SYRIA: The Egregious Western Media ‘Chemical Weapon’ Fraud in Eastern Ghouta

One of the many unsubstantiated claims of “Napalm attack” made by the UK/US created propaganda construct, the White Helmets in Eastern Ghouta.

By Vanessa Beeley | 21st Century Wire | April 8, 2018

Vanessa Beeley
21st Century Wire

Napalm was a US invention. Napalm “was invented in a top-secret 1942 war research collaboration between Harvard University and the U.S. government”.  In 1952 the U.S. Patent Office issued certificate 2,606,107 for “Incendiary Gels” and made napalm’s precise formula available worldwide.

“U.S. troops used a substance known as napalm from about 1965 to 1972 in the Vietnam War; napalm is a mixture of plastic polystyrene, hydrocarbon benzene, and gasoline. This mixture creates a jelly-like substance that, when ignited, sticks to practically anything and burns up to ten minutes. The effects of napalm on the human body are unbearably painful and almost always cause death among its victims.” ~ The Vietnam War

The accusation of “napalm attack” conjures up terrible images designed to shock.  In 1945 the US B29 bombers dropped their payload of 69,000 pounds of Napalm over Tokyo, Japan in one hour. An estimated 100,000 Japanese men, women and children perished in the resulting fire storm. Washington considered the 10 days of Napalm bombing raids across all Japan’s major cities, a huge success. The US also used Napalm in North Korea with devastating consequences for its people in the 1950s. Washington dropped 32,557 tonnes of Napalm on Vietnam.

The US most recent use of Napalm was during the Iraq war in 2003 when “dozens of napalm bombs were dropped near bridges over the Saddam Canal and the Tigris River, south of Baghdad” according to an article in the Indpendent. In the same article a US commander of Marin Air Group 11 states:

“We napalmed both those [bridge] approaches,” said Colonel James Alles, commander of Marine Air Group 11. “Unfortunately there were people there … you could see them in the [cockpit] video. They were Iraqi soldiers. It’s no great way to die. The generals love napalm. It has a big psychological effect.”

According to Robert M Neer, author of Napalm: An American Biography, the countries who have used Napalm are:

“Countries that have used napalm, in addition to the United States, include: Greece (the first use after World War II), France, Britain, Portugal, United Nations forces in Korea, the Philippines, South Vietnam and North Vietnam (in flamethrowers), Cuba, Peru, Bolivia, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, India, Iraq, Nigeria, and Brazil.”

Syria is not mentioned.

Neer goes on to explain that the UN had banned the use of Napalm against “concentrations of civilians” under Protocol III of the 1980 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. The US signed the protocol almost thirty years after it had been adopted by the General Assembly, on January 21 2009. It was President Obama’s first full day in office. The caveat being “the US can disregard the treaty at its discretion if doing so would save civilian lives“. Considering just how many civilian lives had been destroyed by the US deployment of Napalm, it is hard to imagine a scenario where Napalm might be beneficial to civilians…but the inference is “we should trust the US to make that decision on our behalf and on behalf of the civilians in any given situation“.

The Syrian Napalm Narrative

The ‘Chemical Weapon’ narrative has sustained the conflict in Syria with alleged attacks being attributed almost entirely to the Syrian government, the Syrian Arab Army and Russia. The seven year information war has been ferocious with NATO-aligned media, think tanks and self appointed experts such as Eliot Higgins and Bellingcat doing all in their power to reinforce the “Syria did it” narrative.

If we were to map the chemical weapon claims in each terrorist held area undergoing liberation by the Syrian Arab Army, we would clearly see that the claims are comensurate with the pressure felt by the terrorist factions as the SAA closes in on their stronghold. In other words, as the SAA nears victory and liberation of Syrian civilians we are expected to believe they would use chemical weapons against those civilians in an urban area which is even more densely packed as the terrorists withdraw into a shrinking combat zone, taking the civilians with them as human shields and hostages.

It appears to be a propaganda tactic employed by the terrorist factions to gain time, secure a ceasefire and to call for a No Fly Zone and further “humanitarian” intervention from the regime-change-war alliance. A ceasefire allows the militants to organise themselves and to re-arm. We know that terrorist chemical weapon attacks against the civilian population in West Aleppo were never given equivalent importance by the same “humanitarian” minded nations, in fact they were largely ignored. Therefore it is reasonable to conclude that crying “chemical weapon” is a tactic designed to protect the NATO-member-state assets occupying Syrian territory.

