UPDATED
Nations and international bodies struggle with how to respond to the reported use of chemical weapons in an area of Damascus earlier today friendly to the opposition.
Foreign Policy is reporting that US spies and experts think it is likely chemical weapons were used in the attacks; Al Jazeera reports that an Israeli official says the Syrian government did, in fact, use chemical weapons.
The Washington Post says the Obama administration is “looking for answers” in the aftermath of the attack, but remains hesitant to intervene militarily in the country.
As the Telegraph points out, this hesitancy comes just a year after US President Obama said the use of chemical weapons was a “red line” the Syrian government should not cross if it wanted to avoid any possible outside intervention in the conflict there. The Telegraph suggests the crisis in Syria may test the credibility of the United States.
The UN Security Council is meeting this afternoon to discuss the situation — Al Jazeera reports the meeting is taking place after several nations called for the UN inspectors currently in Damascus to be sent to the scene of today’s attack. According to Reuters the White House is calling for a UN probe into what took place in Ghouta.
EARLIER
Reports coming out of Damascus this morning claim hundreds are dead after the Syrian government allegedly fired chemical weapons into the opposition friendly area of Ghouta.
NBC News notes that, if confirmed, “it would be by far the worst known use of poison gas during the country’s deadly civil war, which has claimed more than 100,000 lives.”
Twitter was full of reaction and speculation after videos began to appear on YouTube showing what appears to be the aftermath of the alleged attacks, with Twitter users debating whether the material showed evidence of what some suggested was a “gas” attack or something else.
A live thread on the Syrian Civil War subreddit has been collecting videos, images, and reporting about what happened in Damascus, with users there also debating what the media shows. (A note: Some of the images and videos are quite graphic in nature.)
Syria’s military has denied using chemical weapons in Damascus according to Al Jazeera.
Throughout the day we’ll be collecting the latest news coming out of Syria, as well as compiling what analysts and columnists are saying about the situation.
News
Al Arabiya says the opposition claims at least 13-hundred people died in the attacks, in what it’s calling a nerve gas attack.
A British weapons expert has told the BBC that, from the video footage he’s seen, the aftermath is consistent with chemical weapon use.
New York Magazine suggests what happened in Syria may be the “worst chemical attack in decades.”
The opposition is calling for a UN meeting over the “massacre” according to NOW and Reuters reports Turkey is also calling for the UN to investigate.
Deutsche Welle writes “The Arab League has called on a UN team of experts, already in Syria, to investigate” the opposition’s allegations. Quoting Syrian television, DW says the government claims the reported attacks are meant to distract the UN officials from their mission.
In case you missed it, The LA Times reports the UN officials arrived Sunday to begin investigating earlier accusations that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in its offensive against the rebels.
Foreign Policy notes that it might be difficult for those inspectors to check out the situation in Ghouta because “Under the terms that the team negotiated with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, their movement is severely restricted” — with the expectation they will visit two specific sites of possible earlier chemical weapons attacks.
Also this morning the Associated Press reports that the US does not want to militarily intervene in Syria because “it believes rebels fighting the Assad regime wouldn’t support American interests if they were to seize power right now.” That reporting coming out of a letter the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote to a congressman.
Analysis/Columns
A few days ago a piece published at Foreign Policy asked why “we know so little about Syria’s nerve gas attacks?” The writers noting:
Independent tests of environmental samples by both Russian and American spy services indicate that the deadly nerve agent sarin was used during a March 19 battle in Khan al-Assal, for example. Beyond that basic fact, there’s little agreement. The Russians blame the Syrian rebels for launching that unconventional strike on the Aleppo suburb, while the Americans say it was a case of chemical friendly fire.
This morning a column published at Bloomberg asked if anyone cares “if Assad used chemical weapons again?” To the question of why Assad might possibly launch a chemical weapons attack with UN inspectors in Damascus the writer answers “Because Assad believes that no one – not the UN, not President Obama, not other Western powers, not the Arab League – will do a damn thing to stop him.”
A columnist writing for the Christian Science Monitor says the US must weigh whether to intervene in Syria against its recent history in the larger region.
Al Arabiya’s general manager considers the future of Syria, as well as several other countries in the Arab world, in a piece he wrote for the website.
