EXCLUSIVE: Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack

Dale Gavlak is a Middle East correspondent for Mint Press News and has reported from Amman, Jordan, writing for the Associated Press, NPR and BBC. An expert in Middle Eastern affairs, Gavlak covers the Levant region, writing on topics including politics, social issues and economic trends. Dale holds a M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago.

Contact Dale at [email protected]

Yahya Ababneh is a Jordanian freelance journalist and is currently working on a master’s degree in journalism, He has covered events in Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Libya. His stories have appeared on Amman Net, Saraya News, Gerasa News and elsewhere.

Dale Gavlak's reporting at Associated Press can be found here:
[link to bigstory.ap.org]

One of the most recent Associated Press stories Dale Gavlak contributed to:

EGYPT CRISIS STIRS WIDE DEBATE ON DEMOCRACY'S HOLD
By BRIAN MURPHY
— Jul. 9 2:57 PM EDT

Egyptian security forces killed dozens of supporters of Egypt's ousted president in one of the deadliest single episodes of violence in more than two and a half years of turmoil. The toppled leader's Muslim Brotherhood called for an uprising, accusing troops of gunning down protesters, while the military blamed armed Islamists for provoking its forces.

[link to bigstory.ap.org]

Another important story earlier in the year, in retrospect this exercise was likely the warm-up trial run for the current offensive. He is clearly a legitimate reporter for major media:

MULTINATIONAL MILITARY EXERCISES LAUNCH IN JORDAN

By DALE GAVLAK
— Jun. 9 12:21 PM EDT

ZARQA, Jordan (AP) — Patriot missiles were deployed for the first time at an annual multinational military exercise in key U.S. ally Jordan on Sunday, Jordanian and U.S. army officers said.

The 12-day "Eager Lion" exercises have brought together 8,000 personnel from 19 mainly Arab and European countries to bolster defense capabilities in the face of a possible flare-up from neighboring Syria.

"We don't intend to attack anybody," Jordanian Maj.Gen. Awni el-Edwan told reporters, while commenting on the deployment of U.S. Patriot missiles. He said the exercises would focus on border security, irregular warfare, terrorism and counterinsurgency.

Jordan has been jittery over reports of chemical weapons use in Syria, where an uprising that started in 2011 has descended in to all-out civil war.

Meanwhile, Syria's regime and its patron, Russia, have expressed concern over the Patriot deployment.

President Bashar Assad's forces appeared to be regaining control in recent days over areas taken by rebels, particularly the strategic town of Qusair.

Other maneuvers will focus on humanitarian relief and crisis management and are expected to involve about 7,000 civilians from non-governmental organizations engaged in providing assistance to Syrian refugees.

(Continued:) [link to bigstory.ap.org]

Some of his stories in the BBC:

27 October 2012 Last updated at 19:58 ET

Jordan teeters on edge of political instability

Observers of Jordan believe the early parliamentary elections scheduled for 23 January represent "make-or-break time" for King Abdullah II, with the opposition threatening to boycott the polls, reports the BBC's Dale Gavlak in Amman.

A model of security in a very unstable Middle East, Jordan could now be teetering on the cusp of political conflict and instability.

It is a scenario that King Abdullah has so far managed to weather, unlike four other longstanding leaders who were swept away by the volatile Arab Spring's winds of change.

Unlike them, the absolute monarch says that he has been guiding Jordan's reform process, responding to street protesters' demands for more political say.

A Constitutional Court has been set up to ensure a division of power between executive, legislative and judicial offices. A new, but controversial electoral law governing the poll has been devised.

The forthcoming elections, considered the centrepiece of the king's reforms, also will see for the first time an elected prime minister, a concession by Abdullah, who has appointed past premiers.

But are these changes enough and for how long?

(Continued:) [link to www.bbc.co.uk]


25 February 2011 Last updated at 11:29 ET

Middle East protests: Jordan sees biggest reform rally
By Dale Gavlak
BBC News, Amman

Some 6,000 Jordanians have taken to the streets of Amman, in the biggest pro-democracy rally in eight weeks of protest.

