The preparations for chemical weapons use by the Assad regime has only heightened the sense that all manner of shit is going on behind an iron curtain in Syria. It’s not entirely self-erected. The West has built its own to drown out the sounds of people’s screams while governments rocks their “we’re over that post-Libya liberal intervention thing” new look, while the complex conflict inside Syria turns coverage on it into a hall of echoes, smoke, etc.
Assad looks more and more like a cornered dictator. He could lash out. The 21-month war in Syria has brought the battle to Assad’s front door – capital city, Damascus – and reports say Assad is preparing himself for a conclusion. Yesterday Assad was apparently looking for “safe” exit strategies through Russia and Latin America, i.e. ones where he won’t end up dead. Meanwhile some sources close to the President say he’s resigned to going down with his regime.
This morning there are no shortage of reports that the Syrian military has already mixed the “precursor” elements needed to produce Sarin gas – the same weapon Saddam Hussein used against the Kurds at Halabja in 1988, killing 5,000 men, women and children.
Analysts believe Assad would use Sarin bombs in aerial or artillery bombardments. The crosshair could be on either rebel armies or civilians. But it’s a war crime every which way you look at it.
When Assad falls, what are we going to find? Piles of bodies, al-Qaida embedded in opposition armies, a humanitarian crisis, war crimes committed by both sides?
That’s all already happening in Syria.
Photo credit: FreedomHouse
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