Mysterious Containers: What's Wrong with Chemical Weapons in Syria
This Saturday the main subject is the situation around Syria after the American missile strike. I've even heard people discuss the US strike on Syria on bus stops. They are outraged. But what was it really?
As announced by the US, it was something like a warning strike, or retaliation. Before the Syrian Air Force dropped chemical bombs on Khan Shaykhun village, where people died from suffocation, including children. In Damascus, they don’t deny that this village was bombed, but they say that the chemical weapons were on the ground, that the Syrian Air Force bombed the place where the militants stored it. Where is the truth? Our military correspondent Evgeny Poddubny shot absolutely stunning material at that very air base that the Americans bombed.
In social networks, people said that these containers were used for chemical weapons. They said they were at the Shayrat airbase. And that's why the US military struck this airfield. But in fact, these containers have nothing to do with chemical warfare agents. These are bomb containers for different aviation equipment, and are used for both ammunition, and other goods and equipment. They also have a marking, "BFK AO". These are containers for fragmentation ammunition. It’s strange to imagine that they were a target for the American missiles, especially since the nearby hangar was destroyed by a Tomahawk missile.
In general, these blocks are transported in containers, eight pieces in each. They are attached to pylons of aircraft and helicopters. In this case, any canister or barrel can be called "a tank for chemical warfare agents". But it’s clear that the blocks are old, and many are damaged. Members of our group were next to them not using any means of protection. The US Navy struck at aircraft parking, a radar station, and a fuel storage facility. It can be seen that the hangars were the main target, where there was aviation equipment and ammunition depots. But it took the Syrian military little time to eliminate the missile strike consequences.
Today, the military base has already started to operate normally. Su-22 fighter-bombers were able to take off and land on the airfield. It's only been a day after the attack with the use of 59 American cruise missiles. By the way, this day gave radical Islamists the opportunity to increase the intensity of attacks on soldier positions of the Syrian Army. After all, immediately after the Tomahawk cruise missiles hit the Shayrat base, the terrorists tried to cut off the supply route to a group of government forces that is located near Palmyra.
Militants attacked the Syrian military, who serve at the foothold connecting the Homs-Tadmor route. Soldiers of the Syrian army managed to repulse the attack. However, several people died during it. People also died as the result of the strike by the US military. There were casualties not only among the Shayrat airbase personnel, where six people were killed, but also among the villagers. There were two more victims. The wounded were taken to a hospital near the airport. Evgeny Poddubny, Yury Marchenko and Alexander Pushin, Vesti, Shayrat airbase, Homs province, Syria.
As pointed out by the Russian Defence Ministry, a day after the rocket attacks on the Shayrat air base, neither the Pentagon nor the State Department provided any evidence of the presence of chemical weapons at the air base. The infamous Colin Powell test tube. That’s the comparison made in the Russian military department. A quote. The airfield was visited by dozens media representatives, local administration, fire services, police, and not to mention Syrian military personnel. All people who were present at the air base didn’t wear gas masks and felt perfectly well.
The only way to obtain and present to the entire world community objective evidence of the alleged presence of chemical agents in Shayrat is to send a mission of professional experts there. This also applies to Iraqi Mosul, which the coalition led by the United States is trying to take. There, the militants of the "Islamic State", which is banned in Russia, used chlorine gas. At least, Ria-Novosti says this, referring to the head of the city's municipality.