Fearing a repeat of last Friday's violent clashes, more than 3,000 police were deployed in the city centre for this week's so-called day of anger.

Inspired by Tunisia and Egypt, demonstrators want greater political say and economic change at home.

Some are also voicing support for their Libyan brethren.

Waving Jordanian flags the people marched, and members of the country's largest political opposition group, the Islamic Action Front, joined them.

(Continued:) [link to www.bbc.co.uk]

This is obviously a well-credentialed and experienced reporter working for major media, not likely to post scurrilous propaganda reports without doing proper background work.

Audio & written reports with Dale Gavlak on NPR:

Syrian Refugees Attack Aid Workers Amid Deteriorating Conditions
January 08, 2013 3:00 PM

Cold rain, heavy winds and crowded conditions at a camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan led to a riot on Tuesday. Several aid workers were injured at the Zaatari camp — as Dale Gavlak of the Associated Press tells Melissa Block.

[link to www.npr.org]


Rocket Aimed Toward Israeli City Lands In Jordan
by NPR STAFF AND WIRES
August 02, 2010 7:11 AM

Several rockets were fired early Monday toward the Israeli resort city of Eilat, one of which landed in neighboring Jordan and killed at least one person.

Jordanian authorities said the rocket exploded on a main street in front of the Intercontinental Hotel in the Red Sea port of Aqaba, Dale Gavlak reported for NPR. The strike killed a taxi cab driver and reportedly injuring several other people.

Israeli media reported that three of the five rockets fired at Eilat landed in the Red Sea, while two hit open spaces. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed that the blasts were caused by rockets, and said no one was injured in Eilat.

[link to www.npr.org]

Photo of Dale Gavlak, whose name has been spelled wrong in various reports as well as being described as "he": [link to cdn.mintpressnews.com (secure)]

Stories at MintPress News

About Dale Gavlak
Dale Gavlak is a Middle East correspondent for Mint Press News. Gavlak has been stationed in Cairo, Egypt Amman, Jordan for over two decades. An expert in Middle Eastern Affairs, Gavlak currently covers the Levant region of the Middle East from Amman for Associated Press (AP), National Public Radio (NPR) and Mint Press News writing in various topics including politics, social issues and economic trends. Dale holds a M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago. Contact Dale at [email protected]

[link to www.mintpressnews.com]

Important lead-up article by the author in the previous week. Fate has placed this reporter in the middle of perhaps the most critical moment in the 21st century:

Escalation Feared In Syria Amid Threats Over Ongoing Chemical Strike Investigation
The U.S. has already distanced itself from a U.N. investigation of an alleged chemical weapons attack, as regional war looms.
By Dale Gavlak | August 26, 2013

Amman, Jordan — Monday, the Syrian government gave the green light to U.N. inspectors to investigate the site of last week’s deadly chemical attack, which reportedly claimed the lives of hundreds in several suburbs east of Damascus. As suspicions mount over who carried out the attack, the U.N. team came under sniper fire on their way to the site.

Washington has called the decision too late, claiming available evidence would be “significantly corrupted” due to government forces’ “persistent shelling and other intentional actions” in a military offensive in the Ghouta area.

Both the Syrian government and rebels, who have sought to topple President Bashar Assad in the 2-½-year civil war, are accusing each other of carrying out the assault. Syrian authorities have denied responsibility, claiming terrorist rebels were to blame. Assad condemned the West, saying it accuses first and then looks for evidence. He called the allegations “illogical” and “politically motivated.”


Will the West intervene?
President Obama and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron have agreed there will be a “serious response” if Syrian troops used chemical weapons. France said that if an independent investigation confirms as much, then outside military force could be used. But Syria’s information minister warned that U.S. military intervention would bring chaos, saying the Middle East would “burn.” Assad insisted that such intervention would end in failure as in past U.S.-led wars, a reference to Vietnam and Iraq.

“If someone is dreaming of making Syria a puppet of the West, then this will not happen,” he told the Russian newspaper Izvestiya.

The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said reports received from three hospitals it works with in the affected areas showed that 355 people had died after showing symptoms consistent with exposure to a neurotoxic agent. It said health workers aiding 3,600 patients also reported experiencing similar symptoms, including frothing at the mouth, respiratory distress, convulsions and blurry vision. The group has not been able to independently verify the information.

