by Stephen Lendman

Russia has evidence proving it. More on that below. A previous article said the following:

On August 29, Mint Press News headlined "Exclusive: Syrians in Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack," saying:

"Rebels and local residents in Ghouta accuse Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan of providing chemical weapons to an al-Qaida linked rebel group."

Abu Abdel-Moneim lives in Ghouta. He's the father of an insurgent fighter. "My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry," he said.Some were "tube-like" in structure. Others were like a "huge gas bottle." They were stored in tunnels.

Abdel-Moneim said his son and other insurgents died during the Ghouta attack.

A female Jabhat al-Nusra fighter named "K" said:

"They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them. We didn't know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons."

Another fighter named "J" said:

"We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions."

According to Mint Press:

"Doctors who treated the chemical weapons attack victims cautioned interviewers to be careful about asking questions regarding who, exactly, was responsible for the deadly assault."

"More than a dozen rebels interviewed reported that their salaries came from the Saudi government."

Prince Bandar bin Sultan's directly involved. He's Washington's point man against Syria. He's advancing the kingdom's top goal. It wants Assad, Iran's government and Hezbollah toppled.

Doing it involves arming and funding some of the most extremist elements. They're cutthroat killers. They're committing outrageous atrocities.

They brag about them. Media scoundrels give them short shrift. Most often their crimes go unreported.

False flags are involved. They permit pointing fingers the wrong way. Assad's wrongfully blamed for death squad crimes.

No verifiable evidence links him to any CW attacks throughout months of conflict. Claims otherwise have no basis in fact.

They're false. They're malicious. They're repeated with disturbing regularity. So-called intelligence cited is fake. It's created out of whole cloth.

It's done to blame Assad for insurgent crimes. They've been caught red-handed various times using CWs. Coverup and denial followed.

On October 4, Voice of Russia (VOR) headlined "Saudi Arabia group behind chemical weapons provocation in Syria - source."

They were based in Jordan. King Abdullah II ibn Al-Hussein's Hashimite Kingdom is complicit. A Russian source said:

"Having analyzed this information, which was received from a whole range of sources, we are getting a picture that confirms that the criminal provocation in Eastern Ghouta was committed by a specialized group that was sent by Saudi Arabia from the territory of Jordan and acted under the cover of the Liva al-Islam (Banner of Islam) group."

It's an extremist Islamic group. It includes over 50 brigades. It operates near Damascus.

Saudi-based Abdullah Mohammed Alloush is a Salafist cleric. His son Zahran heads it. He conducts joint operations with Jabhat al-Nusra. He rejects negotiations with Assad.

In July 2012, Liva al-Islam was responsible for killing Syrian Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, his deputy Asef Shawkat and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani.

Another Moscow source said:

"(T)he chemical attack on Eastern Ghouta on August 21 and all the subsequent developments literally caused a stir in Syrian society, and people reacted painfully to the distorted interpretation of those events given by a number of media outlets and politicians."

"That is why Syrians whose political views differ dramatically, including the opposition's militants themselves, are actively trying to tell everything they know about this crime and the forces who masterminded and sponsored it to diplomats and international organization officials who continue working in Syria."

According to Syria Minister Omram al-Zoabi:

Damascus and Moscow "maintain permanent, almost daily contact concerning those details."

Syria established a special interdepartmental group. It decides how best to eliminate all chemical weapons.

It's cooperating with Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspectors.

On October 1, an advance group arrived in Damascus. They did so to begin the ambitious task of destroying CWs safely and completely. Syria has an estimated 1,000 ton stockpile.

According to Zoabi:

"Whether to destroy chemical weapons on the scene or take them out to other countries for scrapping will be determined by experts and the interdepartmental group which was formed by the Syrian government and comprises representatives of the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry. It’s a technical issue."

On October 2, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said:

"We read reports and hear from various sources, semi-official and trustworthy, that some official representatives of a number of the countries of the region surrounding Syria allegedly established contacts and meet regularly with leaders of Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist groups, and also that those radicals have some components of chemical weapons maybe found in Syria or maybe brought from somewhere, and not just on the Syrian territory, but also that chemical weapons components have been brought to Iraq and that provocations are being prepared there."

Supplying insurgents with CWs increased after Security Council Resolution 2118 was adopted.

Lavrov wants all sides to resolve differences nonviolently. He wants them to agree to attend Geneva II without preconditions.

"There are enough provocateurs, and there will probably be more provocations," he added.

"What's important now is that it shouldn't be them who calls the tune but Russia and the United States as the initiators of Geneva-2 along with the United Nations secretary general to whom a request to that effect was submitted in New York."

"We hope that consultations that are now being conducted by the UN secretary general and his special representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, will produce positive results enabling us to organize initial events needed to launch this conference."

"It’s important that all the Syrian factions be fully represented at the talks for the future agreements to be really stable and lasting."

On October 4, Itar Tass headlined "Russia fears radical Syrian opposition provocations in elimination of chemical weapons," saying:

According to Putin's Middle East envoy Mikhail Bogdanov:

"Objectively speaking this cannot be ruled out, and we have certain understanding with our western partners in this respect that there are real risks and different kind of provocations because terrorists and extremists who are not interested in a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis might put different obstacles, quite serious, in the process to eliminate chemical weapons."

"What really concerns us, and what objectively will be a problem, is that it will not be easy to get to the places where chemical weapons or some components are located."

"In principle, chemical arsenals are under control of the Syrian government, but I think not all of them."

"But one can get to the depots that are controlled by the government only in crossing regions that are controlled by the opposition."

"That is why the question arises how to cross these regions and ensure the safety of experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons who will work there."

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky expects international inspectors to begin work on eliminating Syria's CWs next week.

Doing so won't be easy. Expect anti-Assad provocations to follow. Expect him to be wrongfully blamed for what happens.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"

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Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com

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