Syrians try to build case against Assad in chlorine attacks

Frustrated and despairing, Syrian opposition activists are trying to garner international pressure to stop a growing number of attacks using chlorine gas, which they say are undoubtedly carried out by government aircraft.
Two years after President Bashar Assad agreed to destroy his chemical arsenal and joined the Chemical Weapons Convention, activists say they have documented 18 cases of chlorine gas used in the country’s rebel-held north since March 6, when the United Nations issued a resolution determining that chlorine was used in Syria and warning of repercussions. They say the attacks have killed nine people and injured hundreds.
Despite Syrian regime’s denial of using chlorine gas, activists and residents of the villages hit by these gas bombs say the attacks, usually at night, are clearly by regime forces. The chlorine bombs are dropped in barrels from the skies, and residents say they hear the buzz of helicopters first. Syrian military forces are the only combatants in the civil war known to fly helicopters, and the villages hit are pro-rebel, largely in the northwestern province of Idlib.
The world agency in charge of determining whether chlorine was used does not have the mandate to assign blame. The Organization for the Proliferation of Chemical Weapons also can’t get to the scenes of suspected attacks without the cooperation of the Syrian government, while testimonies or evidence collected by people on the ground are considered circumstantial. The U.N. Security Council is paralyzed because Russia, a major ally of Assad, insists the allegations are 'propaganda.'
The Syrian Civil Defense, a group of 2,640 volunteers that provides emergency and rescue services in rebel-held and contested areas, has been gathering evidence to document the recent attacks, said Farouq Habib, the group’s political adviser. He and the group’s director, Raed Saleh, returned this week from the United States, where they met U.S. and European officials.
They collected remains from the barrels used in a number of bombings, soil samples that the group says show high levels of chlorine traces and urine and blood samples from victims.
'The samples are valuable for the Syrian people because they document the crimes committed against it,' Habib said in a telephone interview. 'It is there and documented and saved but will only be presented after putting together a legal case that guarantees it is used in an effective way to indict the criminal who used chlorine against the Syrian people.'
Habib said his group has offered the OCPW to either take the samples in a handover over the border with Turkey or to host its staffers on visits of areas of suspected attacks.
Deliberations are underway over a U.S. proposal to set up a parallel commission of inquiry that would be mandated to determine blame.
Details of the proposal have not yet been made public, but Saleh said the new commission is likely to face the same obstacles. For example, he said, only those who reach the scene of an attack immediately would be able to document a case. 'We all know the gas effect doesn’t last for more than a few hours,' he said.
That’s one reason, experts say, Assad continues to use the gas.
When used with the intent to hurt or kill, chlorine is considered a chemical weapon, but chlorine itself, used for industrial or domestic purposes, is not included in a state’s declaration of chemical weapons.
'The regime thinks that if there were documentations of samples contaminated with chlorine gas, it can claim it is in homes or that anyone has used it,' Habib said.
Kelsey Davenport, the director of nonproliferation policy at the Washington-based advocacy group Arms Control Association, said that while the use of helicopters points to Assad’s government, negotiating access for a formal investigation with a mandate to assign blame is difficult.
'If a designated body has the authority to determine who is responsible for the chlorine attacks, the Assad regime is unlikely to cooperate, or provide security assurances,' Davenport said.
Speaking to reporters, U.S. President Barack Obama said last week that his administration will work with the international community to investigate the claims but has stayed clear of threatening action. Obama threatened military strikes after 2013 sarin gas attacks blamed on Assad in Damascus suburbs that killed hundreds, but later backed off amid a Russian deal that saw Assad agree to destroy his chemical weapons.
Saleh and other Syrian opposition figures are campaigning for a no-fly zone, or safe zones, to protect the civilians against future attacks. But over the course of the 4-year-old civil war, there’s been no appetite in the U.S. or its allies to enforce such a zone.
Kayali, the medic, said even precautions taken by civilians to avoid government bombing have become lethal.
'People used to think that by digging underground vaults that they would be safe,' he said. But he said a recent attack that killed six saw a barrel land in the ventilation shaft of a bomb shelter.
'We will end up dying one by one, and no one is aware of us,' he said.

France warns Iran over nuclear deal as deadline nears

France warned it was ready to block a final deal between Iran and the six major powers unless Tehran provided inspectors access to all installations, including military sites, according to a report by Reuters.

