As part of its ongoing war maneuver, Syria Thursday, July 12, this week drilled the firing of advanced Scud D ballistic missiles capable of carrying chemical weapons and nerve gas – a clear message from Bashar Assad that weapons of mass destruction are now in play to save his regime.
American officials, alarmed by the movement out of storage of parts of his vast arsenal of sarin nerve agent, mustard gas and cyanide, warned it could escalate the Syrian conflict and expand it to other parts of the region. “This could set the precedent of WMD [weapons of mass destruction] being used under our watch,” one U.S. official said. “This is incredibly dangerous to our national security.” The Obama administration has begun to hold classified briefings about the new intelligence.
debkafile’s military sources say that two developments drove the Syrian president Bashar Assad to this extreme threat:
1. The rebels were discovered to have procured roadside bombs capable of crippling the T-72 tank units he has just tried injecting into the battle for the first time this week. Tanks sent in long convoys into Aleppo and the suburbs of Damascus were blown up.
2. The balance of war has reached the point that the government controls only those parts of the country where heavy military or security forces contingents with massive fire power are deployed; elsewhere, the rebels have the upper hand.
In the course of its war exercise, the Syrians fired a selection of ground-to-ground missiles which they described as capable of “hitting targets deep within enemy territory.” Our military sources say all the Scuds, the M-600, Fateh-110 and Zelzal can reach any point in Israel. They also tested upgraded C-802 shore-to-ship rockets.
American officials revealed Thursday in Washington that “Syria has begun moving parts of its vast arsenal of chemical weapons out of storage facilities.” They didn’t say to where they were moved.
debkafile’s military sources report that the missile warheads and shells containing poisonous weapons such as sarin, mustard gas and cyanide are being moved to specific Syrian units ahead of field operations.
Some US officials are quoted by The Wall Street Journal as fearing “Damascus intends to use the weapons against the rebels or civilians, potentially as part of a targeted ethnic cleansing campaign.” Others hope it is a feint to inspire fear. Whatever the case, the alarmed US official said in Washington: This could set the precedent of WMD [weapons of mass destruction] being used under our watch” and is “incredibly dangerous to our national security.”
WarSclerotic 
July 13, 2012 at 11:17 AM
May be its only a posting / intimidating measure, may be its the real thing. My guess is he is going to use it and nobody will act there quick enough to save the thousands who will surely die if gas and chemical weapons will be deployed. He will do it.
July 13, 2012 at 11:41 AM
I’m praying you are wrong….
July 13, 2012 at 3:03 PM
I’m not one to quote scripture all the time but here goes:
Isaiah 17:1 “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.”
In effect, if Assad uses WMD’s, then he gives us no choice.
July 13, 2012 at 3:54 PM
He will not use WMD against Israel but against the rebels pockets, especially those concentrated for an all out offensive on Damascus. Lets see what the western countries will do then.
July 13, 2012 at 5:07 PM
Good call… Isaiah 17 prophecy is the first thing that came to my mind.
July 13, 2012 at 4:21 PM
In the next few days, a grand offensive will be started by the rebel forces in the general direction of Damascus. This event was accelerated by the recent onslaught on the rebels in the Tremseh area. Next week will be really hot ( and not only in Israel ).
July 13, 2012 at 5:05 PM
Let’s not forget all of those carrier task groups on location and en-route. 5 in all… and soon to be 6! Unprecendented!!!
July 13, 2012 at 5:14 PM
Assad is going to use them all over the place. He won’t hold back. He saw libya and how that went down. The dentist kicks off world war. Just like one quoted earlier Damascus will be flat. Then what does russia do. Israel wins of course.
July 13, 2012 at 6:17 PM
I kinda of agree with Dude, with one exception : Assad is not a dentist, he is an eyes doctor. Anyway, even this fact didn’t helped him to see that coming.
July 14, 2012 at 7:02 AM
Thanks luis for the info. I think the question is how long does the battle go on once it comes out of the shadows? Does it move quick and ratchet up or do the big boys go through levels over 6 months? Of course if assad targets saudi arabia the fuel issue will go off the chain not counting the persian gulf.
July 14, 2012 at 7:28 AM
If you have access to a king james bible see. Jeremiah 49:23 and Revelation 9:13-15. Bibi is very well aware of the writings of ezekiel. And has expected this situation for several years. He is better prepared than anyone.
July 14, 2012 at 9:19 AM
I googled the paragraphs you pointed at and , indeed, they apparently are speaking about the present situation in Syria and a great unpleasant event which is ”cooking” in the Euphrates river area. As the situation may be pictured right now, we are indeed living in a biblical time of prophecies; too many coincidences are occurring.
July 17, 2012 at 5:10 PM
Reblogged this on Boudica BPI Weblog and commented:
The mid east always was fractious but since Arab Spring has become much more unstable. The Us should not have encouraged revolution in Egypt and should not have acted with NATO militarily in Libya. They should not get involved in Syria IMO.