Something does not add up about this to me. I think it is a 'false flag' situation. Why, when Assad with Russian help was getting back control of his country would he suddenly use chemical weapons which he knows will bring huge opprobrium upon him from around the world?
www.nytimes.com/2013/12/29/world/middleeast/new-study-refines-view-of-sarin-attack-in-syria.html
Read this article, which discusses a study from an American University, MIT, which analyses the range and capability of the rockets fired in the 2013 Syria gas attacks and casts doubt on the claim at the time that the rockets must have been fired by the Syrian Government. The NY Times article states that both the Syrian army and rebel forces have access to chemical weapons.
The revolutionary forces rallied against Assad are fundamentalist islamist jihadis, not moderates. They will not turn Syria into some democratic paradise if we help them to power. If you read a little further afield than the Guardian, there are claims that some of the people who died in the latest gas attack were kidnapped from pro-government areas by militant forces. Do you think the anti-government forces in Syria are all angelic and it is beyond possible that they might use chemical weapons themselves to engineer an outrage which they hope will finally bring in Western forces to depose Assad?
We should be very careful when jumping to conclusions about what happens in the Middle East. Remember what happened when Saddam Hussein was deposed in Iraq. We did not see a blossoming of democracy. US intelligence predicted a risk of nasty fundamentalist groups seizing the opportunity to gain power. And so it happened with the rise of Islamic State. Deposing Assad does nothing but favour Islamic State and any number of ruthless groups always waiting in the wings to grab power in a power vacuum. Do you want our goverment to help Islamic State by deposing Assad? Because that is what will happen.
We have to see the bigger picture here and check that we are not being manipulated to deadly effect here. I do not want British troops dying in the Middle East yet again basically because of Sunni/Shia sectarian warfare.
The governments should not necessarily 'do more' if by that you mean troops and money for anti-Assad Islamists. If bigger countries weren't funding both sides of the Syrian conflict it would have died out years ago, as civil wars always do when internal resources are exhausted. This is a basic fact of conflict. Intervention by richer nations has fuelled this civil war.
Read or listen to what Sir. Peter Ford our ex embassador to Syria has been saying about this conflict:
Most importantly, he says we are actively pursuing regime change against the secular goverment of a country that has never done us any harm. A country that in fact shares a common foe in ISIS and has been trying to fight that foe. A country that protects Christians, does not behead people as punishment and a country in which women have considerably more rights than in neighbouring Middle Eastern countries.
He said that Assad is the lesser of two evils. The militant groups opposing him are not moderate and would impose Sharia law if they came to power. They are jihadis! He said this is why the Government has refused to release the names of some of the militant groups we the taxpayer are funding.
He suggested if we want to 'do something' that we step up diplomatic efforts. Yet we do not engage at all with the goverment side. Why not? We will talk to Mugabe in Zimbabwe yet not Assad in Syria. It does not add up but makes sense if we are only interested in kow towing to the United States - which (until Trump at least) wanted regime change.
He said in December that western media reporting is misleading. We are simply not shown suffering on the pro government side.
He said all foreign countries should back off and stop interfering instead of fuelling with money a civil war which would otherwise die out.
He said we are acting against our own interests in supporting jihadis over Assad.
And again, my thoughts, I will not swallow without question the claim that Assad's side fired the chemical weapons at such a time. I'm not saying he didn't do it, but I am saying he's not the only one capable and it would be a very peculiar self-damaging strategy for Assad at this particular time. But does seem to be working very well for the rebels as a strategy for getting us to start talking about removing him again.