US details Syria 'nerve agent' attack

Intelligence report 'highly confident' chemical gas used on rebels in Damascus

Washington - Three days before the rockets fell in Damascus, a team of Syrian
specialists gathered for a task that United States officials say had become
routine: filling warheads with deadly chemicals to kill Syrian rebels.
The proectiles were loaded into rocket launchers ust after midnight on !ug "#.
Then, at ".$%am, a half-do&en densely populated neighbourhoods were olted
awake by a series of e'plosions, followed by an oo&ing blanket of suffocating
gas.
Unknown to Syrian officials, US spy agencies were recording each step of the
alleged attack - from the e'tensi(e preparations to the launching of rockets and
the after- action assessments by Syrian officials.
)ulling back the (eil on some of the US* most sensiti(e collection efforts, the
+bama administration last ,riday released its intelligence assessment of the
!ug "# e(ent, and e'plained in rare detail the basis for its claim that Syria was
behind the release of deadly gas.
The report asserts with -high confidence- that the go(ernment of .ashar al-
!ssad had launched a chemical weapons attack on eastern Damascus, using
what it said was a -ner(e agent-, a class of chemical munitions that includes
sarin.
The assessment report re(ealed for the first time how communications
intercepts and satellite imagery picked up key decisions and actions on the
ground.
+n !ug "#, regime forces were obser(ed making preparations for a chemical
attack, -including through the utilisation of gas masks-, the report said. Soon
afterwards, satellites and other sur(eillance aircraft picked up the flashes of
rockets and artillery shells being fired from go(ernment positions towards
rebel-held (illages to the east and south of the city.
The first reports of a gas attack appeared on social media websites (ery shortly
after the proectiles landed.
The report said: -The reported symptoms of (ictims included unconsciousness,
foaming from the nose and mouth, constricted pupils, rapid heartbeat and
difficulty breathing.-
/ideos of the impact of the attack, it said, -show what appear to be numerous
fatalities with no (isible inuries, which is consistent with death from chemical
weapons, and inconsistent with death from small arms, high-e'plosi(e
munitions or blister agents-.
!s the scale of the ci(ilian casualties was becoming clear, US monitors made
another key intercept - this time a message to a Syrian chemical weapons
team that was -directed to cease operations-, the assessment said.
0ater that day, other Syrian troops began an intensified attack on the same
neighbourhood using con(entional artillery in an apparent effort to co(er up
the e(idence.
-1n the "2-hour period after the attack, we detected indications of artillery and
rocket fire at a rate four times higher than the #% preceding days,- the
document said.
While unusually detailed, the assessment did not include photographs,
recordings or other hard e(idence to support its claims. 3or did it offer proof to
back up the US administration*s assertion that top- ranking Syrian officials -
possibly including )resident !ssad - were complicit in the attack.
-There is additional intelligence that remains classified because of sources and
methods concerns,- the report said. -That is being pro(ided to 4ongress and
international partners.-
Washington )ost