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Warning: This site contains images and graphic descriptions of extreme violence and/or its effects. It's not as bad as it could be, but is meant to be shocking. Readers should be 18+ or a mature 17 or so. There is also some foul language occasionally, and potential for general upsetting of comforting conventional wisdom. Please view with discretion.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Idlib CW Massacre 4-4-17: Masterlist

Idlib CW Massacre 4-4-17: Masterlist  
April 12, 2017
last updates Oct. 2, 2017

Among the many, many alleged chemical attacks in Syria that's been blamed on its government, the one reported early on April 4, 2017, with at least 78 and likely over 100 killed, is the probably the second deadliest to date (at around 500+, the Ghouta massacre of 2013 still has a distant lead, and a little-known alleged sarin attack by Russian forces last December is a close #3, or perhaps still #2, at a reported 93 dead.) It's claimed these 100+ locals, all civilians, were exposed to sarin nerve gas fired on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, southern Idlib province. That was early in the morning, around 6:45-7 am, and was said to affect over 500, mostly as they slept. 

In reality, much evidence suggests, local anti-government Islamist groups massacred some of the hostages they've seized, perhaps including the 120 or more reportedly abducted from the villages of Khattab and Majdal just days before this incident, during the time that al-Qaeda-affiliated militants had overrun the otherwise government-held towns in northern Hama province.  

Either way, it was the first alleged CW attack of the 6-year so far to spark direct U.S. military strikes against the sovereign nation of Syria, damaging an airfield and destroying several jets used in their anti-terrorism fight, and killing a reported 9 civilians and wounding others with some of the 59 missiles that went astray. The (hot-headed?) Trump administration has offered some reasons to support their decision to credit rebel claims, but these don't seem adequate to answer the growing questions about that story. It remains disturbingly possible the U.S. government has, more directly than ever before, rewarded the terrorists occupying much of Syria for one of their sectarian massacres of  civilian hostages.

This post only offers a basic overview for now, and organizes links to a few sub-posts where some of the details are explained (for others, see affiliated ACLOS talk page, besides a lot of decent to great work by others not in my network - a few linked sporadically as they come up)

* Special attention to the analysis of Dilbert's devious God, Scott Adams, via and alongside a furious b at Moon of Alabama. plus comments.

Sup-Posts:

* The When and Where - Added May 6, a big piece with video analysis findings, geolocation, solar angle timeline placement, etc. The white cloud and white fog considered, impact points, located homes said to be affected, and the most accurate wind estimate yet, which is strangely opposite of the direction built into the rebel story (as shown here, and explained there).


* Idlib CW False-Flag Covers for Islamist Massacre - the widely read starter post from the 4th, featuring the children killed by some unexplained bladed type of sarin that seems to follow Islamist protocol for how to kill kids vs. adults (head slices for kids, throats for men aged 13 and up). It's a small sampling, but more than we should expect - this is quite a slip! So far, this remains a leading point.

Note: this is the exception to the general rule that most dead seem to be/probably were gassed (how many real vs. fake victims have been seen vs. unseen is still a bit unclear)

** Important sub-post: Two Smoking Gun Head Wounds

* The Sarin Evidence - if this is the sarin people are describing, it sounds like the smelly, impure kind Islamist forces in Syria are known to have used in the past. So far, it seems western tests are confirming that, and they rely on false blame precedents to craft another unwarranted blaming.

* The Shayrat Airfield Link: considering what did happen vs. might have, vis-a-vis the alleged 6:46 Syrian overflight - includes a good visual overview of what happened, maybe to be copied here, below. But the main point is questioning the involvement of those jets, which was the public basis for attacking the Shayrat airbase they're said to take off from.

* Abdelhamid al-Yousef: The Proof Man? Following and predicting the moves of the leading alleged witness-survivor. with sub-posts on his alleged family, speedy recovery, etc.

* Monitor Mahmoud Unravels the Quds1 Sarin-Chlorine Serial Murder Plot “Quds 1, guys he has chemicals, he has chemicals. He is the same pilot who had dropped chemicals on Latamineh” ... "four bombs carrying the chemical substances sarin and chlorine."

* Saving the Khaled Family: see a family of 6 soaked in the mud for at least 40 minutes at one "hospital," get trucked off at 8 am to be shown as dead in various combinations, then get rushed to a remote hospital to save their lives, at about noon. See the friendly rebels fail to save these people, even with their fancy white W77 trucks, the White Helmets, and all that outside help.

* The Fakers - Two clear cases singled out - one plays dead but can't help but peek at the camera, and the other plays a convulsing sarin victim, who keeps going as long as the cameras stay around.  A number of others also seem possibly fake.

Note: it's not fake like nothing happened. There's a real and terrible thing under this fake thing, it seems primarily chemical, and at least partly Islamist (and I think it's mostly chemical and all-Islamist), and all of it deserves careful and honest study.

Critical Reviews of Others' Investigations
* The OPCW's No Wind Theory (July) No discernible wind? So the sarin rolls downhill to the southwest? Huh. Too bad there was a real and discernible wind in the opposite direction. And too bad it would roll to the northwest in their scenario, if they had mapped it right. Oops. (this last was noticed after the article)

* The Evidence vs. Bellingcat vs. Khan Sheikhoun False Flag Theories and four best questions between open-source citizen investigators (added August 6)
* On the UN CoI's Meaningless Report (September)
* CoI Report Dismantling at the Indicter (links and adds a bit to external article based on the above but much improved)
* Gareth Porter reviewed:
** Part 1: on Faking Sarin Tests (added October 2)
* Refuting Ted Postol (included in The Blasts). And while we're at it ... his backwards wind reading is one thing, and handled fairly well. But what the hell was this?


