Syr i
a’s Biological WMD Program is very Real!
March 9, 2007
http://www.tribulatuionperiod.com/
A new assessment of Syria’s WMD capacities came out yesterday in a World Net Daily article. I have kept up with WMD status changes in Syria in both production and ability to launch them on missile heads. The last complete Archive Prophecy Update I issued on Syrian WMD activity was i
n 2004, and was as follows.
SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 173A
May 24, 2004
Looks Like WMD Speculation of Update 137E May be Correct!
In the first Prophecy Update in our Archives, issued in January of 2001, titled, “Significant World and Mid-East
Events,” I reported what was a rather strange event on the Syrian border involving two regimes that had never liked each other.
I now believe it likely that it was much more significant that I thought at the time. An extract from it reads:
“The beginnings of a pattern of military unity between Syria, Iran, and Iraq are now emerging in the Mid-East. Iraq recently conducted large scale military maneuvers on the Syrian border, reportedly by prior agreement with Syria’s new President, Bashar Assad.
Assad then made a trip to Iran to hold talks with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. The talks were described as a strategic dialogue.”
I now believe those military exercises could well have been maneuvers to prepare for the contingency of a possible future transfer of Iraqi WMD into Syria in the event of a U.S. attack against Iraq.
In Special Prophecy Update Number 81A, August 17, 2002, I quoted the January Update of 2001, and the following extract is from 81A.
“In previous Updates we have told how recent prisoner exchanges from previous wars have softened the bitterness between them. The relations between Iraq and Syria, which are ruled by two rival wings of the Baath party, were severed in the eighties, but have been on the mend since 1997, fueled mainly by trade links. We have covered these trade links in detail in previous Updates, as well as the sneaky way that Syria is militarily assisting Iraq and receiving oil benefits in return. So, as much as Syria and Iran do not like, or trust, Saddam Hussein, any attack against Israel must include Iraq in order to succeed. This is one of the reasons that Bashar, last month, sent a message to Saddam on the thirty-fourth anniversary of his rival Baath party rising to power in Iraq. In the message he underlined his desire to boost the brotherly ties between Iraq and Syria. A Jordanian newspaper, Al-Hilal, reported that last week Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on the border between the two countries.
The article said Assad took his brother, Maher, and the head of Syria’s Intelligence Service with him to the meeting. During the meeting the report stated that Saddam presented Assad with an ancient rifle taken from the Iraqi Museum.”
Since the conquest of Iraq, we have only found small amounts of Mustard and Sarin gases in-country. I have always believed Saddam destroyed most, but not ALL of his WMD. But where was it? So, in Update 137E I speculated that, based on the extracts from Update 1 in January of 2001 and Update 81A in August of 2002, what was left of Saddam’s WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction), may well have been transferred by convoy into Syria. And, a recent report obtained from the WorldNetDaily gives me reason to believe my analysis was more than speculation. It will be very interesting to see just how much was dumped into Syria. (BEGIN QUOTE OF SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE 137E)
“In the Spring of 2002, Saddam Hussein and Bashar Assad, the President of Syria, had a meeting at the border between Iraq and Syria. As far as I know, this was their only meeting. I must confess that, at the time the meeting occurred, its immediate purpose puzzled me. The Baath parties of Syria and Iraq had not been on friendly terms up to that point in time. As I recall, Saddam presented Bashar with a large, ancient rifle as a present. A year later, after their meeting, Operation Iraqi Freedom put Saddam on the run, and no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have yet been found in appreciable amounts in Iraq. This has caused me to suspect that the major purpose for the border meeting was to discuss the transfer of the Iraqi WMD into Syria for safekeeping if the United States were to attack Iraq. I admit this is speculation, but time will tell!
Syria is still continuing its support for the terrorist groups, whose suicide bombers have taken a great toll of Israeli lives, and it is continuing its program for the development of WMDs. Bashar Assad is now the main troublemaker in the Middle East. Assad and Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Hizbollah, a large terrorist army in southern Lebanon, have met on many occasions. Countless stockpiles of weaponry have flowed freely from Iran to Hizbollah military camps across Syria for years. Syria, which in reality has control of Lebanon, and refers to it as “greater” Syria, could cut off this horrendous buildup of firearms, explosives, and missiles to Hizbollah, but it’s leader encourages, rather than hinders, all activity that will lead to the destruction of Israel.
Without question, the majority of foreign fighters captured in Iraq are Syrian and Lebanese.
The New York Times quoted an intelligence agent as saying more than 60 percent of all those captured were of Syrian origin, and the London Times has indicated that many of them are being trained in Syria to kill Americans in Iraq. According to the article, three of the trainees, calling themselves Martyrs of Islam, say that 140 men have entered Syria to increase their skills in terrorist killing methods.
