AL-Ghouta Crime: The Real Story of Liwaa al-Islam Chemical Rockets

Mohammad Balout

As-Safir Daily, 23-8-2013

Why were the Europeans and Americans hesitant to take an action against Syria in the United Nations Security Council, in the alleged Syrian use of chemical weapons in Ghouta?
Arab sources suggest that the US and Western missions had received the real story of chemical weapons. The story wasn't officially distributed, but it is supported by Russian documents and satellite images of the battlefield, and Ghouta.

According to sources, the Russian delegation presented the documents during a UNSC meeting Friday. During the meeting, the Americans did not file any documents that contradict the Russian documents, given that the US satellites have come to similar conclusions: the opposition had fired the chemical rockets.

This comes as the Syrian representative to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari returned quickly from Damascus to New York on to provide the evidences that support the Russian stance.
 
Meanwhile, informed sources clarified that the Westerns refrained from accusing the Syrian regime to only ask for an expand to investigations , due to the images the Russians delivered.

The images showed that the rockets were launched from Duma at 1:35 on Wednesday.

It was noting that the Western countries did not resort to their references' terms, but rather to the statements of the Syrian Opposition Coalition to accuse the Syrian regime.

Based on the Russian information, the two rockets were manufactured domestically to carry chemicals. They were launched from an area controlled by "Liwaa al-Islam", led by Zahran Alwosh.

The group is considered as one of the most prominent forces of the armed opposition in Ghouta, that includes around 25000 fighters, distributed between Irbin, Zamalka, Sakba, Kvrbtna, Ain Tarma and al-Moadamyieh.

The rockets aimed at responding to the "Shield of the city" operation, the largest military operation carried out by the Syrian army on the outskirts of the capital, since the start of the conflict.

One of the rockets landed in Jobar near the old town, while the second rocket landed in an area between Irbin and Zamalka.

Meanwhile, 13 armed groups battalion had united in the region and put themselves under the command of al-Nusra Front to fight the Syrian army.

These battalions include "Harun al-Rashid", "Syouf al-Haqq", "al-Mohajereen", "al-Ansar", "Abu Zhar al-Ghaffari", "Issa Bin Mariam", "Sultan Mohammad al-Fateh", "Daraa al-Sham", "Jobar Martyrs", and "Glory of the Caliphate".

According to sources, the armed groups' militants, fighting on the front of Jobar, began to withdraw from the high-rise buildings near the Abbasids garage.

They sought to infiltrate into the capital through the Maydan region, and progress to besiege the army in the south of the capital on the fronts of Hajr al-Aswad ,Yalda, and al-Kadam.