U.S. Outfitting Ship to Destroy Chemical Weapons
The Los Angeles Times reports that the Pentagon “is outfitting a 647-foot cargo ship with high-tech equipment in an effort to safely destroy hundreds of tons of lethal chemical weapons agents” collected in Syria.
“Two specially developed hydrolysis machines, which use water or bleach to neutralize the chemicals that produce nerve gases, have been installed aboard the Cape Ray at the U.S. naval base in Norfolk, Va. The system should be able to eliminate Syria’s VX and sarin stockpiles and chemical components in 45 to 90 days.
“Plans call for trucking the arsenal from a series of collection sites to the Syrian port of Latakia, where it will be loaded into 150 Teflon-lined shipping containers. Pentagon planners fear that even a heavily guarded convoy could be attacked en route to Latakia by insurgents battling President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.”
Opposition Alleges New Poison Gas Attack
Reuters reports that Syria’s opposition has accused Assad forces “of using poison gas in Syria’s civil war on Thursday, and said victims had been discovered with swollen limbs and foaming at the mouth.
Activists told the wire that “two shells loaded with gas hit a rebel-held area in the town of Nabak, 40 miles northeast of Damascus, on a major highway in the Qalamoun region. They reported seven casualties. Separately, the Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union also accused Assad’s forces of using poison gas.
“‘We have documented nine casualties from poison gas used by the regime in neighborhoods of Nabak,’ it said on its Facebook page.”
House Intel Chair Slams U.S. Outreach to Syria’s Islamist Rebels
The Obama administration’s decision to reach out to Syria’s Islamist rebel groups is being met with backlash from House Intel Chair Mike Rogers.
“You should draw lines around organizations that would cut the heads off of children to prove their political point,” Rogers (D-MI) told the National Journal Daily. “When you don’t have a course of action that helps change the battlefield, for a diplomatic solution, you end up going to the parties who are … radical Islamists. That’s not a very good way to conduct diplomacy.”
Islamic militants, he added, “want a safe haven in eastern Syria and – we know this with a high degree of confidence – to conduct operations external to Syria. You don’t negotiate with terrorist groups that have that kind of mind-set.”
Rogers’ comments come a day after “Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said ‘all parties’ must be represented to reach a diplomatic solution in the war-torn country. ‘This can’t be achieved by just [limiting ourselves to] narrow strips of interest.’”
As Millions Suffer in Syria, the U.S. Looks Away
Morton Abromowitz, senior fellow at the Century Foundation, has an op-ed in today’s Washington Post that says the U.S.’s “public and government have … been complacent in the face of massive human suffering.
“Americans have not collectively expressed great concern or reached deep in their pockets to provide desperately needed aid, nor have humanitarian agencies aggressively pursued funds from the public. Aid has come mostly from increasing government appropriations,” he writes.
“The absence of public clamor has made it easier for the Obama administration to stay on the sidelines of this international wreck, seek empty U.N. resolutions and get away with providing funds for humanitarian assistance without doing more to resolve the issue. The U.S. secretary of state did not even attend the most recent U.N. pledging conference to scrounge monies from stingy states. Our government does not want public clamor.”
Songs for Hezbollah
BuzzFeed’s Mike Giglio profiles pop star Ali Barakat, whose musical direction has changed since the beginning of the Syrian conflict and now aims “to get Hezbollah’s supporters ready for war.”
Barakat’s music “has urged Hezbollah on as its fighters wade ever deeper into Syria’s conflict. A mix of battle anthems and Arabic pop, turbo-charged with Shiite imagery, the songs praise the merits of Hezbollah’s military campaigns and promise listeners a glorious victory,” Giglio writes.
“’We are giving the world a lesson on manliness like the sun,’ Barakat sings in a song promoting Hezbollah’s new offensive in Qalamoun, a region of Syria bordering Lebanon. ‘Qalamoun is for stomping heads.’”
Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team:
Washington Post: E.U. Security Officials Note Increased Flow of Fighters to Syria’s Civil War
Bloomberg: U.S. Plans to Neutralize Syria Chemical Weapons at Sea
Al Jazeera: Iraqi Cameraman Executed in Syria
Daily Star: Group Issues Demands for Release of Nuns in Syria
NY Times: Syria’s Spreading Bloodshed