* Timeline issues (forthcoming): Important point regarding the problems with the Russian narrative, so far, and some other points of interest to disassembling the Western-opposition spin as well. (see for now ACLOS section on hospital attack time)

<add Aug. 7>And since it keeps coming up, including "verification" by Seymour Hersh's insider source, I'll just add this here: the best evidence suggests there was no Syrian or Russian airstrike at the time of the incident. This means there was no accidental release of chemicals from hitting a terrorist CW facility on accident. Russian, Syrian, and supportive sources have repeatedly suggested this is the explanation for the events and deaths recorded around 7 am. But those people don't seem to realize the fundamental disconnect.  By way of details, they explain:
* Syrian FM Walid Al-Moallem "said the government's first strike happened at 11:30 a.m," which is noted as "about five hours after reports of the chemical attack emerged." (CNN)
* Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konoshenkov: “Yesterday, from 11:30 am to 12:30 p.m. local time, Syrian aviation made a strike on a large terrorist ammunition depot and a concentration of military hardware in the eastern outskirts of Khan Sheikhoun town ...there were workshops which produced chemical warfare munitions ... The poisoning symptoms of the victims in Khan Sheikhoun shown on videos in social networks are the same as they were in autumn of the previous year in Aleppo.” (Reuters) (Russians know a lot about rebel CW arsenals in Aleppo; it's a talking point.)
Konoshenkov at least suggests the poison was released in that strike at noon. But all imagery and reports are clear the bad thing with suffocating kids happened right around 7 am or a bit earlier. So however whoever decided this might be the explanation, they were wrong. Either Syria and Russia are lying about the time of this first strike of the day, or the incident was not caused, even indirectly, by a jet. There are two jets on radar, but they seem to be on a dawn reconnaissance mission, presumably to scope the scene in advance of the coming attack. Damascus denies any strikes this early, but did not deny that they had any flights in the area around 6:46 am.<end Aug. 7>

* Others perhaps forthcoming

72 comments:

  1. Just a quick geolocation question, probably already answered but I can't seem to find

    In this video a man is presenting a basement (presumably the basement where the family died?)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGdOKGCpF5s

    On one shot you can see the silos in the background. I think it is on the same road where Bellingcat geolocated the destroyed building, is the 'basement' building next to the one on the corner I've marked or am I looking at the wrong place?

    http://imgur.com/a/CIMvO

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    1. Yeah, I think that's it. A darn good fit anyway. It's decided they lived near that crater apparently NOT made at 6:45 (see http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Talk:Alleged_Chemical_Attack_Khan_Sheikhoun_4_April_2017#Scene_Overview), only earlier or later, but before the undamaged electric distribution box was set up. Might be nicely downwind too, where they said here (weather section at ACLOS is right below last link)

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    2. If any help, on Terraserver I think the photo is from the end of Feb - maybe a shadow where the box is?

      http://imgur.com/zj16zOF

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    3. There is a simple explanation why the people in the cellar died. The grain silos most likely contained a fumigant, like Detia GAS-EX-B. These fumigants contain aluminium phosphide that produces phosphine gas when it comes into contact with water. The aluminium phosphide might have been exposed when the grain silos were bombed. Phosphine gas may have been released into the atmosphere and it might have entered the nearby cellar killing the inhabitants.

      I am sure this event did not happen on April 4th. The grain silos were bombed earlier. The locals might have been recollecting this earlier event when they testified about the gas and the deaths. Rebel media might present this testimony out of context.

      For more, see: Was phosphine used in the Ghouta Chemical Massacre?

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    4. Interesting.. all depends how much truth there is in the basement story too I suppose. WH videos have featured other unrelated people carrying children as they run past and the 'waving the buses through' video so 'appropriating' victims from another event would fit with that.

      Do you have this video on your playlist? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTx0kmQnZLw

      Just found via https://twitter.com/Qoppa999/status/856277477299281924

      Seems to have another smoke cloud ~6 seconds in on the far right. You've probably already seen it but I thought that was interesting as Bellingcat quotes a news channel as saying the plane only fired four rockets.

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    5. Been meaning to reply. Petri: that's simple, in some ways In other ways, not.

      Andrew: thanks, was just looking again for that video (I don't think it is on the list), and didn't notice that other plume yet. Trying to map it out better...

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    6. If any use, my best guess (big jpeg)

      http://imgur.com/hXRqUvt

      Minaret in yellow is the one furthest right on the Bellingcat picture, view is looking almost south

      The new smoke cloud does seem to line up with what looks like a garbage heap so maybe not relevant - burning trash?

      Mushroom cloud I think is a little east maybe south east of the blue building. You can just make out the windows on the satellite view, seems to match.

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    7. Ah! I had that view, but thought the minaret in green continued down to that lit facade edge, and was a minaret right on the right side of the street nearer to the camera. Oops. That alone kept me from finding a match, which would've been and now is this. Thanks - making a big map now and finally something new to add (it'll take a while). I think it's attack related: a sudden plume moments ago, no traces above/before that, little new coming up - it's some kind of smaller blast. The possible burn pit area is further to the right anyway, not on this line.

