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War, War, War See other War, War, War Articles Title: What's next....gas chambers ?? High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our T&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. https://www.ft.com/content/28a693d0-399b-11e7-821a-6027b8a20f23 The US believes the Syrian government has built a crematorium to dispose of bodies at a military prison outside the capital Damascus where prisoners are being killed at a rate of up to 50 a day. Stuart Jones, acting assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, who attended Russian-brokered peace talks at Astana this month, presented photographic documentation on Monday that he said was “consistent” with a crematorium. “We believe that the building of a crematorium is an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison,” he told journalists, citing human rights reports and newly declassified information. The Syrian government has been accused of widespread human rights abuses since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in 2011. More than 400,000 people are estimated to have died in the six-year conflict, that has been characterised by atrocities including the use of chemical weapons and indiscriminate killing of civilians. The US, which has lost influence over the direction of the war since the fall of Aleppo to government forces last year, is making a renewed effort to shape a political settlement. This has brought it face to face with Russia and Iran, which back the regime. Satellite image provided by the State Department, which says it shows a prison outside Damascus modified to support a crematorium © AP Despite recent efforts to bring about a detente between Russia and the US, new evidence of possible mass atrocities highlights the extent to which the US and Russia are at loggerheads in Syria. “Russia must bear responsibility to ensure regime compliance,” said Mr Jones. He struck a far less conciliatory note than US President Donald Trump last week following his meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, during which the pair discussed improving relations and an end to the Syria crisis. Mr Jones said he was “sceptical” about prospects for a Russian-backed plan for “de-escalation zones” given a history of broken ceasefire deals. He added that a number of atrocities were carried out “seemingly with the unconditional support from Russia and Iran”. The US is keen to prise Russia away from Iran to help resolve the Syria crisis, but is juggling how best to navigate reaching a settlement with the risk of being out-negotiated, and outpaced by events on the ground. We believe that the building of a crematorium is an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison Stuart Jones, acting assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Mr Jones said he had not shared the information with Russia. But it is not the first time atrocities at Saydnaya, a sprawling prison complex 45 minutes outside Mr Assad’s base in Damascus, have been raised. In February, human rights group Amnesty International reported that up to 13,000 people have been killed in secret mass hangings at the grounds between 2011 and 2015. Although Amnesty said on Monday it had no information about a cremation site, it has previously identified the same unit as “white building” in its reports. Mr Jones cited modifications dating back to 2013 that he said included a likely discharge stack, probable firewall and snowmelt on part of the roof of the L- shaped unit, which he said were consistent with a crematorium. “The only way to really find out the truth about what’s happening is to go inside the prison, and launch an international investigation,” said Tarek Wheibi at Amnesty in Beirut. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 4.
#4. To: Rube Goldberg (#0)
"Thousands of crematories operational in the United States. Russia should bomb us now." Never Again* *Trademarked, Copyrighted, Patented into INFINITY
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