In this citizen journalism image provided by the Media Office Of Douma City, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Syrian man mourns over a dead body after an alleged poisonous gas attack fired by regime forces, according to activists, in Douma town, Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013. Syrian regime forces fired intense artillery and rocket barrages Wednesday on the eastern suburbs of the capital Damascus, in what two pro-opposition groups claimed was a "poisonous gas" attack that killed dozens of people. (AP Photo/Media Office Of Douma City)
In this citizen journalism image provided by the Media Office Of Douma City, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Syrian man mourns over a dead body after an alleged poisonous gas attack fired by regime forces, according to activists, in Douma town, Damascus, Syria, (AP Photo/Media Office Of Douma City)

A senior U.S. official claimed that based on the reported number of victims and symptoms, “there is very little doubt at this point that a chemical weapon was used by the Syrian regime against civilians in the incident.” The official insisted on anonymity because of lack of authorization to speak publicly about the developments.

Meanwhile, Syrian government troops said that they, too, suffered from suffocation, rashes and burning in their eyes and throats while carrying out the military offensive on Saturday. They also claimed to have discovered a rebel chemical weapons stash in Jobar, near Damascus.


Analysts question timing, motives
Political analysts, such as Fawaz Gerges of the London School of Economics, called the timing of the chemical attacks “very odd,” given that U.N. inspectors had just arrived in Syria to investigate other alleged chemical attacks that would have taken place in March and April in mainly northern regions, including Khan al-Assal, where at least 30 people were allegedly killed.

Speaking to Britain’s Sky News, Gerges also questioned why the government would use poison gas when Assad’s “army has the upper hand in the [Ghouta] area” east of Damascus, where some of the incidents occurred. However, Tony Badran of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies said the rebel-held area was one the government had not been able to capture, despite numerous attempts.

“If you are going to consolidate the capital you have to clear these areas out,” he told USA Today. “These areas have the potential of disrupting communications lines the regime is trying to secure to link areas it wants to retain.”

Still, Gerges said a priority for Assad has been to avoid possible scenarios that would invite foreign military attack that could end up toppling his government.

“[Assad] has done everything in his power to prevent Western intervention. If chemical and poisonous gas were used, you are talking about the largest such alleged attack in the history of the Syrian conflict,” Gerges said, adding that the “red line” set by Obama surely would have been crossed.

“The pressure would be overwhelming, not just on the American president, but also on the British and French to retaliate militarily,” he said. “It would bring the brunt of the American air force against the Syrian security apparatus.”

Assad’s closest ally, Iran, issued its own warning to the Obama administration not to cross a “red line” by attacking Syria.

“America knows the limitation of the red line of the Syrian front and any crossing of Syria’s red line will have severe consequences for the White House,” said Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of Iran’s military, according to reports by the Fars news agency.

Gerges said that Assad has been banking on the U.S. and the West not having “the stomach or will to intervene militarily in Syria.” In the past, Washington has pointed out that Syria is not Libya, where air defense systems were antiquated and vast areas of deserted space lie between populated cities.

Russia supplies Syria with up-to-date military hardware, including sophisticated air-defense systems, in exchange for maintaining its only warm water military port in the Syrian city of Tartus. Assad told the Russian newspaper Izvestiya that all of Syria’s contracts with Russia are “being fulfilled.”

“What we have seen in Syria is the mutation of the conflict. It is no longer just an internal conflict between the Assad regime and the opposition. It’s a regional war by proxy and international conflict between the U.S. and Russia,” Gerges added.

Meanwhile, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commander of British biological and chemical counterterrorist forces, said he’s been studying the apparent attack and speaking with doctors and others in Damascus. Despite U.S. and British claims that most of the evidence from the attack will have been destroyed, degraded or tampered with, he believes that U.N. inspectors will be able to identify what chemical was used and who used it based on the recovery of the delivery systems employed. Other experts in the field of chemical warfare said that tissue samples collected will also provide important answers.

(Continued:) [link to www.mintpressnews.com]