In the early hours of Saturday 14 April, the criminal cabal Axis of Evil US, UK and France unleashed an unprovoked, illegal act of aggression by bombing sites in Syria they claimed were involved in chemical weapons production. In the US, the head of the beast, it was still in the nighttime hours of Friday the 13th, quite appropriate for such a heinous act.

The warnings had been coming, with vows to hold Bashar Al-Assad accountable for repeated chemical weapons attacks, all of which are assertions, backed by a lot of hyperbole, hysteria and crude propaganda. The latest, the alleged use of chlorine on long suffering civilians in Douma involved all the usual suspects such as the White Helmets, local “activists” and the Syrian American Medical Society, SAMS, not such a household name, but after heavy involvement in false accusations in Khan Shekhoun and Douma their name is becoming more prominent as a western backed and funded tool for destabilization and ultimate regime change.

The war hawk axis of evil of France, the UK and the US used emotional manipulation to try to provoke public outrage over distressing video footage and images of dead and suffering people to provide public cover for their planned attack and used their UN ambassadors to bully, threaten and openly state they were prepared to defy international law and trample over the institution where they hold three of the five permanent UNSC member positions.

The strikes came just days after Donald Trump said the US would be leaving Syria soon, saying it was up to others to take over. Members of his regime, his Generals and the CIA loyalist media barked in unison that this was an unwise move, giving us the oft repeated reasons that the US has to stay to complete the fight against ISIS, protect US security and contain Iran. The more unpleasant truths of maintaining Middle East dominance, confronting Russia, regime change, or at least consolidating the unfolding partitioning of the country were downplayed or not even mentioned. Within days the criminal trio rained down over 100 cruise missiles on Syria, using a combination of warships and combat aircraft.

The strikes, said to be in retaliation for the use of chemical weapons by Bashar Al-Assad are claimed to deter any further use and were a one off, with the threat that they can be repeated if further chemical weapons attacks occur.

This means the intent to attack again is a stone cold certainty, planned and coordinated with terrorists groups Washington, London and Paris, along with the despotic Saudi regime support, fund and provide political cover for. Terrorist groups perpetrated a false flag operation, knowing it would be blamed on the Syrian government. The threats of further strikes give terrorist groups such as Jaish Al-Islam an open license to plan and execute as many false flag attacks as they can, knowing every single one will be blamed on the government. Syria is in a no win situation and if appeals for restraint and respect for sovereignty fail it must rely on its and its allies defenses against future attacks.

How Effective Were Syrian Air Defenses

As Syria has never and has no intention of attacking any of the three aggressors — bearing in mind its right as a sovereign nation to defend against the foreign forces already inside Syria— two major questions were, how effective Syrian air defenses would be and would Russia use its much vaunted air defenses to intercept missiles.

The attacks targeted what were claimed to be a chemical weapons research centre, a military base, and a chemical storage facility.

The Russian Defense ministry said 71 of the 103 missiles were intercepted using Soviet-made S-120, S-200 and Buk-type anti-aircraft systems. This is a pretty effective defense using old style Soviet missiles systems.

At a Pentagon briefing gloating over the criminal strikes on a country engaged in a seven year war against international terrorism, Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. said:

None of our aircraft or missiles involved in this operation were successfully engaged by Syrian air defenses, and we have no indication that Russian air-defense systems were employed.

Both stories can’t be correct and in a war waged relentlessly in the information sphere a good rule of thumb is to never believe anything coming out of the Pentagon, State Department or the White House.

Such a display of brute force of the axis of evil, using powerful missiles against the backdrop of the Syrian night sky was always going to be captured on video, particularly as Syrians spent several sleepless nights waiting for the imminent attack.

Sure enough footage was captured which showed at least some missiles were intercepted, so we can certainly classify claims made by the Pentagon as war propaganda.

Donald Trump may have both gloated over his claims of every single missile hitting its target and mocked Syrian air defenses as antiquated junk, but all appearances are that it is the axis of evil trio in defiance of international law and moral decency who should feel embarrassed and humiliated that their much vaunted weaponry was countered by outdated, but effective anti-missile systems.

President Bashar Al-Assad adopted a suitable and justified mocking tone himself in reply to this act of aggression and arrogance by the tripartite axis of evil, reportedly telling Russian MP’s in Damascus, “Yesterday we were faced with an American aggression. And we were able to repel it with Soviet missiles from the 1970s. Since the 1990s, the American films presented the Russian weapons as lagging. And now we see who really lags behind.”

