Rebels and local residents in Ghouta accuse Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan of
providing chemical weapons to an al-Qaida linked rebel group.
By Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh | August 29, 2013Clarification: Dale Gavlak assisted in the research and writing process of this article, but was not on the ground in Syria. Reporter Yahya Ababneh, with whom the report was written in collaboration, was the correspondent on the ground in Ghouta who spoke directly with the rebels, their family members, victims of the chemical weapons attacks and local residents.
Gavlak is a MintPress News Middle East correspondent who has been freelancing for the AP as a Amman, Jordan correspondent for nearly a decade. This report is not an Associated Press article; rather it is exclusive to MintPress News.
Ghouta, Syria — As the machinery for a U.S.-led military intervention in Syria gathers pace following last week’s chemical weapons attack, the U.S. and its allies may be targeting the wrong culprit.
Interviews with people in Damascus and Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital, where the humanitarian agency Doctors Without Borders said at least 355 people had died last week from what it believed to be a neurotoxic agent, appear to indicate as much.
The U.S., Britain, and France as well as the Arab League have accused the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for carrying out the chemical weapons attack, which mainly targeted civilians. U.S. warships are stationed in the Mediterranean Sea to launch military strikes against Syria in punishment for carrying out a massive chemical weapons attack. The U.S. and others are not interested in examining any contrary evidence, with U.S Secretary of State John Kerry saying Monday that Assad’s guilt was “a judgment … already clear to the world.”
However, from numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families, a different picture emerges. Many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the dealing gas attack.
“My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry,” said Abu Abdel-Moneim, the father of a rebel fighting to unseat Assad, who lives in Ghouta.
Abdel-Moneim said his son and 12 other rebels were killed inside of a tunnel used to store weapons provided by a Saudi militant, known as Abu Ayesha, who was leading a fighting battalion. The father described the weapons as having a “tube-like structure” while others were like a “huge gas bottle.”
Ghouta townspeople said the rebels were using mosques and private houses to sleep while storing their weapons in tunnels.
Abdel-Moneim said his son and the others died during the chemical weapons attack. That same day, the militant group Jabhat al-Nusra, which is linked to al-Qaida, announced that it would similarly attack civilians in the Assad regime’s heartland of Latakia on Syria’s western coast, in purported retaliation.
“They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them,” complained a female fighter named ‘K.’ “We didn’t know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons.”
“When Saudi Prince Bandar gives such weapons to people, he must give them to those who know how to handle and use them,” she warned. She, like other Syrians, do not want to use their full names for fear of retribution.
A well-known rebel leader in Ghouta named ‘J’ agreed. “Jabhat al-Nusra militants do not cooperate with other rebels, except with fighting on the ground. They do not share secret information. They merely used some ordinary rebels to carry and operate this material,” he said.
“We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions,” ‘J’ said.
Also blogging with even more input to the same story is Tyler Durden over at ZeroHedge.
There was a phrase used by the Kerry/Dempsey/Hagel troika over and over and over again in front of our Senators:
It was ” vetted, moderate opposition.”
BS!
Some rebels are in leadership, others are useful idiots and cannon fodder.
This article shows that perfectly.
Who are “J” and “K” afraid of?
Assad hates all rebels and would kill them in a minute.
Their own LEADERS are al Qaeda and would also kill them in a minute if they knew which ones they are.
Trust me, neither K nor J will even lead anything in Syria.
They are cannon fodder who haven’t been killed yet.
Sounds like quite a mess over there. Not exactly a cut and dry situation as some would have us believe.
@another vet, just to add a few more pieces to the puzzle for anyone reading, Bodansky wrote an overview of the Syrian complexity back in Feb of this year. In that, he was carving up Syria into three areas necessary for stability, using economics and domestic dynamics.
Ghouta is a green belt of farms in the Rif Dimashq area to the south and east of Damascus, and separates that urban area from the Syrian desert.
Population doesn’t appear to be large.. 136K approx. Mostly farming, and is part of that 3rd category of Sunni tribal areas. They are an opposition area, siding predominately with the rebels and, of course, the Saudis.
Would make no sense at all for them to not finger Assad if they thought he set off those CWs since they have no use for him whatsoever. What makes this jaw dropping is that they are fingering their own rebel allies instead.
To top the whole thing off, MintPress is a collection of leftist journalists, albeit most with long term gigs in their respective areas of regional expertise.
The Minneapolis Press ran a story on it’s founder in Jan 2012, a 24 year old Muslim woman, an American born to Palestinian immigrants. Interesting story. I doubt she and I may have much in common politically, but I have to admire her drive and capitalistic quest (Mint Press is definitely “for profit”). Obviously she wouldn’t fare well under traditional Islamist regimes, eh?
So this article is actually an example of the Ghouta Syrians, attacking their own, and reported on via a leftist media, who is also attacking the claims of their own ideological POTUS. Neither have anything to gain via lies.
BTW, ZeroHedge’s Tyler Durden picked up on this story as well.
If Saudis were behind this, then this just increases the credibility that Bodansky may be entirely correct that the US was likely to know in advance of this.
@Nan G:
Sounds like the same people who “vetted” Obama.
@MataHarley: Does this article suggest some wacky all thumbs rebels, supplied by a Saudi prince, set these weapons off by mistake, killing themselves and all those kids. Dang
BTW In V.N I was trained as an ADM Officer to set off a hand held atomic weapon. Very secret stuff. True story.
If one engages in selective reading, then they take away only that which they select.
What this article suggests is that local Sunni Syrians – who work with the opposition Syrians, and align themselves with the foreign Islamist fighters – have absolutely no reason whatsoever to protect Assad against accusations of CW use. They have even less reason to want to point fingers at Saudi Arabia.
As far as being wacky, all thumbs rebels… well, I don’t know their individual skill level or education, Richard. Do you? You’re a bright guy… why did you have to be trained in your personal true story? I mean, aren’t you just born knowing about this stuff?
Syrian education level is relatively good compared to many Muslim countries – even under the evil Assad. But that’s also regional in impact. These are farmers, Sunni tribal folk. How well versed do you believe they are in chemical warfare and sophisticated weaponry?
It’s no classified secret that the Syrian rebels hold animosity for their foreign Islamist counterparts… tho they welcome any way to usurp Assad. Does it come as a surprise to you that the more savvy Islamists may use and abuse the locals? Their grievances aren’t exactly unknown.
What is known is that there are names and quotes to these local opinions. Not unnamed sources. And that they are actually accusing their peers, and not the current government they are fighting. That, in itself, is extraordinary. It would behoove them to cover for their peers, and let the US enter the war and remove Assad. Apparently the price that the rebels are making them pay isn’t worth that.