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  2. The box doesn't look to be quite alongside the crater in this video so perhaps debris just missed it

    https://youtu.be/IyFAl2gjZJQ?t=55

    (also a red marker on the mound of earth between the box and the wall, not sure what significance might be)

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    1. Looking again, force of travel/most severe blast seeming towards that wall, it could scrape by that box. And that might be its shadow. So that point isn't solid.

      red marker might be another danger toxic sign? weird placement if so.

      Still, dated crater clues: it blew out a lot of dirt and fill, but that's gone. Except on the edges - spread gravel, scraped away on a clean line, and some of the dirt on the far side, mostly swept off the road. Then, some small gravel tossed across the cleaned area, some larger white rocks tossed, one smashed on the road and smeared. Is that supposed to be it? Or wasn't this a non-explosive sarin releasing rocket, that blew that crater?

      And the other point seems to stand, and I'm refining and explaining that soon - there's no kind of plume anywhere near that crater at the time of attack. That's important because the time is quite clear, and the WH is quite clear that crater is the main spot sarin was released, at that time, when they saw the jet, and we have that gassed basement family just down the way (wind direction tho is under question, maybe almost opposite of that and/or shifting).

      (not that I'm arguing with you as if under attack, just refining the point)

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    2. All just a maybe - I was just trying to square any moving of the box with the apparent lack of 'sophistication' (for want of a better word) with the lack of protective clothing.

      Some vehicle has clearly run over the line of white rocks.. more smeared rocks in later photos, wouldn't be surprised if someone had even driven through the crater. I wonder if debris was swept or hosed with water like the victims?

      Also kind of curious that the animal victims on Orient News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tayK50Ggs9w&list=PL5WYCTqm6QUE9GXGdGUSqW23BeWuSV46f&index=151 appear to be in the exact opposite direction to the 'basement house'. I'm no expert in how a cloud might travel so interested to see what you make of it all.

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    3. I saw on Twitter a WH photo showing the crate not there, back in February, as you seem to have. No one has proof it still wasn't there on April 2 or 3. But maybe it wasn't.

      winds can shift, might have ... and of course things can be made up wrongly.

      Update on crater-area plume: It could be there, but the camera never pans far enough to say. Suggests it wasn't there or they'd show it, but that's not proof.

      I too am looking forward to what we figure out. Wish I had more time to speed it along...

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  3. Just an observation on the new photos from HRW report, probably noticed already - the 'cap' appears to be green like the other piece of metal. So presumably not 'chemical weapons' stripes as claimed? http://imgur.com/a7z2oKZ

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    1. From HRW video - https://youtu.be/cVGDcReFz9k?t=123

      I can't seem to find a section for fragments on ACLOS, doesn't seem to be on Youtube playlist yet

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    2. No fragment section, that would be tedious. This cap might be distinctive enough, but that body scrap isn't. I see some general green all-over down the fragment's side, not stripes, but maybe different styles are used - so it might be what they say and so what? If it's a sarin false-flag, they'd use some old sarin bomb they stole from an overrun warehouse somewhere. Why Syria would use it for an attack they'd deny is not clear.

      Besides, we've now got the best wind reading yet - some kind of breeze to the northeast, maybe E-NE or N-NE, but nothing else prevails. That means this crater can have all the sarin evidence it wants, it would drift over the grain silos or the fields, and away from all the located places where they say people died from the gas. Why has no one been shown the other sarin release point that might have mattered? Is there one?

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    3. With the weather info maybe you can determine whether the al-Helou story is even possible? (shadow story, line of sight etc.)

      I'm not finding it very believable - like the White Helmet's footage and choice of protective clothing in the context of the witness statements: a colleague having already touched another victim and fallen unconscious; the very *first* team suspecting chemicals returning to base to get protective equipment... they've called the base about it... then video shows they decide to not even bother with gloves. And leave people supposedly from their own community (friends?) lying face down in the mud.

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  4. KS 2019 videos:

    White Helmets shared a little bit more of the earliest al-Rahma footage with Dr Hazem Najm
    https://youtu.be/SWo3-0t91H8?t=28
    briefly see an empty looking yard. Dr Hazem not bothering with gloves (and later standing in the crater in flip-flops in "Sarin gas, with cyanide and intensive chlorine" according to Turkey, so he is quite resilient.)

    https://www.facebook.com/1489609321340242/videos/709370579518859/
    WH Mazen al-Sayed's story, WH's "went with two vehicles" after a "strike" who came back and told him about it. Not a first team to help Raslan's fuel seller boy and then another to rescue them as they all fainted as per HRW?

    This man I don't think I've seen before
    https://youtu.be/QHhtDTNZ1qY?t=99

    60 Minutes is now removed/paywalled outside the US
    https://drive.google.com/open?id=15Bpa7Oi6vsNAAsKIinCHUwBvDTBw6cSZ
    Has Mazin al-Yousef, grandmother Aisha al-Tilawi and his grandfather who CNN had reported Mazin ran to but found suffocated. Unless both sets of his grandparents lived in the one house, one suffocated the other didn't... or CNN meant his father not grandfather... confusing.
    +the later exclusive footage of al-Rahma and White Helmets actual sample collection. Original page might still have a working video of Mulet talking about the JIM having pilot recordings.