We need only cast our minds back to August 2013 and the extraordinary BBC Panorama report on the “Napalm-like school bombing” in Urem-Al-Kubra, Aleppo province – Saving Syria’s Children

Independent journalist, Robert Stuart, has masterfully and forensically exposed this report to be nothing more than war theatre orchestrated by the BBC in order ratchet up UK military intervention in Syria, coinciding with the time of David Cameron‘s vote in Parliament to join the US bombing campaign in Syria “to deter the use of chemical weapons” by the Syrian government (of course). This BBC report came hot on the heels of the alleged chemical weapon attack in Eastern Ghouta in August 2013 which was immediately blamed upon the Syrian government. Since then, that claim has been discredited by a number of analysts and independent experts.

This alleged attack, reported by BBC Panorama, was naturally accompanied by the familiar witness testimony effectively calling for the World to intervene and bomb for “Peace” – “Dear United Nations, you are calling peace, you are calling for peace. What kind of peace are you calling for? Don’t you see this, don’t you see this? What do you need to see?”  from the Telegraph article at the time.

Fast forward to Eastern Ghouta which is now 90% liberated from the many terrorist factions that have occupied this eastern suburb of Damascus since 2012 and we have seen an uptick in the claims of chemical weapon attacks as the SAA noose draws tighter around the terrorist enclaves. Most of those claims are being circulated by the Al Qaeda auxiliary organisation, the White Helmets.

Terrorist Chemical Weapon Capability in Eastern Ghouta.

Journalist and geopolitical analyst, Sharmine Narwani, was in liberated Eastern Ghouta a few weeks ago when a Chemical Weapons laboratory was discovered in the farmlands between between Shifouniyeh and Douma. Narwani comments on the western media “disinterest” in this discovery:

“The media disinterest is strange, given that US officials appear poised to green-light military attacks against Syria, which they claim has used chemical weapons (CW) against civilian populations. This charge remains unproven and highly contentious, with other parties arguing that anti-government militants are employing CW munitions to provoke a US military intervention against Syria.

So perhaps it’s not so strange that a chemical lab discovered right at the epicenter of a major strategic battle over Syria is being ignored by one side. In the end, it is likely that only one side is right about who is using CWs in Syria. Which is why one side went silent when this lab was revealed.”

Children stand next to the entrance to a chemical weapons manufacturing centre in Erbin, Eastern Ghouta. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)

I had a similar experience two days ago on the 6th April 2018. We were on a foreign media trip to the liberated sectors of Eastern Ghouta with the Syrian Arab Army. Many western media journalists resent being accompanied by what they perceive as “security” but my experience is that they are not prevented from covering any story they think is important in areas they visit.

Primary supporters of the regime change “humanitarian” war narrative, CNN were on this trip with me – correspondent, Frederick Pleitgen, his camerawoman and a translator, I did not see them restricted in any way, on the contrary they were given free rein provided the area was clean of mines, IEDs and booby traps left behind by the evacuated terrorist groups. The army’s presence is necessary in any district recently liberated as there are always risks involved and I am grateful that they care enough about our safety to be with us on these trips and to provide answers to any questions we have.

The chemical weapons manufacturing site (on right) in Erbin, Eastern Ghouta on 6th April 2018. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)

We entered the district of Erbin and we were shown a bomb making factory and a chemical weapons facility, both above ground and not part of the elaborate tunnel systems that had housed terrorist field hospitals and equipment store rooms among other elements of the terrorist military apparatus.

We were told that much of the building had still not been cleared of mines and booby traps so we were warned to stay close and to not wander off. Some of the bags containing the chemical ingredients were still booby trapped and therefore it was not possible to pick them up to show the labels more clearly. It was also very dark but I did my best to photograph everything I saw there.

Among the documents found in this makeshift laboratory were instructions to manufacture a napalm hand grenade and directions are given how best to mix the components. I do not want to publish such step by step instructions so I will only show part of the notebook in my photos. There are also handwritten notes showing how to make the grenade more deadly by adding nails and White Phosphorous to the grenade to ensure that the incendiary effect lasts longer and is more intense. The notebook states that this mixture is known as OB2 in military terms.

The formulations were fully explained to us by the guide assigned to us, who had been present when this chemicals weapons facility had been discovered during the clean up operation, post liberation. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)

We were told that another document found on site explains how to calibrate the mortars to target specific geolocation coordinates in Damascus and in the surrounding countryside:

A final document that we were shown apparently gives the names of the terrorist group members who were in charge of this facility:

There were a number of sacks and barrels of ingredients, not all were easy to identify by the brand name on the bags and we were told that the terrorists had rebagged some of the ingredients. One of the bags contained the chemical compound RDX.

“RDX is the organic compound with the formula (O₂NNCH₂)₃. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive.^[2] Chemically, it is classified as a nitramide, chemically similar to HMX. A more energetic explosive than TNT, it was used widely in World War II.” ~ Wikipedia.

