost more lives, and further divide his country into warring factions.

On December 06 2012 09:39 deichkind wrote:
doubtful that he'll use gas, cant protect his own and civilians that support him from it.
more likely they are moving it to no let it get into the hands of the more extreme factions that war against him. those people would defiently use it though.

On December 06 2012 09:49 xDaunt wrote:
Once mixed, the gas only lasts for 60 days, at which point it has to be discarded. I don't really doubt that Assad is going to use it.

On December 06 2012 09:50 Romantic wrote:
I would guess Aleppo would be the primary target of gas attacks if you were going to employ them militarily. Just looks like brinkmanship though.... even if the situation in Aleppo is currently very bad for the government.

Civil wars sort of involve using weapons "against your own people" by definition by all sides participating.




Unitary or binary bombs? I would assume the bombs were binary, that is, the chemicals are stored separately within the bomb and mix upon the bomb being released. As far as I know all\nearly all sarin bombs are binary.

But U.S. officials said this week that the government had ordered its Chemical Weapons Corps to "be prepared," which Washington interpreted as a directive to begin bringing together the components needed to weaponize Syria's chemical stockpiles.

That process would involve mixing "precursor" chemicals for the deadly nerve gas sarin, which could be used in artillery shells, U.S. officials told NBC News, stressing that there was no evidence that process had as yet begun.

The military has loaded the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs that could be dropped onto the Syrian people from dozens of fighter-bombers, the officials said.

As recently as Tuesday, officials had said there was as yet no evidence that the process of mixing the "precursor" chemicals had begun. But Wednesday, they said their worst fears had been confirmed: The nerve agents were locked and loaded inside the bombs.

On December 06 2012 10:07 Romantic wrote:
I think the article authors are confused. Well, it is true the chemicals would need to be mixed to make deadly sarin, but that would be done as the bombs were falling. The way they write it, it seems like it is something done prior to bombs falling. I Googled sarin artillery shells and I found some US-made shells http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M687 and they were also binary.

Some rumours on Twitter that gas masks are being handed out to Syrian soldiers. Twitter rumors... take that for what it is worth.

The shell contained two canisters separated by a rupture disk. The compartments were filled with two liquid precursor chemicals for sarin (GB2): methylphosphonyl difluoride (denominated DF) and a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and isopropyl amine (denominated OPA) is in a second canister. The isopropyl amine binds the hydrogen fluoride generated during the chemical reaction. When the shell was fired the force of the acceleration would cause the disk between them to breach and the spinning of the projectile facilitated mixing. The two precursor chemicals would react in flight to produce sarin and when the shell reached its target the sarin would be released.

The shells were meant to be stored and transported with only the OPA compartment loaded; the fuse and the DF compartment would be inserted shortly before firing.

On December 06 2012 09:59 heliusx wrote:




From the NBC news article. It was also said satellites observed the chemicals being moved to multiple sights around the country. Hopefully they aren't going to use that nasty stuff. What do you guys think our response would be? Clinton said it would "go over the redline" implying we would take action.

On December 06 2012 10:14 heliusx wrote:




Am I misunderstanding? I don't know anything about chem weapons besides what I read today. That might be what they mean when they say mix.

The USS Eisenhower, an American aircraft carrier that holds eight fighter bomber squadrons and 8,000 men, arrived at the Syrian coast yesterday in the midst of a heavy storm, indicating US preparation for a potential ground intervention.
While the Obama administration has not announced any sort of American-led military intervention in the war-torn country, the US is now ready to launch such action “within days” if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad decides to use chemical weapons against the opposition, the Times reports.
Some have suggested that the Assad regime may use chemical weapons against the opposition fighters in the coming days or weeks.
The arrival of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of the 11 US Navy aircraft carriers that has the capacity to hold thousands of men, is now stationed at the coast of Syria, DEBKAfile reports. The aircraft carrier joined the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, which holds about 2,500 Marines.
“We have (US) special operations forces at the right posture, they don’t have to be sent,” an unnamed US official told The Australian, which suggested that US military troops are already near Syria and ready to intervene in the conflict, if necessary.
If the US decides to intervene militarily in Syria, it now has at its disposal 10,000 fighting men, 17 warships, 70 fighter-bombers, 10 destroyers and frigates and a guided military cruises. Some of the vessels are also equipped with Aegis missile interceptors to shoot down any missiles Syria might have at hand, according to DEBKAfile.
“The muscle is already there to be flexed,” a US official told the London Times about the US military’s presence outside of Syria. “It’s premature to say what could happen if a decision is made to intervene. That hasn’t taken shape, we’ve not reached that kind of decision. There are a lot of options, but it [military action] could be launched rapidly, within days.”
The move comes after NATO made a significant strategic decision Tuesday to deploy Patriot Air and Missile Defense Systems in Turkey on the border of Syria where opposition groups have the stronghold. The defense would be able to protect Turkey from potential Syrian missiles that could contain chemical weapons, as well as intimidate Syrian Air Force pilots from bombing the northern Syria border towns, which the armed rebels control. Syria is thought to have about 700 missiles.
“The protection from NATO will be three dimensional; one is the short-range Patriots, the second is the middle-range Terminal High Altitude Air Defense [THAD] system and the last is the AEGIS system, which counters missiles that can reach outside the atmosphere,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.
DEBKAfile’s anonymous military sources claim the THAD and Aegis arrived at the Syrian coast aboard the USS Eisenhower.
“The United States now stands ready for direct military intervention in the Syrian conflict when the weather permits,” the news source wrote.