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    1. Related to Sayed story where they respond to the strike (not a fuel seller boy) - stories of Abed Al Kareem Noureddine and Khaled Nesr
      https://www.trtworld.com/mea/idlib-gas-attack-survivors-speak-of-their-horror-330962

      Both speak in video on this page:
      https://metro.co.uk/2017/04/05/what-sarin-the-chemical-weapon-used-in-syria-does-to-your-body-6554762/

      Khaled al-Nesr appeared in a now-deleted Smart News video with Aboud al-Bakri in WH uniform (rescuer of Warda al-Sayed)

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    2. https://twitter.com/SyriaCivilDefe/status/1114460919361343489
      https://twitter.com/SyriaCivilDef/status/1113960418140151815

      Testimony of Amal Hamo and Khadija Kutaini possibly seen late on at al-Rahma with the journalists and photographing bodies ("Kutaini" maybe related to Hamid Kutini)

      https://youtu.be/KJcQ9WIwEXA?t=208
      https://youtu.be/FG4hDxOfrXY?t=229

      Both went "the center" (presumably al-Rahma) instead of the scene but perhaps that is the arrangement for women WHs in Khan Sheikhoun.

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    3. 'New' video - inside the Khaled house
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1CoR6_T480
      "They said that we've been hit with gas, a chemical attack" (they knew?)
      Footage at the end is 2017 https://www.facebook.com/syrianpresscenter/videos/1921920924717176/ and Mustafa is dressed in the same clothes so entire interview may be

      Mustafa al-Khaled story to AJ in 2017
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5EnOPSWVPU

      Osama al-Khaled story of how he found the family around 7am page 27 of the JFL report https://jfl.ngo/?p=4484

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    4. Mustafa told his story here too (but needs translation)
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktsE__CDkBY

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    5. Taken 2 years but have finally found the al-Khaled house. It is at the east end of the road from the Omar house:

      https://imgur.com/8wtylhn

      Videos used:

      https://youtu.be/Hb4-08lks5E?t=37
      https://youtu.be/m1eZVI9D9G4?t=51
      https://youtu.be/d1CoR6_T480?t=109

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    6. @Andrew : Mustapha first part 0:34 --- 2:31 from link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktsE__CDkBY) went more or less like this: https://hastebin.com/ekitohapuh.sql

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    7. Thank you for the translation anonymous!

      Apologies for another terrible drawing, but I think the bedroom window can only be on the east or south side of the house (probably east looking towards the bakery, away from all explosions.. what they could have seen from here...?)

      https://imgur.com/cnO3KTx

      From this interview, this is where uncle Osama lives

      https://imgur.com/cHoCR1E


      Other maybe interesting things here:
      In Osama's JFL report account, coming from the west he only sees *one* person lying in the road.

      Osama comes west down same road as Abdelhamid al-Yousef (in AH's 2018 story version), only AH sees people falling down by the Omar house

      Panorama with AH story, a shot from crater towards Khaled house ~8:15, house front ~8:40 -
      https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZsgHP2DaFd8EdvK-SCRVNgFOYdj3zCH0

      Bad quality drone shot from crater towards Khaled house here https://youtu.be/rgeoODtuVh4?t=402

      Khaled house is east of the Omar house and only affected after explosions (like everyone at Yasser house + basement)

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    8. a "not that good" translation but enough to understand oncle Osama's interview https://hastebin.com/ewokegelup.sql

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    9. Thanks again for the translation Anonymous.

      JFL version Osama's brother in law went to find a car then Osama tells him "that it was a chemical attack".. differences that seem too specific to just be down to JFL's translation (unlike "the whole family lying on the ground in front of the house."). The sheep is new unless he really refers to *the* goat here -before it was moved to the yard by the bakery.

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    10. Not new, but, if possible, translation of these 2 may have something interesting:


      The Mazen al-Sayed house and yard behind (appears to be the same house as Warda and Fouad al-Sayed 100% sure on the yard, not 100% on exact house) -

      https://youtu.be/uu8De4ELknU?t=97
      https://imgur.com/dLjnc1x


      Smart News video of corner by Yasser al-Yousef house and basement -

      https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KIhmkn_JVfjf4I2RuVxJEB9MOvvqfooe
      http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/File:4-4-2017-Goeloc_basement.jpg

      If he has any basement connection, the man in the van is (now dead) Bashar Dado, was in the half-translated "Humanity Men".

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  5. https://www.newsweek.com/how-us-nerve-gassed-its-own-troops-then-covered-it-317250

    Interesting to compare vs. HdBG, Kaszeta etc. on explosions destroying sarin

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    1. I suspect the point is valid, but when amounts are huge, it doesn't all get destroyed.

      Why did they ignore the warnings? All I can think is they were curious what it would do. I didn't know sarin caused cancer, nor the birth defects etc. blamed on 'gulf war syndrome.' Maybe it does, or some mix of agents and explosives...

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  6. Amal Hamo 2019 story #2

    https://www.teenvogue.com/story/white-helmets-volunteer-syria-civil-defense-world-must-join-me-op-ed

    "I remember it vividly. I woke up at 6 a.m. to the sound of three airstrikes. From my balcony, I saw people running through the streets and screaming, “Chemical attack, chemical attack!” I ran down to the street and stopped the first person I saw; he was driving a motorcycle and I asked him to take me to our center. I arrived to find the most painful scene of people lying on the floor choking. "

    Timing is wrong by White Helmets own testimony: they only start rescuing people after the explosions
    She is at the scene but decides to inexplicably leave instead of helping people (unless she is somewhere else with people shouting "chemical attack", off hand the nearest claim I can think of is 'Hala' to SNHR: "chlorine" shouts after a few minutes)
    She has worked at the center since January, I wonder how she usually gets there? Always has to beg a ride from a stranger?
    Heard of the White Helmets when volunteering from 2011 for "almost a year".. did the White Helmets exist in any form at that time?

