KIM SENGUPTA DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT THURSDAY 22 AUGUST 2013
The victims were laid out in a hospital, on beds and on the tiled floor, their eyes lifeless and staring. Many of them were very young children, even babies. Others were in convulsion, mouths foaming, as medics frantically tried to save them, using hand-pump respirators.
These were the scenes from videos showing, it was claimed by the Syrian opposition, the devastating aftermath of a massacre of more than 1,300 people by Bashar al-Assad's forces using chemical weapons in Ghouta, east of Damascus.
The regime has denied the allegations, accusing "terrorists and their supporters" in the international media of disseminating false propaganda.
A number of Western states, including Britain, the US and France, asked the UN to investigate the latest deaths. Following a closed-door emergency meeting tonight, the UN Security Council said it needed clarification on the attacks, but made no explicit call for a probe by the team in Syria. "There is a strong concern among council members about the allegations and a general sense that there must be clarity on what happened and the situation must be followed closely," said Argentina's UN ambassador, Maria Cristina Perceval, after the meeting. Russia and China had opposed language that would have demanded a UN probe.
Earlier, the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said that if the claims were verified they would "mark a shocking escalation in the use of chemical weapons." "I hope this will wake up some who have supported the Assad regime to realise its murderous and barbaric nature," he added later. Russia had backed up the Assad regime's denials, by saying the attack looked like a rebel 'provocation' to discredit him.
Evidence that the regime has indeed used WMDs, with such a massive number of fatalities, would greatly strengthen the hands of those pressing for large-scale supplies of advanced weapons to the rebels.
Ghazwan Bwidany, a doctor treating the casualties, held that the symptoms indicated the use of sarin gas. "It may be sarin, most probably it is sarin," he said. "We don't have the capacity to treat all this number of people. We're putting them in mosques, in schools. We are lacking medical supplies now, especially atropine, which is the antidote for chemical weapons."
Bayan Baker, a nurse at the Douma Emergency Collection facility, said "Many of those affected are women and children. They arrived with their pupils dilated, cold limbs and foam in their mouths. The doctors say these are typical symptoms of nerve gas victims."
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Originally Posted by bowieluva
. This is the LAST thing that needs to happen but he basically said he's already decided that it's going down.