Hitting A Civilian Pharmaceutical Research Facility

The alleged chemical weapons research center in Barzeh, hit to “degrade the capability of Syria to produce and use such weapons” and its unchallenged acceptance by the CIA/MI6 loyalist media shows journalism is dead and propaganda reigns supreme in the dirty war on Syria. SANA News stated the facility, called the Pharmaceutical and Chemical Industries Research Institute is a pharmaceutical research institute which specializes in cancer medicine and conducts chemical analyses of materials entering Syria which are used in pharmaceutical and food industries.

Western media were granted access to the rubble of the building which has been reported as having been hit by 76 of the 103 missiles. Said Said, an engineer at the facility told AFP, “If there were chemical weapons, we would not be able to stand here. I’ve been here since 5:30 am in full health — I’m not coughing.”

We are repeatedly told that Bashar Al-Assad uses chemical weapons on his people and “enjoys it” as Donald Trump said. Explanations as to why he would use them whenever he has terrorist forces on the back foot, inviting condemnation and twice now airstrikes from western powers is never forthcoming.

No explanation however is really needed when people can stand at the site of an alleged chemical weapons factory within an hour of it being struck without succumbing to poisonous gases. Had the factory contained chemical weapons it could be expected an air strike would spread them across the area posing a deadly threat. Ironically, it may have resulted in mass casualties from in effect a chemical weapons attack in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack. The alternative explanation, borne out by an engineer standing in the rubble an hour after the building was struck is that there were no chemical weapons there. Chalk yet another lie down to the axis of evil and another case of Syria telling the truth, something it has consistently done in seven years of fighting terrorists and resisting regime change from their sponsors.

Moon of Alabama explains how Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013, the oversight of the OPCW and the inspections conducted as recently as November 2017 at Barzeh.

One of the targets that were hit was the undefended Barzah Scientific Research Center near Damascus. The Pentagon claims that chemical weapons are made or stored there. That claim is obviously a lie:

In 2013 Syrian joined the Chemical Warfare Convention and gave up all its chemical weapons.

The OPCW has checked all accessible former chemical weapon sites in Syria and observed the destruction of the production equipment.

It has since visited and inspected (pdf) the Barzeh facility at least twice. That last time in November 2017.

One does not attack a site with normal bombs if one knows that chemical weapons are stored their. The bombs would distribute the dangerous chemicals and everyone downwind would be seriously affected.

After the U.S. strikes people can be seen walking through the fresh ruins. None wear any protection. There surely was nothing ‘chemical’ there.

The Real Targets

A clue as to the real targets of the strikes lies in the fact we are led to believe 76 missiles were needed to target one site. The damage would have been extraordinary, far beyond what was needed to level the building, which was achieved with far less missiles. Even a cursory analysis should tell anyone this is a fanciful story. The CIA/MI6 loyalist media bypassed common sense, in addition to honesty, and reported the implausible line without question. Their only concern was how effective the strikes had been, would it deter further use of chemical weapons and would more strikes be needed.

The chemical weapons accusations are a lie, so inevitably strikes were not aimed at eliminating their production and use. In a nutshell you can’t bomb something that doesn’t exist. The strikes were targeted at research centres and military facilities continuing the support for terrorists which has increasingly evolved into more direct action as the NATO powers become dismayed and frustrated at the success of Syria against their proxy terrorist militias.

Several airfields were attacked, including the Shayrat airbase, which was also attacked in April 2017 after false allegations led Donald Trump to enforce his own red line.

While Barzeh was destroyed, the heavily defended airfields fared much better, intercepting the majority of missiles and leaving them almost unscathed. This is crucial as it defeated the objective of seriously degrading the Syria air force, a goal long held back to the days of the has been, Hillary Clinton and her calls for a no fly zone.

The Russian Ministry of Defense released strike rates against Trump’s “smart” missiles, showing that of 25 Pantsir-S1 missiles fired, 23 hits scored. This should send a clear message to the axis of evil: if older defense systems are this effective, what can Russian S400 systems do. Viewed from this context, the fact relatively little damage was incurred and the three leaders involved spun it as a successful and wholly justified attack, it is no surprise Syrians danced in the street celebrating this as victory against their imperial foes.

The “Evidence”

The evidence that Assad used chlorine, nerve agent or even sarin in Douma is largely based on social media, not on intelligence assessments, despite what the US and its allies might say. This is perfectly logical given both the speed with which it can be disseminated in cyberspace and how quickly conclusions were made and bombing of Syrian sites took place. It also points to the deliberate propaganda war propagated by the west through groups they fund and back such as the White Helmets, the Syria Campaign and SAMS.