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    1. White Helmets in that form only date to 2014 sometime. But Douma's civil defense had a version 2 by Sept. 2012, so I reason several had first versions well before that...

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  7. Possible for the al-Qadah house, for consideration:

    https://imgur.com/pPtYHoc

    That overhang on the roof isn't obviously there so not 100% but a few things match.

    The SFJ report tells us that Imad al-Qadah was a chemist (coincidence?) and Turky al-Qadah was an "electrical generator worker" (apparently set up the grey box by the crater so makes sense house would be near that)


    Maybe not so related but Khan Sheikhoun local council facebook shows they have lots of equipment for digging (but didn't dig out the green pipe for reasons unknown) + shows pesticide spraying
    https://www.facebook.com/khanshykhoun2014/videos/1755184304572938/
    https://www.facebook.com/khanshykhoun2014/photos/a.692232550868124/1755185497906152/

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  8. Small add for al-Khaled house location: the photograph of the daughter in the JFL report looks to match back garden of the house

    https://imgur.com/UO1gglE

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  9. Yousefs on Orient News = will try not to repeat things here but I think Kusai and Yusuf al-Yousef are behind the house shown in the ALYOM podcast

    https://imgur.com/KE2hm14

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BcScxGng0oI/
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb4-08lks5E
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM05jCrCYDI

    Next to where ALYOM marks Molhem al-Yousef's house
    https://www.instagram.com/p/BdQWvs_HHW_/

    Rawda al-Yousef and one of the other Yousef kids is in the Orient video too.
    https://youtu.be/qLJ_4B8Qd94?t=34

    If she in fact lives there (next to both sons would make sense), Jalal al-Yousef is next door

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  10. Evidence of planting filler cap

    https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1122463272329011200

    Ignoring that it was actually "information obtained by the Mechanism" from an unknown source not the "OPCW report", it is specifically addressed here (paragraph starting "Another fact that is difficult to explain is a filler cap")
    https://russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/analytics/the-end-of-opcw-un-mechanism-what-stands-behind-the-russian-no/

    These points would also apply to the 'cap' seen in the crater at Lataminah March 30 https://imgur.com/BIHgV5V

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  11. Anas Diab dead

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omChiGbsuVU
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgqckCBkhqw
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnLFz2IX2_Q
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLYfv3pIepQ

    Differing accounts, one that he was covering a bombing the other that his house was targeted by an airstrike

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    1. (Apologies for the multi comments here, my posted comments kept disappearing)

      KS reported to be a ghost town at this point so not sure who WHs are acting as 'civil defence' for there.

      Diab claimed to be blinded by standing next to the crater after 9am (interestingly temp. blindness was only injury Dr Hazem claimed to suffer)
      https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/04/idlib-gruesome-170405115057834.html

      Diab said that "all movements of civilians even motorcycles" in KS were being targeted.
      https://twitter.com/harun_alaswad/status/1153030540863385600
      ..but apparently not the large procession of motorbikes here?

      Looking back, interesting Diab JFL quote about Raslan (could be lost in translation):
      (1 min after strike) "one of the Civil Defense volunteers contacted us from the Al-Tamanoua center, he was there at the tar-geted site and asked for medical help, but we did not understand the type of medical help needed."
      Emphasis mine, Raslan was from (or worse *at*) Al-Tamanah?

      Also: death of aircraft monitor Hasna
      http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2017/09/monitor-mahmoud-unravels-quds1-sarin.html?showComment=1563006925794#c7985459196522812026

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    2. Diab was buried in Idlib city (assume the procession is actually there too?)
      https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/citizen-journalist-among-17-civilians-killed-in-northwest-syria-28409

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    3. KS in 2019
      https://youtu.be/LceELLFrvYM?t=24

      Video at this point shows the much-pictured north entrance, gives an idea of which parts of KS are being bombed
      https://imgur.com/RpPdlqq

      https://www.facebook.com/TheAleppoCatMen/photos/a.1171126382949609/2490710520991182
      Asked to go there by Anas Diab he says

      Delete
  12. https://twitter.com/2ndNewMoon/status/1144862981769060353

    https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/31/the-world-may-never-know-if-syria-really-destroyed-all-its-chemical-weapons/

    "Damascus also conducted tests with at least two M400 bombs filled with sulfur mustard"

    Typo or actual name M400 rather than M4000?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With this confirmed to be a typo (or they just don't want to contradict Bellingcat), the OPCW had details of that bomb long before KS.

      The FFM was able to/allowed to identify Latamneh parts (e.g. the bomb fuse) but not the 'unique' filler cap. Again, begs the question, who provided the assessment of the cap and hexamine to the JIM?

