MIKE POMPEO. IMAGE CREDITS: GAGE SKIDMORE / WIKI.
The U.S. has concluded that Damascus is responsible for a “chlorine attack” that took place in northern Lattakia last May, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on September 26.
“The Assad regime is responsible for innumerable atrocities some of which rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Pompeo said, according to CNBC. “Today I am announcing that the United States has concluded that the Assad regime used chlorine as a chemical weapon on May 19.”
Al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham was the first to announce the attack through its news network, Iba’a, on May 19. Back then the terrorist group said that nobody was killed or injured in the supposed chemical attack.
Later, the pro-opposition the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) revealed that four terrorists of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) were behind the claims of a “chemical attack.”
According to the monitoring group, the terrorists suffered from suffocation when the Syrian military struck a cave they were hiding in. Three of them immediately recovered in a nearby hospital, while the fourth one was in a critical condition, because he was already suffering from his asthma.
The U.S. ignored these facts in its new accusation with Pompeo vowing more pressure on the Damascus government.
“The United States will not allow these attacks to go unchallenged nor will we tolerate those who choose to conceal these atrocities,” Pompeo told reporters, according to the Strait Times.
It’s unclear why the U.S. has waited until now to dig up these accusation. The logical explanation would be to suggest that Washington may have been cooperated with the terrorists to reach its conclusion.
By adopting the claims of al-Qaeda terrorists and portraying them as “victims,” Washington is returning to the Obama-era approach towards the conflict.
