With President Obama setting up U.S. forces to strike against Syria, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year-old son may have went to Facebook to mock Americans, daring them to attack.
Tensions are rising at a daily pace between Syria and the U.S., ever since allegations and evidence pointed to Syrian government forces—led by President Assad—using chemical weapons on their own people during clashes outside of the Syrian capital in August. (Chemical weapons are banned under international law because of their horrific effects). Though the British Parliament voted against an attack led by the U.S., Obama has sent five Navy destroyers out to the eastern Mediterranean Sea to prepare for a limited attack meant to punish Syria for the using these chemical weapons.
Then, a recent Facebook post went up from an account said to be owned by the 11-year-old son of President Assad, Hafez al-Assad, dared Americans to attack, saying, “They may have the best army in the world, maybe the best airplanes, ships, tanks than ours, but soldiers? No one has soldiers like the ones we do in Syria,” the post described of the United States military. “America doesn’t have soldiers, what it has is some cowards with new technology who claim themselves liberators.”
The post showed a glimpse of the perception of the ruling elite class in Syria:
It's not entirely settled that this is in fact Assad's son, but the children or grandchildren of other Syrian political leaders have 'liked' the post, and those are authentic accounts. The post has since been deleted, but comments on the post were captured, with one commenter calling the 11-year-old a future president:
Even if the post is from Assad's son, it wouldn't mean much to the entire situation; meaning, this won't push President Obama into an attack. Though, it's interesting that the kid would use a product made by an American to voice his anti-American views.
The chemical weapon lkely used by the Syrian government is sarin. “Just a fraction of an ounce of this stuff, of sarin, on your skin could potentially be fatal,” says CNN contributor Dr. Sanjay Gupta. “It can be absorbed across the skin, it can be absorbed into the lungs, across the eyes. It’s pretty gruesome stuff.”
[via New York Times]
