Need That Poison Gas

The UN team investigating allegations of the use of Syrian chemical weapons is in Turkey. According to a Reuters story,

They were sent to Turkey this week and its head, Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, was meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday, a senior Turkish official told Reuters. 

The Syrian government and rebels fighting it have accused each other of using lethal chemical agents, including sarin gas, in the two-year-old conflict. 

More than 100,000 people have been killed since fighting began in March 2011 in what is the longest and most violent of the recent Arab uprisings, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 

Western governments have grown frustrated that the U.N. mission has been unable to make progress on investigating the claims, a diplomat told Reuters. 

From Turkey, the team will be unable to gather soil samples or scientific evidence needed to prove chemical use, but could compile intelligence and interview or take blood samples from witnesses or victims of alleged attacks. 

"As he cannot travel to Syria, Sellstrom visits countries like Turkey, France and Britain that have some information about possible use of chemical weapons in Syria," said the Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Sellstrom visited the Turkey-Syria border area and talked to officials who shared data on chemical weapons use, he said.

In order for the United States and the old colonial powers, Britain and France, to launch their Libya-style air attack on Syria they need the poison gas narrative front and center; it clouds the brazen illegality of their military adventurism. But the U.S. experience with another Swedish UN weapons inspector Hans Blix was not a happy one. In the run up to the invasion of Iraq Blix was right -- there was no conclusive evidence of WMDs -- and he held his ground despite the famous Colin Powell speech before the Security Council and its fantasies of mobile Iraqi biological weapons laboratories. Already secret intelligence agency analysis has been used as justification for the U.S. to arm the rebels. But a no-fly zone will require more. Thankfully, there is no reason to believe Ake Sellstrom will be any more compliant than Blix.

While there is no mention in the New York Times this morning of the government taking control of Tal Kalakh from the rebels, Sarah El Deeb reporting for The Associated Press has it:

On Wednesday, the [Syrian Observatory for Human Rights] said the regime drove rebels out of the town of Talkalakh, along the border with Lebanon. The town, which had a predominantly Sunni population of about 70,000 before the conflict, is surrounded by 12 Alawite villages located within walking distance of the Lebanon border. 

The government takeover will likely affect the rebels' ability to bring supplies, fighters and weapons from Lebanon. 

The town also lies on the highway that links the city of Homs to Tartus, in the coastal Alawite enclave that is home to one of Syria's two main seaports. 

Syrian state TV showed soldiers patrolling the streets of Talkalakh, inspecting underground tunnels and displaying weapons seized from the opposition. 

The governor of Homs, Ahmed Munir, told the private Lebanese broadcaster al-Mayadeen that some rebels in Talkalakh handed their weapons over to authorities. He said the town was a major area for infiltrators from Lebanon. 

"Talkalakh is clear of weapons," Munir said.

Southeast of Talkalakh, government forces also took control of the village of Quarayaten on a highway that links the rebels to another supply route from Iraq, according to an activist who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety. 

The regime victories are likely to help it advance on rebel-held areas of the city of Homs, he said. The activist, who is connected to rebels in Homs, spoke by Skype.

Bill Roggio of The Long War Journal has a post this morning about the ongoing assault on the Minnigh airport in Aleppo. It's being led by the Muhajireen Army, a jihadi group comprised of fighters from the Russian Caucasus.

Going forward this appears to be the situation: Peace breaking out but jihadi mercenaries, paid and provisioned by the Saudis and Qataris, fight on Taliban-style with suicide bombings. It's Afghanistan. This time, in spite of the Global War On Terror, the United States is back to its Carter-Reagan era role -- supporting the mujahideen. It's a position that is so at odds with itself it will be very difficult to maintain.