Defending Against Syria's Chemical Weapons

We're hearing reports that the United States, France, the UK, Turkey, Israel and others are preparing to defend against Syria's chemical weapons.

NATO-Arab Syria intervention imminent:

Sources close to the French Defense Ministry reported Friday, Dec. 7, that a Western-Arab military intervention against the Assad regime is due to begin shortly with the participation of the US, France, Britain, Turkey, Jordan and other anti-Assad Arab nations. debkafile: The reference is to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar’s special forces.

Our military sources add that the French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle carrying a complement of marines is deployed in the Mediterranean, having joined the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and at least five British warships which are also carrying a large marine force.

In the second and third weeks of November, British and French naval forces, plus 2,600 special ops combatants from both nations, performed landing-and-capture exercises against fortified locations on the coast and mountains of Albania as practice for potential operations against similar terrain in Syria, where the Alawite Mountains loom over the coastal towns of Latakia and Tartus.

The troops landing there would head for the Alawite Mts. to prevent Assad and his loyal units from retreating to his mountain stronghold and fighting on from there - as he plans to do if he is forced to flee Damascus.
French sources told Le Point magazine that the NATO mission for Syria, including the UK and the US, would be modeled on the Western intervention in Libya in 2011. It would combine an aerial blitz with ground action by special forces for destroying Assad’s chemical weapons stocks, his air force and his air defense systems.  (DEBKA, hat tip Marcus Wilder)

Israel ‘Knows How to Deal With Syria’s Chemical Threat’:

The growing question of Syria’s possible deployment of chemical weapons is now far less theoretical than it has been before this week, when US intelligence revealed that latest intel indicates that sarin gas has been activated and loaded into canisters, ready for deployment. As Israel appears to continue to lose support among Western countries in favor of appeasing Muslim nations, there is growing concern for Israel’s future safety among a growing sea of hostile neighbors.

However, Professor Mordechai Kedar see things a little differently. He is an Israeli scholar of Arabic literature and a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University with an extensive understanding of not only the current threats facing Israel, but the rationale behind them and Israel’s ability to deal with them. Following is an account of an exclusive interview by ArutzSheva earlier this week with Prof. Kedar on the subject of Syrian chemical weapons.

——-  Editor

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As Syria raises the stakes over its chemical weapons, an Israeli military intelligence expert says measures are being taken to minimize the threat.

Lt. Col. (res.) Mordechai Kedar, a lecturer at Bar Ilan University and a 25-year veteran of military intelligence, says actions are quietly being taken to deal with the potential threat posed by Syria’s chemical arsenal.

The U.S. said earlier this week that its intelligence had detected Syrian technicians had mixed precursor chemicals for the deadly nerve gas called sarin. The process took place at two storage sites, according to at least one report, and sources said the chemical may have been loaded into aerial bombs or artillery shells.

If the nerve gas is loaded into aerial bombs, and if the bombs make it on to planes and are fired, what happens if they are intercepted and explode in mid-air either by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, or by Patriot missiles?

Kedar told Arutz Sheva in an exclusive interview Thursday afternoon that if the gas is in an aerial bomb, it is “very easy to deal with. The Air Force knows very well how to deal with such things. An aerial bomb is a traditional weapon,” he said, even when it is carrying a payload of sarin. “Missiles are much faster,” he added, “but still they too can be dealt with.”

The aerial chemical weapons threat, however, is one reason Turkey has turned to NATO for assistance, Kedar said. “This is why Turkey is deploying Patriots along the border with Syria,” he pointed out.

If an aerial bomb bearing a payload of sarin explodes in mid-air, Kedar said, “it is much less dangerous than if it blows up on your head. Sarin needs to be within a certain range, and at a certain concentration, in order to be effective.”

Among other effects, sarin causes burns and blindness.

Kedar added that although the U.S.-based NBC News network had reported the nerve gas had been loaded into the bombs, “I do believe that military intelligence organizations know more about what is going on, and take measures to secure things in an appropriate manner.”

The intelligence veteran said that behind the scenes, “things are being done” and that it is “good that professional people are dealing with this. They have all the information and are taking decisions in accordance with the changing situation.”

In response to a fierce warning from the American government, Syria’s foreign ministry issued a statement on Monday saying it would not use such weapons against its own people. It was the second statement of its kind to be made in less than six months; Syria had broadcast a similar assurance in July.

However, by nightfall, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Jihad al-Makdissi, had fled the country, allegedly first to Beirut and from there to London, where the rest of his family allegedly had preceded him. According to Beirut-based Al-Manar television, linked to the Iranian-backed Hizbullah terrorist organization, Makdissi had been sacked by President Bashar al-Assad for making inaccurate statements that implied – or revealed – the presence of chemical weapons in Syria in the first place.
Read the original article here.  (Gerard Direct)

 

Also see:

US Official: Syrian Army Has Mixed and Loaded Sarin Gas. Against Whom?

US: Sarin bombs ready for Assad’s “go” order. Israel's odd silence

Assad’s chemical weapons units head out of Damascus toward Aleppo

Comments

[PALADIN]

Just friginn wonderful !
Nothing like letting your enemy know you intend on seizing his arsenal of chem weapons and how your gonna do it ........

IDIOTS ! !

NATO has their heads up their rectums for frigs sake !

Too damn late now, and too compromised.
All that will accomplished is getting a lot of operators killed.
And when ya think about it and i've wargamed it with other people, all it would have taken is 3 or battalions of Rangers, The D-boys, DevGru, air assets, Fighter Bombers, AC-130's , Apache Gunships etc, and total suprize and secrecy , and it could have been done.
Too damn late now, and the Haji Pukebags have probably already got some of thoise weapons , most notably Hezbollah.

This is what happens when you have a puffed up little girly boy as President, and a Muslime
Haji sympathizer.
Hope the inaction of the turd, don't come back to haunt us someday.

[McCloud]

So if Debkafile is correct--and that's always a big if--then the US is going to form a coalition of the willing to go in, preemptively, and remove Assad from power over WMDs?

Wow, that sounds eerily familiar. Somebody once called such a thing a 'dumb war', I believe.