Iran’s supreme leader, Khamenei, last week ruled out international inspection of Iran’s military sites or access to nuclear scientists under any nuclear agreement. Iran’s military leaders echoed his remarks.

'France will not accept (a deal) if it is not clear that inspections can be done at all Iranian installations, including military sites,' Laurent Fabius told lawmakers.

Talks resumed in Vienna on Wednesday to bridge gaps still remaining in negotiating positions before a June 30 deadline.

Iran’s state TV quoted senior nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi as saying the deadline could be extended, echoing comments by France’s ambassador to the United States, Gerard Araud. Araud said on Tuesday that the deal was not likely by June 30 because technical details would remain to be agreed.

'The deadline might be extended and the talks might continue after the June 30 (deadline),' Araqchi said. 'We are not bound to a specific time. We want a good deal that covers our demands.'

France is considered to be demanding more stringent restrictions on the Iranians under any deal than the other Western delegations, officials said, although U.S. officials have cautioned that France’s position privately is not as tough as it is publicly.

Senate Dems call on Obama to resettle 65,000 Syrian refugees

A group of Senate Democrats is urging the Obama administration to allow at least 65,000 Syrian refugees to settle inside the United States.
“While the United States is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees, we must also dramatically increase the number of Syrian refugees that we accept for resettlement,” the group of 14 lawmakers — led by Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) — said.
The group letter noted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) wants to resettle 130,000 Syrian refugees over the next two years and has thus far submitted more than 12,000 resettlement cases to the United States for consideration.
However, only 700 have been let into the U.S. since the Syrian conflict began nearly five years ago, “an unacceptably low number,” the senators say.
“Following the international community’s tragic failure to shelter Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi genocide, the United States played a leadership role in establishing the international legal regime for the protection of refugees,” they wrote. “In keeping with this history, we urge your Administration to work to accept at least 50 percent of Syrian refugees whom UNHCR is seeking to resettle, consistent with our nation’s traditional practice under both Republican and Democratic presidents.”

There are no one imprisoned in Iran for their belief ! And we are completely honest about Nuclear deal!

Maryam Rajavi at French Senate Conference

Maryam Rajavi at French Senate Conference: Iranian regime is not West’s ally; instead of countering ISIS, it seeks to expand its hegemony over Iraq and Syria, cleanse Sunnis

Extending break out time by six or nine months is not a solution after three decades of concealment by Tehran. 

The guaranteed solution is comprised of stringent implementation of six Security Council resolutions, full halt to enrichment and closure of all nuclear sites

nuclear bomb

Only implementation of  UNSC resol  can prevent  Iran regime’s access to nuclear bomb

Maryam Rajavi’s Message on International Labor Day 2015

The mullahs’ president, Hassan Rouhani actively pursues the policy of workers’ victimization. He proposed a bill to the parliament to “remove obstacles of production”. Ratified last week by the Council of Guardians, the bill actually removes the obstacles of firing workers and has furthered the ground for imposing temporary contracts.
Astronomical expenditures to support the wars against the peoples of Syria, Iraq and Yemen as well as the expenses of its nuclear and missile projects are paid from the pocket of Iranian nation and toiling masses. Yet the mullahs refuse to cut down on these colossal expenditures.

The economic crisis in Iran is basically rooted in the deadly crises engulfing the clerical regime and can be resolved only by toppling their tyrannical rule.
Mrs. Rajavi called on the brave, courageous workers of Iran and said: On the International Labor Day, I call on you to expand your protests and step up your resistance for overthrowing the Velayat-e Faqih regime hand-in-hand with your fellow compatriots, specially students and teachers and in conjunction with the organized Resistance and inspired by the endurance of the pioneers in Camp Liberty.

The path to freedom, equality and justice passes through regime change in Iran which can be made possible in our own hands. Mrs. Rajavi called on her fellow countrymen and women to assist the families of imprisoned workers and not hesitate in providing the needs of families whose breadwinners have lost their jobs.

The protests of Iranian workers, the struggles of the nation as a whole, and the steadfastness of the organized resistance movement herald a new era where fundamental freedoms and rights are safeguarded for Iran’s workers where they enjoy the right to form syndicates and labor associations, to go on strike, stage protests, enjoy job security, health insurance and unemployment benefits, an Iran where men and women are equal, all discriminatory laws are abolished and child labor is banned.