Quote Originally Posted by Sarmatian View Post
There have been talk of rebels smuggling gas from Iraq and Turkey since 2014. A photographed barrel which was allegedly used for a gas attack in 2014 had the words "Norinco" visible (Chinese arms manufacturer) on it. On its own, doesn't mean much, they may have just made the barrel, but there you have it... A lot of players with a lot of conflicting interests.

In the case of this attack, we basically still don't know anything. The conclusion that it was sarin is based on doctors' identification of the symptoms (although I would assume that shortness of breath and dizziness accompanies pretty much all gas attacks). Doctors also mentioned that victims "smelled of bleach" which would indicate chlorine.

Until OPCW conducts an investigation, all these real and quasi experts in the newspapers are guessing.

It is worth mentioning that all OPCW reports from 2013 onward identify Syrian government as fully cooperative.
Well, on the one hand you have this:

Quote Originally Posted by Elmetiacos View Post
So the Syrian government would never make poison gas, but the Chinese, Iraqi and Turkish governments, they all would, and then they'd sell it to terrorists?
On the other hand, it seems the majority of attacks, the vast majority, have been directed at non-government forces. There are no records of confirmed Sarin attacks by rebels since 2013 which is consistent with looting supply dumps in the initial madness of the war. Since 2013 most attacks have been with Chlorine.

I suspect that the identification of Sarin in this case has a lot to do the reports immediately after the attack which mention nothing of odour.

In any case, there's no reason to believe it's not the regime.

It's also worth noting the Syrian Air Force continues to bomb the town - suggesting there's a reason they targeted it with gas, possible a high-value target has gone to ground there.