As you know, from my many articles on the subject, I believe that
the antichrist is likely to come from Syria. I keep my prophetic eye keyed on Syria. If a coup should occur in Syria, and a new leader immerge who possesses bonding skills between the other Islamic nations, I recommend watching him like a hawk.
My reason for believing antichrist will come out of Syria, or the area immediately surrounding it, can be found in Prophecy Updates 62 to 70, (Those without alphabetic suffixes) in our Archives. (END OF QUOTE FROM SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 137E)
The following information was sent to me by my family physician, who had received it from WorldNetDaily.com. Over the last few months, it seems that the U. S. Intelligence community has received new evidence that reports a sizeable amount of Iraqi WMD systems, components and platforms, were transferred to Syria during the weeks leading up to the launching of operation Iraqi Freedom. However, I assure you, until an absolutely provable package is in hand, one that liberal congressmen and news media cannot degrade in another congressional investigation, it is debatable if the information will be released to the public.
The convoys were first spotted by U.S. satellites in early 2003, but the contents of the WMD were not confirmed. Confirmation came later from Iraqi scientists and technicians questioned by a U.S. team that was searching for Saddam’s conventional weapons, but all they knew for sure was that the convoys were headed west to Syria. However, over the last few months, U.S. Intelligence managed to track the Iraqi WMD convoy to Lebanon’s Bekka Valley, the home of the Palestinian terror group Hizbullah. Through the use of satellites, electronic monitoring devices, and human intelligence, the intelligence community believes that much, if not all, of Iraq’s biological and chemical weapons assets are being protected by Syria with Iranian help, in the Bekka Valley.
I doubt if the Syrians or Iranians would be crazy enough to release any of them to Hizbullah at the present time.
Saddam and Assad met at the border in August of 2002. According to this latest intelligence report, the Syrians received word form Saddam in late 2002 that the Iraqi WMD would be arriving, and Syrian units began digging huge trenches in the Bekka Valley. According to the report, Saddam paid more than 30 million in cash for Syria to build the pits, acquire the Iraqi WMD, and then conceal them.
At first, U.S. Intelligence thought Iraqi WMD were stored in northern Syria, but in February of 2003 a Syrian defector told U.S. Intelligence the WMD was buried in or around three Syrian Air Force Installations. Intelligence sources said the Syrians kept all the dual-use nuclear components for themselves, but transferred any incriminating evidence to Lebanon.
End Archive Special Prophecy Update Number 173A
Continuing Current Blog
I certainly do agree with Jill Bellamy-Dekker’s statement that “Syria is positioned to launch a biological attack on Israel or Europe should the U.S. attack Iran.” However, the key word is “positioned” in what she stated.
“Positioned” means Syria has the “capability” to do it,
NOT that it WILL do it. I assure you that Syria would NOT do it. You will find my reasons for stating this in Archive Special Prophecy Update Number 187A.
BIOLOGICAL WAR-FEAR
Syria ready with bio-terror if U.S. hits Iran
Damascus reportedly hiding WMD among commercial pharmaceuticals
By Jerome R. Corsi
March 5, 2007
An American biodefense analyst living in Europe says if the U.S. invades Iran to halt its nuclear ambitions, Syria is ready to respond with weapons of mass destruction – specifically biological weapons.
“Syria is positioned to launch a biological attack on Israel or Europe should the U.S. attack Iran,” Jill Bellamy-Dekker told WND. “The Syrians are embedding their biological weapons program into their commercial pharmaceuticals business and their veterinary vaccine-research facilities. The intelligence service oversees Syria’s ‘bio-farm’ program and the Ministry of Defense is well interfaced into the effort.”
Bellamy-Decker currently directs the Public Health Preparedness program for the European Homeland Security Association under the French High Committee for Civil Defense.
She anticipates a variation of smallpox is the biological agent Syria would utilize.
“The Syrians are also working on orthopox viruses that are related to smallpox,” Bellamy-Decker said, “and it’s a good way to get around international treaties against offensive biological weapons development. They work on camelpox as a cover for smallpox.”
According to the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota, camelpox is a virus closely related to smallpox, that causes a “severe and economically important disease in camels,” but rarely, if ever, causes the disease in humans.
Bellamy-Decker also told WND the North Koreans were working closely with the Syrians on their biological weapons program.
“The Syrians have made some recent acquisitions in regard to their smallpox program from the DPRK,” she explained. “Right before the recent Lebanon war, the Syrians had a crash program in cryptosporidium.”