The only proof that Macron had was that France has armed and funded terrorists in Syria.

The US justified the strikes using a combination of demonizing Bashar Al-Assad with accusations that there is no doubt that he has systematically used chemical weapons throughout the war to bolster the current case, evidence from open source information which was nothing more than videos taken by the White Helmets and reports by the likes of SAMS. SAMS has been widely cited as providing the evidence from medical centers of victims suffering from chlorine attack, even suggesting the use of a nerve agent, quite timely coming on the heels of the Skripal poisoning. What media reports do not acknowledge is that SAMS is funded to the tune of $6 million by USAID and how that may distort what they report. Understanding that Syria represents a gravy train for imperialist corrupted NGO’s and civil society groups it “has gotten a taste of NGO cum criminal propagandist. It has also seen the proverbial writing on the wall, in Syria. And so, every month SAMS holds events to…raise money not just in the United States, but around the world….”

It is stunning how quickly events can transform from the search for evidence to sifting through the ruins of post punishment bombing. The day before the bombing US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, “I cannot tell you that we had evidence, even though we had a lot of media and social media indicators that either chlorine or sarin were used.” It is a silly General who believes solid evidence and rigorous intelligence assessment will prevail over crude social media propaganda by the paid agents of Washington, Paris and London and Mattis hedged his bets by saying he was confident Assad had used chemical weapons. He also said US troops have the right to wage a preemptive strike if they believe the SAA is about to use chemical weapons. Was Mattis justifying the coming strikes as well as setting a pretext to wage further strikes?

Donald Trump went on with his usual big man bluster. Assad is an animal, and how can Russia and Iran be aligned with such a country. Trump said: “A very terrible regime. These are not the actions of a man they are the crimes of a monster. The nations of the US, UK and France have harnessed their righteous power against barbarism and brutality.”

Nikki Haley had no need for caution. She said there is proof Assad used chemical weapons. Haley was sure to slowly say to reporters US assessments show it, French assessments show it and UK assessments show it. There is proof Assad used chemical weapons. Haley should be reminded that three lies — even coming from the axis of evil — don’t equal one truth, particularly when coming from a trio of proven liars. Haley is yet another warmonger who doesn’t even know what chemicals may have been used, let alone who used it. Haley trying to boost the case by saying the UK and France, along with the US all concluding a chemical weapons attack had taken place is like saying Hitler, Mussolini and Genghis Khan all agree on something so it justifies murderous attacks on a sovereign nation. Or we could use a more contemporary model of George W Bush, Obama and Bill Clinton.

As for France, it was the same sad story. French intelligence watching videos and reading reports made by regime change NGO’s. France is “highly confident.” Macron said he has proof and that Syria has been secretly developing chemical weapons for 5 years since 2013. A fanciful story. If France knew this, then why didn’t it take this information to the UN and OPCW long ago?

The UK said it is “highly likely” Assad used chemical weapons. Again that term just as in the Skripal poisoning. They too are relying on nothing other than the videos of the White Helmets and the testimony of organizations like SAMS. In other words they have no intelligence; they have no surveillance, no smoking gun. RT News channel broadcast Theresa May laying out her majesty’s “evidence:” “A Regime helicopter was observed above the city of Douma on the evening of the 7th of April, and reliable intelligence indicates that Syrian military officials coordinated what appears to be the use of chlorine in Douma on the 7th of April. We judge it highly likely both that the Syrian regime has continued to use chemical weapons since then and will continue to do so.”

The lie of the Assad chemical weapon attack in Douma is unraveling fast, just as all previous lies have. A group of brave health professionals at the Douma medical centre where the alleged victims were treated reported that while there were injuries, there was no sign of a chemical weapons attack. They recounted how White Helmets members ran into the hospital yelling “it is a chemical attack” causing panic and the subsequent terrified reaction which they captured on video. Doctors said there was no sign or symptoms of a chemical or nerve agent attack, stating that as a result of bombings, basements were full of dust and, being poorly ventilated they caused respiratory distress and coughing.

Acknowledged by the MI6/CIA loyalist media as having a genuine point of view? No, they are castigated as ‘Assad stooges’ for saying there was no chemical attack.

As for what happens next, the Syrian army and its allies will continue on the path of driving terrorists out of areas they occupy, with Yarmouk already in its sights. It and the rest of the world must be wary though of an insane Trump regime, hardened even further by the appointment of poster boy warmonger John Bolton. Niki Haley said the US remains “locked and loaded” if Assad uses chemical weapons again. We all wait with baited breath for the next move of the axis of evil against Syria.

— Paul Mansfield