Fair enough, but I think they could have gone for a cheaper, more limited strike that would gotten the same “message” across.

I’m going to guess that was the ready force. There was no way manned aircraft were going to be allocated. That would be both a risk and a provocation. That would lead to serious issues considering the airspace over Syria. You don’t want to have Russian and Syrian aircraft and air defenses having to guess intent of strike aircraft.

You must have access to before and after aerial imagery to come to that conclusion, can you please share that?

The only imagery of the area I’ve come across is on bellingcat ( cue howls of protest, that is not what I am basing anything on. It is the nature of the gas itself and the victims aren’t localized).
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/04/05/khan-sheikhoun-chemical-attack-evidence-far/

First, CW/ nerve agents aren’t something I’ve researched. There is no 100% certainty and I’m not attempting to politicize this. In spite of Scar’s comments, this isn’t about the U.S./Russia dynamic. This is about the alarming trend of embracing conspiracy theories and inconsistent claims.

The questions Scar couldn’t or wouldn’t answer:

1. When describing binary nerve agents; there are the shells that separate the precursors and mix them by centrifugal force or small charge. The other method is a shell or bomb containing one component, the other is added just before use (this is what has been claimed in Syria)
The other method is storing the mixed components using a stabilizer (Unitary). The US and USSR have used this method. But, due to the need for purity and stability (not to mention volatility), it is difficult. Generally the mixed Sarin degrades within weeks if not very pure and mixed with a stabilizing agent (as mentioned by Hallow) and this does not factor in the corrosive effects of Sarin, the accelerated degradation if not stored in a cool place in a safe container. The Iraqi stockpile was found to have very inconsistent purity despite being stored in casings.

2. Could the Jihadi’s mix the precursors and store them? Possible but not probable. They would need a considerable amount of components, ability to achieve a high level of purity, and be able to store a corrosive and volatile gas safely. If they were using the binary method, the precursors would be stored separately.

3. All of the alleged use of nerve agents in Syria have used binary containers, the components mixed just before use. So, looking at the claim. “Syrian aircraft attacked a jihadi depot”
If depot was storing mixed components, basically containers of Sarin gas. Bombing them would have to: rupture enough containers to spread it out through the air in a wide enough area to affect the number of people claimed via vapor. (as Hallow stated look at the use of vapor in the Tokyo Sarin attack in an enclosed space.) Not to mention had to spread it over a wide area via explosive force without incinerating it.
If the depot had the components stored separately, the story is impossible as it would require the precursors to be mixed in the air during an explosion and releasing enough Sarin to cause the casualties cited all while not being burned up.

4. Generally incinerated as the components are still toxic on their own unless completely burned up (which is why the U.S. was hesitant to strike the alleged stockpile).

5. Nerve agents are extremely reliant on humidity, wind, temp. The only effective way to use them is to deploy the agent in an aerosol in sufficient saturation to have an effect. Sarin is particularly difficult as it vaporizes quickly and does not persist. Considering the fatality rate, it was not an accidental strike causing localized release of vapor.

None of this is my opinion, this spending a modest amount of time reading about nerve agents. Spending even a few minutes researching the Russian/Syrian claim raises some red flags that should be obvious. I’m done with this topic, if you disagree, fine. Hopefully, most posters will look for themselves.
a place to start:
https://www.opcw.org/about-chemical-weapons/types-of-chemical-agent/nerve-agents/

And?!…It can be EASILY converted to both states.

I already debunked this obvious bull**** about “only bi-component munitions”.

No need to write such a miserable excuses with zero evidence, based on the obviously false statements and misinformation.

All you did was show that you have no idea what you are talking about. Why do they use binary shells? What is the issue with unitary nerve gas shells or bombs? Where is the evidence that unitary nerve gas canisters/or munitions have been used in this conflict (because they have not, and aren’t FOR A GOOD REASON!)

Your grasping at straws in an attempt to see what you don’t want to. Debunked…. please.

Oh no, not this bull**** again. I proved, with facts, that you’re basing on the obviously false info about sarin and chemical munitions in general. As well as two days ago i said that Assad is obviously THE LAST man on Earth who may get something good from this chemical attack. Time proved i was right – the only “good” for Assad was a strike by 59 TLAM’s on his airbase. While Jihadi-boys are obviously celebrating this strike.

Deal with it.

Assad’s forces attacked and killed 70 people in a town with Sarin, deal with it.

The only thing you proved is the extent of mental gymnastics one needs to stretch the actual event into the narrative being spoon fed to the weak minded who swallow Sputnik headlines like “Nerve gas attack, who benefits?” as if the conflict in Syria is being fought by rational parties observing the Geneva convention.

The other falsehood being repeated is that Assad is “winning” and therefore would not be using such weapons. This is a civil war of an extremely complex variety. He isn’t losing, but there is no end in sight. The taking of territory isn’t going to defeat an irregular force (actually several). At this rate, we will be reading on the “Russia moving tac air troops to Syria 2023” thread how Assad is winning against the various factions that will exist then. There is no military solution for him.

Had you read anything about how nerve agents are used, you would not be repeating this line about Syria bombing a depot.

Chemical weapons expert, Col Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, told the BBC that the Russian version of events was “pretty fanciful”.

Gordon told BBC Radio 4 that all signs showed the chemical used was sarin gas and that the idea that nerve gases like sarin could spread after a weapons manufacturing process had been bombed was “unsustainable”.

Security expert Dan Kaszeta also concluded: “From a technical chemical weapons perspective, it seems unlikely that the Russian ‘warehouse/depot’ narrative is plausible as the source of the chemical exposure.

Dropping a bomb on the binary components does not actually provide the correct mechanism for making the nerve agent. It is an infantile argument,” Kaszeta added. “It would go up in a ball of flame, a very large one, which has not been in evidence.

But French Ambassador Francois Delattre challenged the assertion that the attack was the result of an airstrike on a rebel warehouse.
He noted that there had been no fire, which would have occurred in the event of a weapons warehouse having been bombed

How many more people who actually know about the use of chemical weapons need to contradict this?

Pure bull**** for ignorant village idiots. Sarin, as many other poison gases, very easily change its state into a vapor or aerosol which even more easily may be dispersed by the shockwave damaging and sending to flight the container it’s stored in. That’s why it was widely used in artillery and other munitions where the low-power HE-charge made it an aerosol and in the same time disperesed around the area of explosion.

And only housewives aren’t aware of these basic facts about sarin and chemical munitions in general.

Ok, I suppose that’s why in weaponized Sarin shells the precursors are separated in the casing. When fired they mix in flight to activate the gas. In other words, read whatever the housewives are reading. They seem to know more than you.

Not to mention, one of the issues with Sarin is that exposing it to fire (like an explosion) breaks it down. Look at how Sarin is stored in an artillery shell, small containers to be dispersed by the small explosive charge.

And i don’t know how anyone reasonable can’t see it’s a blatant ‘False Flag’ which plays only in favor of those who support, train and arm Snackbar lunatics in Syria and obviously against Assad.

Obviously, the U.S. Infiltrated that airbase, stole a Syrian aircraft and loaded it with Sarin. That same aircraft that was tracked by radars taking off and flying over the area at the exact time of Sarin gas attack, the tracked by radar landing at airbase. All so Trump could order a strike against parts of that airbase rather than strike all Syrian air assets. Yes, very reasonable conclusion.

Centcom released information on tomahawk strike; believe about 20 aircraft destroyed.