      Delete
    2. Having declared the bomb's unique details and precursors with impurities, just make a report for the JIM saying parts are unknown:

      "47. The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic provided the Mechanism with a report" ... "It was also stated that three pieces from an unknown source had been deliberately placed"

      It looks like the 'pipe' is still stuck in the road (as it was in 2018)
      https://youtu.be/gw_YJV0mt4g?t=692

      Perhaps someone will dig that up at last

      Delete
  13. Might be of interest

    https://twitter.com/amoouleh/status/1164180363490615297

    'My grandfather is Dr Morad'

    Works for SJAC

    ReplyDelete
  14. Small add for Samir Shayeb
    http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2017/10/sarin-faking-in-syria.html?showComment=1508676625261#c5487063252052935552

    TRT's tweeted video has an extra part "A yellow smoke appeared and then I fainted"
    https://twitter.com/trtworld/status/851109964730859521

    ReplyDelete
  15. Abdelhamid al-Yousef 2019

    https://apnews.com/a25d75f2a5964b21a1617f08090725d7

    Shopkeeper again now, four hours etc. Lets hope he has lots of photos of his new wife in case they all spontaneously combust like last time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2018/Apr-03/443909-sarin-attack-survivors-grieve-one-year-on.ashx

      Apr. 03, 2018

      "“I’ve been deprived of part of my body, of my soul,” the young widower said, breaking into tears as he sat in the garden of his now empty home."

      "“I won’t be able to start over. I won’t forget the past,” he said."

      AP tells us his new daughter is 11 months old so new wife was pregnant.. 2 months earlier in Feb. 2018.

      Delete
    2. Born right after the originals died made well before that, so YEAH, well… he had a time machine, but it burned along with all pics of his real wife.

      A good spot to mention, Andrew - you had a great website people are missing. Some of us think you should re-publish this somewhere, let us know where, and maybe be on Twitter too, FWIW. Regardless of how many great comments I never respond to here, you should get a platform back. For example (didn't I mention this before?) a blogger account I think lets you join this blog as a member and publish your own posts. (like Petri, Felix and Eddie have, mostly looong ago)

      And/or: why not?

      Delete
    3. I've managed to lose the big list and some of the videos or would just copy and paste it somewhere - I think yourself and others have it all well covered but might try an updated, shorter something for reference.

      Basement confirmed as AH parents' 'bomb shelter':

      "I got out of my home with my kids and wife, running towards my parents' house, because there was a shelter (in the building) as we thought it was an air raid bombardment."
      http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Syria-Survivor/c9a554e1c0e7f0684754a1dedfcaf72b
      + AH's new wife on camera (..well, the back of her head).
      The basement had a lock in 2018

      AH's children's toys survived the great photo fire
      https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/abdulhamid-al-yusuf-who-lost-his-wife-baby-twins-and-13-news-footage/666066226

      Delete
    4. https://www.trtworld.com/mea/survivors-of-idlib-chemical-attack-recount-their-horror-331517

      I missed this - a school bus driver story!

      Not mentioned in the TRT video dated the same day

      Delete
    5. This is a rewrite of that Abdelhamid mess

      https://ksarchive.wordpress.com/abdelhamid-al-yousef/

      Still not very easy to read, I might redo it and try and put other things on but as much a headache to write as to read.

      Most interesting was finding another Mustafa al-Khaled story in the Times where he is simply "pinned to his bed" and passes out..!

      Delete
    6. I'll put all the Khan Sheikhoun things here (eventually- I've only managed 2 so far, more the testimony for immediately after the explosions), hopefully some interesting

      https://ksarchive.wordpress.com/

      Delete
    7. Yes! I will be helping review, promote, organize, and make use of this - to some degree probably below what it deserves. Soon! Others will do whatever then and now. Thanks for all your work! More thanks yet and appreciation is long overdue.

      Delete
    8. I think all the Abdelhamid stories are on there now at least

      What did you make of Hassan al-Yousef's injuries? Was there ever any more about this story?
      https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5hikv7

      The arabic version seems to have some extra details left out of the translated story

      Qoppa999 had already done some good digging on this but from the 60 minutes interview and the above:

      Hassan goes to check on brother Ibrahim's family, instead saves 2 people, crawls 3 floors up to the roof etc.
      Hassan's son Mohammed dies (somehow and without much mention? Rest of family seem ok)
      Ibrahim at the same time goes to rescue their parents (as Mazin does)
      Ibrahim dies, Mazin and grandparents survive
      Abdelhamid al-Yousef claims to save Ibrahim's wife so Ibrahim's house is en-route to parents

      60 Minutes shows Mazin, "Abu Hassan" ('dead' grandfather Mohammed) and interestingly among the kids described as Hassan and Ibrahim's children, the boy from the video about Yasser's family:
      https://ksarchive.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/mazin.jpg?w=800
      https://imgur.com/P9n1laW

      Delete
    9. Good work on KSarchive. I was about to send a promo tweet, but maybe after it's more filled-in?

      I still don't have a grasp like you do of all these names. It was sort of a weak point for me in that case, aside from Abdelhamid's corner. But I've puzzled over the Hassan story. He died later, right? No reason for that except maybe infection or murder. Injuries unclear, but looks like an abrasion on the leg, as if dragged on the ground. Maybe the same but milder on opposite cheek? Hand/wrist injuries … where he was tied to the truck that dragged him? That's on a quick review and maybe too imaginative. I don't even know/remember what explanation was given …

      Delete
    10. Don't worry about promotion, just there if anyone wants to read or use the links.

