Thread by @EliotHiggins

A thread on the new Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic report, which concludes Syria used Sarin 1/

The @UNCoISyria report includes a narrative of events, beginning with the take off of two Syria SU-22s from Shayrat airbase 2/

These aircraft were spotted by aircraft spotters as they took off, as @Bellingcat reported in April 3/
bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017…

This obviously contradicts Seymour Hersh's piece in @Welt which claims the jet was an SU-24 4/ welt.de/politik/auslan…

The report also rejects the Russian and Syrian claims about the time of the Sarin release being hours later 5/

Eyewitnesses further confirm the use of an SU-22, and satellite imagery confirms the location of the impact sites 6/

The report draws on the conclusions of the OPCW FFM report, as well as witness statements, so nothing too new 7/

What the report does include is details of hospital facilities treating the victims being attacked with incendiary cluster munitions 8/

The report also includes a very specific mention of the presence of hexamine, which was present at the site of other Sarin attacks 9/

It's also worth noting they state hexamine is part of "the process used in the past by the Syrian army for employing sarin" 10/

Hexamine was also found in munitions used in the 2013 Saraqib chemical attack and at the site of the August 21st 2013 Sarin attacks 11/

The presence of Sarin also, again, contradicts the reporting of Seymour Hersh in @Welt 12/

The report also goes into detail to why the accidental release of chemicals as proposed by Russia, Syria, and Hersh isn't viable 13/

In conclusion "there are reasonable grounds to believe Syrian forces dropped an aerial bomb dispersing sarin in Khan Shaykhun" 14/

At this point Russia, Syria, & Seymour Hersh really need to put up evidence to support their claims both the COI and OPCW have debunked 15/

Here's my earlier article breaking down the various claims about Khan Sheikhoun from various parties 16/ bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017…

But briefly, the US, French, OPCW, COI, and open source evidence is consistent with each other 17/

The Russian and Syrian claims are only consistent with each other, and unsupported by any evidence 18/

The Seymour Hersh @Welt article is supported by no government claims (including Syria and Russia) or any evidence 19/

Keep in mind this is what Hersh said when he was asked to provide evidence to support his @Welt article 20/
bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017…

Welt has also refused to make statements about the OPCW report, I've heard they told everyone to keep quiet and hope it all goes away 21/

Hopefully @Welt will have the decency to seriously review Hersh's article in light on the new @UNCoISyria report 22/

Because currently it looks like Seymour Hersh wrote up a fantasy and @Welt was dumb enough to publish it. They should apologise. 23/

Of course, Hersh could begin to prove his claims by providing the co-ords of the building he says was bombed 24/

Terraserver has satellite imagery of Khan Sheikhoun we could all look at to see that building, if it was actually bombed 25/

Same with the Syrian and Russian claim, they can start proving their case in a very simple way, provide the co-ords 26/

But neither Hersh, or the Syrian and Russian governments have provided that information, because their claims are clearly false 27/

So we've got a supposedly respectable journalists publishing lies in the supposedly respectable @Welt 28/

And two governments clearly lying about what happened in Khan Sheikhoun. But will any of them face real consquences? 29/

I guess we'll find out if @Welt takes more responsibility for publishing fakes than the Syrians and Russians do 30/

You can find all of @Bellingcat's work on the Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack here 31/ bellingcat.com/?s=khan+sheikh…

Also good to see the Al-Jinah mosque bombing by US forces is covered, @Bellingcat investigated that, as did @Hrw and @ForensicArchi

Here's @bellingcat's work on the Al Jinah mosque bombing, along with @ForensicArchi's video bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017…

The @UNCOISyria conclusion on the US bombing of Al Jinah mosque

As with @hrw, @bellingcat, @ForensicArchi's investigations of the Al Jinah mosque bombing the @UNCOISyria finds no evidence of an AQ meeting

At the @UNCOISyria they reiterate a weapons depot wasn't hit, contradicting claims by Russia, Syria, and Hersh

The @UNCOISyria just effectively dismissed all other theories relating to Khan Sheikhoun.

So will @Welt now clarify its position on Seymour Hersh's totally debunked fantasy they published?

Also worth noting the COI saying Syria used Sarin means they failed to meet their obligations in destroying their CW program.