Our thanks to David Marshall for a link to an interview with Czech war correspondent, Lenka Klicperova, who has on-the-ground experience and knowledge of Syria. I’ve translated some of her remarks using Google Translate, which I have always found works quite well.
“The point is to first investigate who has committed the attack. If it was committed. Because so far all evidence has been brought only by one side of the conflict, the rescuers being linked to jihadists who control enclaves such as East Ghuda and Dúma or Idlíb. And this is not an impartial organization. There was no one in the city of Dúma who could independently verify what actually happened and what the situation looks like now.
“If the attack was done with chlorine, there is no problem at all for this chlorine to be used as a weapon of combat by any organization operating in the area. Chlorine is nothing complicated for storage and production. I myself have seen huge chemical stores in Syria or Iraq on many occasions, such as the Islamic State, and because of how these weapons are traded in the Middle East, I can see no problem at all that any other Islamist organization [would possess them].
“…the escalation of the conflict will have a huge impact on the part of the population who still lives in Syria normally. Although the word does not normally mean our normality – but in the context of Syria in the regime’s lands many people have so far led a relatively normal life.
“If the conflict escalates and the US enters into a war, they begin to bomb regime positions, so we can assume that there will be more deaths there, the number of displaced people who will have to leave their homes will grow. We will have to resolve another wave of migration that will try to leave Syria.”
10:17 am on April 12, 2018