      The explosion is by Hassan's parents' house according to Mazin so I thought his injuries may be connected to that (under falling debris?). A strange story, not any clearer yet. Better colours on this video + shot of the crater at the end.

      https://www.20min.ch/ausland/news/story/Gelaehmt-und-acht-Stunden-bewusstlos-31296657

      Abdelhamid and Alaa al-Yousef (TRT presenting Alaa as 'average Syrian'?)
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlamI22MM0k

      Philip Watson's out-of-date hazmat suit finds are interesting but I think will just be explained away by "they weren't expecting to be hit with sarin", "still training and used what they had" etc. Plus all the suits they find are "6633" now? That isn't the same suit is it?

      https://youtu.be/80FrlaXIVlk?t=79
      https://youtu.be/BRANXaOgf3k?t=544

      Delete
    11. Didn't look at the pics, but multi-views showing the same-looking suit w/same 4-digit number should show the same suit, logically. What's the purpose of a 4-digit number except as an ID? not that they have 10,000 suits, but they also don't have 10,000 districts or anything else to signify. But then I dunno. 6633 could mean a 2-digit code 63 fancied up to look bigger? I dunno. Already burned myself out caring. Sorry.

      Some people aren't as good with strategizing the best leads to follow, and look for simple to identify possible discrepancies that also prove easy to explain away in fact or relevance. I mean "as good" as me, and you, and some others. Anyhoo…

      Ok so the implication of the parent's house blast is or would be the explosion there caused his injuries. Dubious. Did the blast wave + no fragments hit him hard and skid him along some pavement? That slow-motion replay isn't making much sense, but it's possible. Hand scraping on one side each could fit that general theme, but if he has injuries at the wrist too, that's a problem. Things like that. Also spouting what must be a bullshit story despite being injured, app. not an insider = prob. under compulsion, threatened with violence, maybe given samples of it already. So the right context is there, if the visuals suggest it, it's probably true.

      Delete
    12. Good point - given Khan Sheikhoun local videos, maybe fell off a motorbike - road rash, the paralyzed legs, internal injuries.

      This starts next to the entrance to al-Rahma
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnhAqpX7pd0

      Delete
    13. To be fair to Eliot Higgins, interesting stuff on Bellingcat - the Syrian gov. told the truth about reusing their chemical bombs, the filler caps aren't unique because they're also on the repurposed variant and Syria used rather than hid them.

      Someone else just needs to have the sarin - could even just litter the field with 2013 era parts and let the OPCW pick the 'right ones' out.

      http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2017/11/black-sarin.html?showComment=1510505971851#c649165716596153111

      It is sort of impressive if someone else did it all via recycling

      Delete
    14. Other link is broken, FP similar

      https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/23/u-s-and-europe-say-assad-may-have-kept-some-chemical-weapons/

      " Uzumcu wrote that the lack of physical evidence makes it impossible to “verify that said bombs were repurposed and consumed.”"

      Do you know when it was first revealed the bombs were repurposed in 2013? The July 2016 report?

      Delete
    15. It seems quite convincing to me but if the bomb shown isn't a repurposed M4000 or equivalent, what is it and why does it bear such a resemblance to the schematic?

      Delete
    16. The word Reuters uses is "converted" so the other question is what changes are made to the bomb as part of the conversion process.

      And do the "inspectors and diplomatic sources" who did not believe the repurposing explanation think the bomb in the videos is a converted M4000.

      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-chemicalweapons/special-report-how-syria-continued-togas-its-people-as-the-world-looked-on-idUSKCN1AX107

      Delete
  16. More tales from Khan Sheikhoun

    This is Mohammed Najib al-Jawhar
    https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/abdulhamid-yusuf-who-lost-19-members-of-his-family-news-photo/940815388?adppopup=true

    Appeared in an AFP video but cut from the translated version
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4dNdQiebfI
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbI1ATu-8UY

    This was his story that went with that video
    https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/afp/2017/04/syria-conflict-chemical-victims.html

    Heard noises, father goes outside etc.

    In 2018:
    https://aawsat.com/home/article/1224806/%D8%B0%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D8%A4%D9%84%D9%85-%D8%A3%D9%87%D9%84-%C2%AB%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AE%D9%88%D9%86%C2%BB-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9

    Translates as "last time I left in the morning for two hours" and returns to find his father dead

    Abdelhamid "celebrated the day before the massacre" but no-one took photos I suppose.

    AH walks out of the 'Yousef morgue' just as Faruq Shami walks in
    https://imgur.com/a/d9314Fl
    https://youtu.be/eSjSk7WYO7o?t=59


    The White Helmet who looks like Abboud al-Bakri I think must be a relative, having found him in more videos the hair line looks different
    In the dark top here:
    https://youtu.be/KJcQ9WIwEXA?t=226

    https://youtu.be/SAMdlMlzFCM?t=48
    https://youtu.be/zDKNly4_zzg?t=85
    https://youtu.be/Jkl5ODvL1JE?t=98

    AB himself:
    https://youtu.be/oLY6S5Z9Yy4?t=11


    The Shayeb family cave (not much help to find it)
    https://youtu.be/i_xQxpyXl3Y?t=35

    ReplyDelete
  17. More tales from Khan Sheikhoun:

    This is Mohammed Najib al-Jawhar

    On an AFP video at the time but cut from the translated version:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4dNdQiebfI
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbI1ATu-8UY

    The story to go with that video is here, they hear noises so his father goes outside etc. and ends up watching his family collapse

    2018 story in Arabic

    Translates as he wasn't even there - left for 2 hours and returned to find his father dead.

