I was subjected to a liberal rant about Assad gassing Syrian people, and it sounded like some BS (Just smells like propaganda), but the Internet is a fuck these days and I’m unable to find any informtion I trust, or develop the tools to debunk wikihasbara.

Did it happen?

  • MoreAmphibians [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    1 month ago

    The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) released a report this year (2024) finally saying that it was actually ISIS that did the chemical attack in Marea in 2015. So just under a decade to finally admit to something that was obvious. I guess you just need to wait a few more decades until they find out who did the rest of the chemical attacks.

    https://www.opcw.org/media-centre/news/2024/02/opcw-identifies-isil-perpetrators-2015-chemical-attack-marea-syria

    • drhead [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 month ago

      this is a different attack from the ones people are usually talking about with Assad, that report is about a mustard gas attack (which ISIS has/had access to) and the notable attacks people accuse Assad of perpetrating were sarin gas attacks (which ISIS never had access to afaik)

      • MoreAmphibians [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        1 month ago

        Right, it took a decade to show that this attack wasn’t Assad. It’s going to take a lot longer for anything that’s less obvious. I’m mostly showing that there is very little interest in investigation if it can’t be pinned on Assad.

        Sarin gas isn’t hard to make by the way. A bunch of Japanese cultists were able to do it. They also made VX, phosegene, and hydrogen cyanide. Apparently money and dedication will take you a long way.

  • RollaD20 [comrade/them, any]@hexbear.net
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    1 month ago

    I’m sure that someone else might have a better answer but likely bullshit. This was sort of the bombshell article on it. Theodore Postol is a leading expert on these sort of weapons systems, and he makes arguments that haven’t been meaningfully disputed from what I’ve read.

  • TankieTanuki [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 month ago

    Aaron Mate and the OPCW leaks convinced me that the Douma attack was an atrocity hoax. There was more than one alleged gas attack; I know less about the others.

    • astreus@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      I don’t think this can be answered on here. There’s too much propaganda and psyops, and quite simply, I doubt anyone on here is from Syria!

      I do not like authoritarianism, so that’s a no from me dawg, but if Assad’s rule is that big a threat to the Empire of America then maybe? But that’s about as deep an analysis as any non-expert forum (i.e. lemmy) can give you imo.

      EDIT: some research - like the ideology of the coup, dislike hereditary regimes. It’s really not an easy one to balance out imo

      • CloutAtlas [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 month ago

        To engage seriously, any ““serious”” opposition party or parties in Syria are going to be much worse (see: Mujahideen vs Socialist Afghanistan, the Shah vs Iranian nationalists, the Nicaraguan Contras vs Sandinistas, etc etc) and much like in the past, the more parties more friendly to the US are going to get boosted in the media and the sitting parties will get a magnifying glass to their misdeeds to the point of atrocities being outright fabricated. Assad is anti ISIS but also not exactly friendly towards the west, which is why the west pushes for his demise. Same as with Muamar Gaddafi. The current state of Libya speaks volumes. An authoritarian nation with guaranteed housing, healthcare and food vs a free one that has open slave markets in the capital? Gadaffi wasn’t a saint, no, but you can’t argue that the average Libyan is better off now than before he was ousted.

        To the point that ISIS terror attacks against Syrian civilian populations being attributed to the Assad government?

      • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
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        1 month ago

        Authoritarianism.

        Tell me you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about without telling me you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about

        alternate

        Tell me you uncritically consume and repeat state department talking points without telling me

        alternate 2

        not-immune-to-propaganda

      • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]@hexbear.net
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        1 month ago

        What does authoritarianism mean in the Syrian context?

        Syria won its independence from the Ottoman Empire, and then again from the French. They abandoned the monarchy that was put in place there, and Gulf State monarchies, with American assistance, have been trying to get footholds in the country with their proxies. These proxies are heavily fundamentalist, theocratic, and unfriendly to minorities, so it’s not surprising when they have a continuity with groups like Daesh.

        “Suppresses dissent” is not a good definition, we see that in most countries. “Conducts mass surveillance of citizens” is not a good definition, we see that in almost all countries. “Dynastic” is also a poor definition for the same reasons, as is “sham elections/democracy”.

        What we have is a remnant of the pan-Arab nationalist, social-democratic pole of the broader Arab conflict in the Cold War. It’s been revised and watered down, and it picks up a lot of neoliberal policies, but it remains the best guarantor of a pluralistic and independent society in Syrian nationwide politics (not counting the regional entity that is in a permanent truce with the federal government).

        “It’s impossible to know one way or the other” is a weak stance. Recognize the dynamics of power in war and media, and decide which story you think is more compelling: the one that lines right up with the CIA and State Department, or some alternative to that.