A bag of RDX chemical compound, Erbin, Eastern Ghouta. (Photo: Vanessa Beeley)

Alongside these chemical ingredients which will be shown in a photo gallery at the end of this article were boxes of rockets that would be packed with the chemical and exposive components. At least one box of these specialised missiles was still booby trapped according to our guide so were unable to examine them closely:

Photo: Vanessa Beeley

We saw shelves still laden with equipment, smaller hand grenades and missiles. It was clear that this facility had been operational for some time.

Photo: Vanessa Beeley

We saw a barrel containing what looked like tar next to the chemical ingredients and rockets. An expert who was with us said it was a mix of oil, soap and other ingredients that are used to coat the missile to ensure the chemical package sticks to its target more effectively. This was a factory of death..where the terrorist factions had designed some of the most sadistic weaponry possible to be used against civilian targets:

Photo: Vanessa Beeley

The question must be asked, who used chemical weapons in Syria and in Eastern Ghouta? It is a question that has not been asked by the majority of mainstream media journalists from the West and that includes Frederick Pleitgen of CNN who saw that chemical weapon factory and yet failed to mention it during his live broadcast last night during the widespread accusations of Syrian Arab Army chemical weapon use in Douma during the final hours of Jaish Al Islam’s occupation.

On the 23rd March, for example, Qatar’s mouthpiece, Al Jazeera ran with the headline “Dozens burned to death in Syria attacks on Eastern Ghouta” . In the article the testimony of the White Helmets was taken without question despite their history of whitewashing the crimes and atrocities committed by the terrorist factions, dominated by Al Qaeda, against Syrian civilians:

“Sources on the ground and rescuers from the Syrian Civil Defence, a volunteer rescue group also known as the White Helmets, said on Friday that at least 37 victims burned to death after air raids carrying napalm gas hit the shelter in the town of Irbin.”

I was told by people I spoke with, in Erbin, that the terrorist factions had carried out the attacks on civilians in that district in order to blame it on the Syrian government, army and Russia.

While there is no way to fully verify these on the ground reports, it must raise the question – why do western media repeat the narrative fed to them by western backed & financed groups like the White Helmets who are proven to be closely affiliated to extremist groups including Al Qaeda and who consistently produce questionable videos and accounts of events that serve in the main to protect the terrorist factions and reinforce the regime change narrative for their sponsor states.

Why is there never any context to the chemical weapon reports that intensify in line with SAA military advances. So just at the point of victory, we are led to believe that they will use ineffectual chemical weapons against the civilians they are tasked to liberate and whose lives they always attempt to preserve even if it means delaying their final attacks on terrorist centres.

The use of chemical weapons and the subsequent corporate media hysteria and sensationalism serves only the imperialist West and their assets on the ground in Syria, the terrorist factions.

An official source in Damascus told SANA this morning:

“The chemical fabrications, which did not serve the terrorists and their sponsors in Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta, will not serve them today either, as the Syrian state is determined to end terrorism in every square inch of Syrian territory”

“Each time the SAA advances and is victorious against the terrorists, the countries who support the terrorist factions raise the flag of chemical weapons which is a complete false flag, as Syria had relinquished its chemical weapons in 2013 when it signed the non-proliferation treaty and completely respected the terms of that agreement in 2014.” ~ Dr Ayssar Midani, Damascus

We shoud also remember that on the 28th February 2018, Syria’s permanent representative to the UN, New York, Dr Bashar Al Jaafari reported that on the 20th February Turkey “had transported barrels of weapons-grade chlorine into Idlib towns run by Turkish terrorists. One school has been turned into a warehouse of these chemical weapons. The terrorists are preparing to use these weapons on a large scale and to accuse the SAR. The conspiracy is meant to coincide with the Eighty-Seventh Executive Council of the OPCW meeting, beginning on 13 March.”

Watch Dr Bashar Al Jaafari’s full intervention at the UN here:

…

“Before you believe the CNN warmongers in Damascus. Their correspondent, Frederick Pleitgen, was with me when we visited a terrorist chemical weapons lab in Erbin, Eastern Ghouta two days ago. He does not mention it in his sensationalist report “live” from Damascus.

Nor does he mention the estimated 3500 plus prisoners being held by Jaish Al Islam terrorists in their “repentance” prisons, many women and children among them who are very probably now being murdered to produce the last ditch attempt chemical weapon attack” ~ Vanessa Beeley Facebook status.

In other words, the corporate media lies are becoming more blatant as the SAA and allies march inexorably towards full and final liberation of Eastern Ghouta which has long been recognised here as a pivotal strategic stronghold for Israel, effectively crippling Damascus’ air defence capability and maintaining pressure on the Syrian government and people with the daily collective punishment of civilians by indiscriminate terrorist shelling, mortar fire etc. Not for much longer.

Below are the chemical weapon ingredients found at the Erbin terrorist manufacturing facility:



Photos supplied by Vanessa Beeley @21WIRE