    Also has a bit from Abdelhamid al-Yousef about celebrating "the day before the massacre" (presumably with no photos)

    If not already spotted, Abdelhamid also walks out of the Yousef morgue just as Faruq Shami walks in

    ReplyDelete
  18. Could someone share a copy of this video?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfizO3_cc2o

    From the top image here

    http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/File:Khan_Sheikhun_CW_civil_defense_home.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  19. https://twitter.com/Josiensor/status/1199283751198633984

    Josie Ensor from the Telegraph seems to be in touch with and convinced by Aya Fadl

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sarin-killed-my-unborn-baby-when-will-it-end-q8pgxp2tg
    "Ms Fadl was ten weeks pregnant" "“Days later the doctor told me that my baby had died because of the gas"

    "Ms Fadl, 25, collapsed from the poisonous fumes after stumbling upon a lorry packed with the corpses of her dead relatives. She awoke in hospital, along with her son Nadjat, two, and her husband, Alaa, 27."

    Aya Fadl's truck story cannot be true. Yasser gets taken to hospital by Khaled (amongst other things). Possibly they see a truck with those relatives much later on but that isn't AY/AF's account (which, if I never get around to making the page, contradict and are bs).

    https://ksarchive.wordpress.com/yasser-al-yousef-house/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I commented on that. Thanks for the tip. But I didn't mention this discrepancy yet. If I don't get it on quick review (I didn't, but Im tired), I don't think she would, or that I could provide the right prompts... AF is deduced as referring to someone with clashing details already lodged? Seen that happen. But until I get which ones …

      Delete
    2. It clashes with AH, Alaa, Fatima al-Yousef and Dr Hazem

      http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Syria-Idlib-Father-GRAPHIC/402ed1d3f4f3599774fbdf4a4de9a48e

      Runs out of the house and sees relatives in a truck *including AH twins* (before they are ever found). The other 5 AH (sometimes) says he finds at Yasser al-Yousef's house.

      To follow the timing of this:

      "At about half past six, we heard a very loud noise. All windows and doors were opened." Heavy air etc. and then run outside

      Even allowing a few minutes, AH's wife would still only just be arriving on that street.

      And she doesn't say Khaled stopped to show them dead people (he was rushing Yasser to hospital- why would he do that) but "a big lorry stopped us and told us that they had many dead people" which sounds more like they were being *brought back* to the Yousef morgue rather than going to hospital.

      Alaa al-Yousef tells contradicting stories about where he was and the Alyom podcast puts their house all the way east of the highway. He also skips the truck story.

      I won't put all the detail here, I know you have already been through it all and trying to talk to the 'lovely' people on Bellingcat hasn't inspired confidence that there are many who aren't already sceptical and who would read or discuss actual facts. Perhaps you can get rid of my untidy comments and just keep any useful parts: it has all snowballed over the past couple of years.

      Delete
  20. Mohammed Dalal a year later
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-FaLh4hZhc

    Off topic but Iraqi sarin (and HdBG's "if you blow up Sarin, you destroy it" take)-
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56116101

    "Researchers now believe the most likely culprit is exposure to the nerve agent sarin - which was released into the atmosphere when Iraqi chemical weapons caches were bombed."

    ReplyDelete
  21. Shajul Islam's "full story" of Khan Sheikhoun 4 years later. How gas at the end of March "smelled like chlorine" but wasn't chlorine. Claims 25 March 2017 was a "mix" of chlorine/organophosphate ("confirmed" by "whoever"). Seems to think KS chemical cloud was "odourless" and "colourless"(!)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENYmQHtB2N8


    AA tell us... the twins are now "Abdulkerim"'s and Abdulhamid al-Yousef is moonlighting as White Helmet Hamid Kutini (who doesn't seem to be in a displaced persons camp anymore?). Presumably this is AA's mistake

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ercKMTypA

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Abdelkareem having twins that died is strange given that he was in the Yasser house

      https://ksarchive.wordpress.com/yasser-al-yousef-house/

      Fatima al-Yousef lists those who died in the house for HRW and it doesn't include twins "Ayah and Ahmed". But Abdelhamid appears to be saying his son Ahmad is a different child who "was also martyred"..!

      I would update Abdelhamid's stories for 2021 but this seems too bizarre a contradiction

      https://ksarchive.wordpress.com/abdelhamid-al-yousef/

      Also 4 years on nobody sees Ismail Raslan's fuel seller boy (who would have to have been blown up next to the Omar house), Shajul Islam should have known what they had to treat when activists in the town were already saying sarin before the people were ever evacuated and still no explanation as to which set of White Helmets are lying about their initial response- those who spoke to HRW or TRT (or both?)

      Or any explanation for the various other contradicting stories or mention of anyone responding to the largest explosion to the south - as diligently filmed by Mohammad Abo Zied who then, like everyone else, went on to not bother to film the actual scene of the 'sarin apocalypse'

      Delete
    2. https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/four-years-since-a-deadly-chemical-attack-in-syria-peace-is-a-far-cry-1.1199073

      Kareem Shaheen has gone for "[Abdelhamid] regained consciousness, he rushed home and found his family dead" and that he "sent his wife and two kids to safety in their basement"

      Delete
  22. Hasna's story is now fact for GPPi ("confirmed" no doubt-the liars)

    https://twitter.com/tobiaschneider/status/1378862756884062217

    But the Su-22 at Shayrat (or anywhere, or on March 30) produces no message on Sentry Syria

    So how did they corroborate Hasna's story? They certainly didn't ask him

    An Su-22 at 7:46am does produce a message
    https://twitter.com/Sentry_Syria/status/845149942012243968

    So either Sentry Syria is a real warning system and there were no jets on either March date to drop any sarin bombs, or Sentry Syria is fake but someone had the amazing foresight to put messages about other chemical attacks on there before they happened

    ReplyDelete

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