A Troubling Call From Syria

The following excerpts are from AINA:

• Early this morning [August 26] I received a phone call from Mary, a friend in Sweden who was born in Syria. She wanted me to check my Facebook account. A young Syrian woman, Nour, wanted to become friends with me. I accepted the request. A minute later, Nour wrote me her first message. She had pictures from Tabqa, a town that was totally emptied of Christian Assyrians [AINA 8-2-2013, 8-4-2013, 8-9-2013]. Nour also had the contact information of victims of fundamentalist Islam. They, the victims, want the world to know what has happened to them. A group of non-Syrian Mujahedeen drove them out of their homes.The message from the perpetrators was "convert to Islam or leave". I called one of the victims, and heard horrifying stories about religious and ethnic cleansing.
• Christians in Syria are a vulnerable group. They comprise approximately 8 percent of the population. Tabqa used to be a modern city with cinemas, hairdressers, fashion boutiques and restaurants. Now it is driven by men in beards who no longer allow any of that.
• An hour after my interview with that refugee, US Secretary of State John Kerry declared "there must be accountability" on behalf of the victims of a chemical weapon attack. Considering all the evidence emerging from witnesses, from images, from human-rights groups and from medical information provided by Doctors Without Borders, Kerry said "these all strongly indicate" that "chemical weapsons were used in Syria," and that they were fired by the Syrian government.
• Doctors Without Borders didnt' appreciate its medical reports being used as a justification for possible military action. It issued a statement stressing that only "an independent investigation" can determine whether the hundreds of boides arriving at hospitals Aug. 21 were killed by chemical weapons, and that the organization has not placed blame anywhere.

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A Troubling Call From Syria

Syrian Rebels Used Sarin Nerve Gas, Not Assad's Regime: U.N. Official

The following excerpts are from Assyrian International News Agency:

• Testimony from victims strongly suggests it was the rebels, not the Syrian government, that used Sarin nerve gas during a recent incident in the revolution-wracked nation, a senior U.N. diplomat said Monday.
• Carla del Ponte, a member of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told Swiss TV there were "strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof," that rebels seeking to oust Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad had used the nerve agent.
• But she said her panel had not yet seen any evidence of Syrian government forces using chemical weapons, according to the BBC, but she added that more investigation was needed.
• Damascus has recently facing growing Western accusations that its forces used such weapons, which President Obama has described as crossing a red line. But Ms. del Ponte's remarks may serve to shift the focus of international concern.

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Syrian Rebels Used Sarin Nerve Gas, Not Assad's Regime: U.N. Official