According to the Washington State Department of Health, cryptosporidium is a one-celled parasite that causes a gastrointestinal illness with symptoms of diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and a low-grade fever. The symptoms can last for weeks and may result in weight loss and dehydration.
“Because cryptosporidium is impervious to chlorine,” Bellamy-Decker continued, “you could infect the water supply by the bucket full of cryptosporidium, if you know where to get it. The resulting illness would put down a lot of civilians and military who might oppose you going into their country.”
“The Syrians have a modus operandi of covert operations and deniability,” she stressed, “so biological weapons are absolutely perfect for them.”
WND asked Bellamy-Decker if the Syrians have any history of having used biological weapons.
“I believe they are testing biological weapons right now, in Sudan, in the conflict in Darfur,” she answered. “There is credible information about flyover activity in Darfur, where little parachutes have been dropped down on the population. This is consistent with dispersal methods in bioweapons attacks.
I’ve also seen evidence of bodies that have been recovered from Darfur that look as if they had been exposed to biological weapons.”
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum Feb. 28 to exchange expressions of support and solidarity.
“The Syrians now consider biological weapons as part of their arsenal,” Bellamy-Decker said. “The Syrian military is also beginning to plan the eventual integration of biological weapons in its tactical and strategic arsenals.”
She referenced an April 2000 article published by Syrian defense minister General Mustafa Talas, titled “Biological (Germ) Warfare: A New and Effective Method in Modern Warfare.” The article was republished in a Farsi translation in Tehran.
“All indications suggest that Syria’s ultimate objective is to mount biological warheads on all varieties of the long-range surface-to-surface missiles in its possession,” Bellamy-Decker maintained. “This is a goal that can probably be achieved within a few years, and it may already have been realized in part.”
She argued that instead of producing large quantities of bioweapons agents, Syria is seeking to develop a smaller, but high-quality arsenal, which it can deliver accurately against military and civilian targets.
When asked how Syria might be expected to retaliate against Israel or Europe if the U.S. attacked Iran, she responded, “Syria has most likely forward-deployed some of their covert operatives. Smallpox does not need to be weaponized. Aerosol release is the way to go.”
Bellamy-Decker explained the methodology of a terrorist bio-attack:
So with a good primary aerosol release in an airport in Israel or Europe and you could get 100 index cases. If you’ve made the strain sufficiently virulent, you could have a ratio of 1 to 13 for infectivity, where the normal ratio is 1 to 3. If every index case infects 13 other people, you unfortunately have a great first hit.
“A terrorist bio-attack could go global,” she noted. “A good biological hit will spread rapidly with international travel. Smallpox is a better weapon than anthrax. Smallpox has been field-tested, it is highly stable, and highly communicable, especially if you look at some of the strains the Russians manipulated. Syria probably retained some of [its] smallpox strains from the last outbreak back in 1972.”
Another risk is the possibility Syria’s military might give bioweapons to terrorists.
“We are close to seeing a breakthrough where Syria could provide biological weapons to some of the terrorist groups they work with, like Hezbollah in Lebanon,” Bellamy-Decker argued. “The Syrians believe they can vaccinate themselves and they are working within the Syrian military. They’re certainly not worried about releasing these biological weapons in a military setting, or even if civilians were infected as well, as long as they are vaccinated. I think it is a real threat.”
Bellamy-Decker is presenting a paper at this week’s Intelligence summit in St. Petersburg, Fla. It is expected to focus on the sophisticated state of development of the Syrian bioweapons program.
“The Syrians have developed a rather remarkable bioweapons capability that has gone under the radar of U.S. intelligence,” she said. “U.S. intelligence continues to insist that the Syrian capability is not highly developed. The Syrian program mirrors how the Russians have developed their program, as well as Iraq under Saddam Hussein, North Korea, and Iran. The emphasis in the Syrian program is on latent potential and outbreak capability.”
Bellamy-Decker explained we should not expect to find stockpiles of biological weapons.
“Stockpiles are just not how biological weapons are done,” she said. “With biological weapons, it is not the quantity, but the quality that counts. If you can produce a virulent, communicable strain, then you have a great biological weapon and it doesn’t matter how much of it you have, it depends on what the weapon looks like.”
Bellamy-Decker also referenced a paper she had co-authored for the European Homeland Security Association (EHSA) titled, “Public Health Security and Preparedness.”
This paper is intended to be used as part of a new initiative EHSA is launching in Brussels to hold a quarterly bioterrorism forum bringing together national and international experts with high-level decision-makers “to discuss the threat posed by deliberate disease and the appropriate preparedness and response mechanisms vitally needed to address this threat.”
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